Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!tank!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!zaphod!timk
From: timk@zaphod.ncsa.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Mac ethernet performance
Message-ID: <600015@zaphod>
Date: 28 Feb 89 15:11:00 GMT
References: <1417@cod.NOSC.MIL>
Lines: 20
Nf-ID: #R:cod.NOSC.MIL:1417:zaphod:600015:000:771
Nf-From: zaphod.ncsa.uiuc.edu!timk    Feb 28 09:11:00 1989




Macintosh Ethernet boards have the same throughput, and largely the same
design as PC Ethernet boards.  Mac disks are commonly faster than PC disks
giving larger USEFUL throughput.

The ultimate limitation will be the 10MHz NUBUS that the board has to
use to deliver the data to main memory.  Some PCs, but only some of the
newer '386 ones, can really deliver better bus speed.

Your data transfer figures are probably from someone using TOPS or another
disk sharing system.  The Mac does have some extra overhead in processing
that the simpler PC systems don't have - so they appear slower sometimes.
I won't vouch for any software system except NCSA Telnet where they are
the same speed (as far as the comparison can be made).

Tim Krauskopf
NCSA
timk@ncsa.uiuc.edu