Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ncar!tank!uxc!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!uxd.cso.uiuc.edu!uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald
From: mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: FORTRAN Dhrystone for i860?
Message-ID: <46500052@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 18 Mar 89 18:45:00 GMT
References: <471@estevax.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:estevax.UUCP:471:uxe.cso.uiuc.edu:46500052:000:941
Nf-From: uxe.cso.uiuc.edu!mcdonald    Mar 18 12:45:00 1989


>All this talk about integer benchmarks has left me wondering:

>how important is it to have fast integer processing, as compared
>to FP?   I really have no idea what most people do, but for me,
>it seems that all of "integer"-type work that I do, something like
>a Sun-3 is plenty fast (compiling, popping up windows, netnews).


>Are there any really big jobs out there that are seriously bounded
>by integer CPU performance?  (Excuse me, but I'm probably very naive)

On my PC, which is twice as fast as a Sun-3, I wish for faster
integer and floating point in equal measure. Some of my scientific
code is integer-bound (multiplies and divides). And, I surely
would like TeX to run faster (and it is mostly fixed point). A
30% gain going from a MS-DOS 16 bit TeX to a full 32 bit
one was quite noticeable. And, believe me, I would like LOTS
faster performance on this Pyramid where I use Notes (its OK today -
but this is spring break!)