Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!necntc!ames!lll-lcc!pyramid!prls!mips!mash From: mash@mips.UUCP (John Mashey) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Fairchild Clipper performance? Message-ID: <911@winchester.UUCP> Date: Mon, 16-Nov-87 02:16:35 EST Article-I.D.: winchest.911 Posted: Mon Nov 16 02:16:35 1987 Date-Received: Tue, 17-Nov-87 07:36:29 EST References: <56700004@ada-uts> Reply-To: mash@winchester.UUCP (John Mashey) Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 56 In article <56700004@ada-uts> callen@ada-uts writes: > >Is anyone aware of any Unix systems based upon the Fairchild Clipper >ship set? I got the data sheets on this set (well, board) maybe a year >agao and it looked like a nice clean architecture. I am curious how >its performance might stack up to, say, the AMD29000 or MIPS machines. we don't have many benchmarks in common, but (excerpts from MIPS Perf Brief): Dhrystone: Dhyrs Rel System 1757 1.0 11/780, VAX/VMS 8309 4.7 30MHz Clipper, InterGraph InterPro 32C, GreenHills 13000 7.4 MIPS M/500, 8MHz, -O3 23700 13.5 MIPS M/1000, 15MHz LINPACK: FORTRAN DP & SP MegaFlops & Rel: FORT FORT System DP Rel. SP Rel. .14 1 .25 1 11/780, VMS .29 2.0 .45 1.8 30MHz Clipper, as above (Opus slightly faster) .60 4.3 .93 3.7 M/500 1.2 8.6 2.3 9.2 M/1000 Doduc (Monte Carlo simulation, heavy FP, relative performance): 1.0 11/780, VMS 1.3 30MHz CLipper, as above 3.8 M/500 8.8 M/1000 Whetstones, DP & SP, relative perf: DP SP System Kwhets Rel Kwhets Rel 830 1.0 1250 1.0 11/780, VMS 1740 2.1 2980 2.4 30MHz Clipper, as above 4220 5.1 5430 4.3 M/500 7960 9.6 10280 8.2 M/1000 Of course, some of these numbers may be old, and you should always take what one vendor says about another with a grain of salt. We did have some Byte benchmark nubmers also, but I know they're old, and the Clipper kernel numbers were so low (about 1.5X VAX performance) that I have to believe the kernel was unoptimized, or something). Also, I assume the newer parts run 1.1X faster (33MHz). **OPINION** From the limited data that we have, and comparing it with other machines (like Sun-3/200s, VAX 8600s, if we were selling it, and had to put 1 single number on it, we'd call it a 3 or 3.5 vax-mips system (the integer performance may be 3-4X overall, but the FP is 2-3, and the kernel performance is probably lower (due to small caches)). If somebody has recent benchmarks, we'd love to see them. -- -john mashey DISCLAIMER: UUCP: {ames,decwrl,prls,pyramid}!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