Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!rutgers!labrea!decwrl!pyramid!prls!mips!mash From: mash@mips.UUCP (John Mashey) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.sys.misc,comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: Between a Sun-4 and a Cray-2 Message-ID: <552@winchester.UUCP> Date: Thu, 30-Jul-87 16:04:34 EDT Article-I.D.: winchest.552 Posted: Thu Jul 30 16:04:34 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 18-Aug-87 02:30:23 EDT References: <7500@shemp.UCLA.EDU> Reply-To: mash@winchester.UUCP (John Mashey) Distribution: world Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 34 Xref: mnetor comp.arch:1813 comp.sys.misc:755 comp.unix.wizards:3728 In article <7500@shemp.UCLA.EDU> tamir@CS.UCLA.EDU (Yuval Tamir) writes: >I would like to find out which machines are currently >available on the market whose performance is significantly >better than a Sun-4 (>> "10 MIPS") but whose cost is >significantly lower than a Cray-2 (<= $1M).... >I am particularly (but not exclusively) interested in high performance >*integer/string* operations as opposed to vectorized floating point. 1) As a side note, we're not sure where the 10-mips number for the Sun-4 came from. It looks more like 6.5-7.0 mips integer (on the VAX 11/780 == 1 ... VAX 8700 == 6 scale). We got this from looking carefully at the published data, filling in some holes in the tables, and cross-comparing with other RISC systems. [We've got a 40-pager that analyzes the data in detail, if anybody is interested.] 2) It would be helpful to know some more about the kinds of applications you want to run. Does it include scalar floating point, or no FP at all? Performance ratios and cost/performance ratios can vary all over the map according to the sorts of programs you want to run. Even integer versus string performance can vary wildly. 3) If you're looking for [for example] real 20-mips uniprocessors, this year, the only things that do that are real mainframes, like Amdahls & such, and the costs rapidly get up in the $1M ballpark or significantly over. It won't be for another year that you can get real 20-mips micros. Structurally, the computer business has tended NOT to have ultra-high-performance integer engines that aren't also, or at least capable of being, serious about floating point. -- -john mashey DISCLAIMER: UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!mash OR mash@mips.com DDD: 408-991-0253 or 408-720-1700, x253 USPS: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086