Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!pyramid!prls!mips!mash
From: mash@mips.COM (John Mashey)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: RPM-40 microprocessor @ 40 MHz; dat
Message-ID: <1779@winchester.mips.COM>
Date: 5 Mar 88 20:43:20 GMT
References: <9758@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> <9792@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> <9794@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP>
Reply-To: mash@winchester.UUCP (John Mashey)
Organization: MIPS Computer Systems, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 32

In article <9794@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> davidsen@kbsvax.steinmetz.UUCP (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
>In article <9792@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> oconnor%sungod@steinmetz.UUCP writes:
>>Why don't we all use MIPS ("average" or "peak" qualified as needed)
>>for instruction execution rate, MHz for clock speed, and
>>VIPS ( VAX-11/780-Indexed Performance Standard :-) or whatever
>>for some measure of general-purpose computing power ?

>  I like it!! Now we have VIPS, which will make it a lot easier to tell
>what is meant by the numbers. Way to go! Put that idea on your monthly
>report ;^>

Some of us have been consistently careful to always say that we
mean vax-equivalent-mips when we use mips.  As I understand it, the
truly correct term (from DEC itself) is VUPS.  As far as I can tell,
that's normalized to
	VAX 11/780 = 1
	VAX/VMS compilers (i.e., good optimizers), on VMS or Ultrix
	includes mix of integer and floating-point
Note: that is NOT 4.3BSD compilers (C: VMS is better by 1.1-1.5,
				    FORTRAN: VMS often 2X better)
	and it is NOT MicroVAX II's (which are more like .8-.9 of the 780)

Perhaps someone from DEC can correct me if I have the wrong definition of VUPS.

I agree with Bill 100%: MIPS-ratings by themselves are vacuous, and the
only thing that really helps people understand relative performance is
relative performance numbers.  The only pain of it is that VUPS can well
be a moving target (it's like having the meter-bar grow on you).
-- 
-john mashey	DISCLAIMER: <generic disclaimer, I speak for me only, etc>
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