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From: chuck@amdahl.amdahl.com (Charles Simmons)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: What with these Vector's anyways?
Message-ID: <11215@amdahl.amdahl.com>
Date: Fri, 31-Jul-87 14:10:50 EDT
Article-I.D.: amdahl.11215
Posted: Fri Jul 31 14:10:50 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Aug-87 02:12:22 EDT
References: <218@astra.necisa.oz> <142700010@tiger.UUCP>
Reply-To: chuck@amdahl.UUCP (Charles Simmons)
Distribution: world
Organization: Amdahl Corp, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 25
Keywords: scalar vs. vectors, benchmarks

In article <279@diab.UUCP> pf@.UUCP (Per Fogelstrom) writes:
>In article <10956@amdahl.amdahl.com> littauer@amdahl.UUCP (Tom Littauer) writes:
>>If the Dhrystone benchmarks are to be believed, this isn't the case.
>>The May '87 report shows Cray X-MP at 18,530, and the IBM 3090-200
>>at 31,250. I'd mention our (much faster) machines, but that'd get
>>perilously close to advertising :-).
>>
>
>Be serious! Do you really belive in Dhrystone? Okay i do admitt that we don't
>have anything better for the moment, but soon i hope.
>
>What this benchmark really tests is the compilers ability to remove code that
>does'nt really do anything. And of course the cpu's ability to handle strings.
>Just check the Am29000. The designers put in an instruction just to speed up
>this benchmark.... Now what, have we reaced a new point, where cpu's are
>designed for the bencmarks instead of vice versa, as it was before ????
>
>Per Fogelstrom,  Diab Data AB

Be serious!  Are you really suggesting that the 370 architechture
was designed to execute Dhrystone quickly?  Also, the portable C
compiler that we use on our 5890's doesn't perform any really special
optimizations.

-- Chuck