Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga.misc:1791 comp.sys.amiga.advocacy:1201
Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!knuth!mjbtn!raider!elgamy!elg
From: elg@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM (Eric Lee Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: Why A3000UX over DecStation?
Message-ID: <00669170020@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM>
Date: 17 Mar 91 00:33:40 GMT
References: <1507@ewu.UUCP>
Organization: Eric's Amiga 2000 @ Home
Lines: 20

Answer to the question asked in the title: If you're looking for a server,
the A3000UX is preferable to, say, a '386 or '486 box (because of its fast
I/O bus, faster even than MCA), but it can't hold a candle to one of the
mid-to-high-end SPARC or MIPS (DecStation) products. The reason being that
those expensive RISC machines simply have a whole lot more CPU power. Due
to the way the TCP/IP software is currently implemented on Unix, it's quite
easy for a server to get CPU-saturated... there's a whole lot of copying of
data between various process's address spaces going on, all being done with
the CPU. Not to mention upteen task switches to handle each packet. BTW,
the high-end DecStation should do better than the SPARC. Another machine
you ought to take a look at is the Data General Aviion (88000-based RISC
machine running Unix)... a pretty hot box, even though it uses a RISC chip
that's not as well supported as the SPARC or MIPS.

A 3000UX is a nice machine... I might eventually get one, myself... but
it's not the be-all and end-all of Unix boxes.

--
Eric Lee Green   (318) 984-1820  P.O. Box 92191  Lafayette, LA 70509
elg@elgamy.RAIDERNET.COM               uunet!mjbtn!raider!elgamy!elg