Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!vsi1!wyse!mips!sultra!dtynan
From: dtynan@sultra.UUCP (Der Tynan)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: 80386 vs. 68030
Summary: Bah! Humbug!
Message-ID: <2715@sultra.UUCP>
Date: 9 Dec 88 23:12:32 GMT
References: <788@stolaf.UUCP> <1146@esunix.UUCP>
Distribution: na
Organization: Tynan Computers, Sunnyvale, CA
Lines: 30

In article <1146@esunix.UUCP>, sedwards@esunix.UUCP (Scott Edwards) writes:
> In article <5375@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
> >Going all out, I'd expect a 68020 to be slower than an 80386 system, a
> >68030 to be faster.
> 
> What does it matter?  What if one is 25% faster than the other one?
> His program takes 5 seconds to run instead of 4?  I'll bet that your
> average user (assuming there's only one user on the system) couldn't
> tell the difference if one CPU was 2X the other one.  How many
> programs do you run on a personal computer that are CPU intensive?
> 
> -- Scott

This is the greatest load of codswallop I've seen since IBM introduced the PC!
I sure hope you have nothing to do with the design of future systems *I* might
have to use.  How many programs do *I* run that are compute-bound?  *Tons*
I'd run even more if I had the cycles.  I can sure tell the difference between
an eight-hour compile, and a four-hour compile.  Can you?  Ever tried doing a
logic simulation?  An auto-routed PC layout?  A fast-fourier transform?  A
full-out kernel compilation?  Disk speeds I can get around, with effective
use of track-buffering, block cacheing or elevator algorithms.  If the CPU
don't go, it's a waste of time.  Heck, a one-megabyte RAMDISK ain't that
hard to put in place.  Wanna swap your PC for my 4.77MHz clunker???  Too often,
we generate this ideal of what the average user does with a machine.  Sales
forecasting is an exact science.  When you're finished, it's exactly wrong :-)
						- Der
-- 
	dtynan@zorba.Tynan.COM  (Dermot Tynan @ Tynan Computers)
	{apple,mips,pyramid,uunet}!Tynan.COM!dtynan

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