Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!phil
From: phil@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Phil Howard KA9WGN)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: 486SX - Intel now telling lies
Message-ID: <1991Jun3.205453.29519@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 3 Jun 91 20:54:53 GMT
References: <1991May30.164751.16585@thyme.jpl.nasa.gov> <1991May31.183111.16505@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <1991Jun2.030215.11584@unixland.natick.ma.us> <1991Jun2.172907.2373@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Lines: 33

amichiel@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Allen J Michielsen) writes:

>   It doesn't compare all that badly when corrected for clock differences.
>And if the rumoured reports on the 80586 are true (4 to 5 x increase in perf),
>the whole thing gets more clouded.
>   The counter point is that RISC perf won't stand still either.  But systems
>will (or have they already) get to a point were the typical application for
>a user level, is being held up by the user, not the system.  I'd have to say
>that for most DOS direct applications, anything more than a 16 Mhz 80386 is
>a waste of money.  In a windows environment, I'd say between 20 & 25 Mhz the
>same is true.  That isn't to say that 'killer' 33 Mhz or 486 systems are a
>total waste, but to say that for most user applications (wordprocessing, 
>spreadsheets, etc) the overall system performance increase is much less
>than the increase in money.  That includes factors as disk i/o and user
>typing speed....
>al

But software will not stand still, either.  They keep adding new features,
which often times use poor algorithms due to pressure to have a marketable
product out the door ASAP.  Good or poor, new features do more processing
which takes more time.  How about a wordprocessor that has an internal
dictionary tree (more memory needed) that can instantly report spelling
errors by a beep at the instant of the key stroke (more CPU cycles needed).

Of course not everyone needs the killer systems, but even for wordprocessing
in 2001, a 40 MHz system with 16 Megabytes will be "archaic" at best, and
probably available as a complete system on on chip with integral display
as the dedicated processor for a wristwatch.  :-)
-- 
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