Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!bu-cs!purdue!decwrl!labrea!polya!rathmann
From: rathmann@polya.Stanford.EDU (Peter K. Rathmann)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Why is the RT slow?
Keywords: risc RT IBM
Message-ID: <5046@polya.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 14 Nov 88 20:04:27 GMT
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 17

I got the impression from looking at some informal benchmarks that the
IBM PC/RT is slower than a good 386 box, and not even in the same
league as leading risc processors like SPARC/MIPS/88000.

Can anyone explain why?  It is billed as a risc and is not saddled
with compatibility with earlier architectures, so why shouldn't it be
a performance leader?

I can make some guesses at possible causes:

 - Its just bad press.  The RT is really pretty fast.
 - The present implementation is slow, but would be competitive if
	built with fast silicon, big caches, etc.
 - The designers got too "advanced" and included features which might
	come in handy 20 years from now, but for the present just slow
	things down.

Can someone with more knowledge fill me in?		Thanks,  Peter