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From: clif@intelca.UUCP (Clif Purkiser)
Newsgroups: net.micro.6809,net.micro.68k
Subject: Re: 68xxx v.s. 80xxx    :-)
Message-ID: <106@intelca.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Oct-85 12:50:44 EDT
Article-I.D.: intelca.106
Posted: Wed Oct  2 12:50:44 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Oct-85 06:44:05 EDT
References: <370@wlbr.UUCP>
Organization: Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
Lines: 63
Xref: watmath net.micro.6809:539 net.micro.68k:1203

> ..
> ..
> Ever wonder why Motorola's microprocessors (6800, 6809, 680x0) seem to
> never get as much hype and acceptance as Intel's? Psssst! .. here's why.
> 
> Intel puts a divide-by-N counter for the main clock on their micro chips.
> Not for marketing reasons, you understand. But in hindsight, it's clever.
> Motorola doesn't. Hence, the idiots writing for the media belittle the
> 680x's for being far slower than the 80x's.
> 
> Goodness, gracious, a 2MHz 6809 simply *MUST* be inferior to a 6MHz Z80!
> 
> HEY MOTOROLA! The path to riches is obvious! Put a divider in the "68020A"
> so that the outside clock frequency will be 500MHz! Or make it a hybrid
> with a 100GHz clock!
> 
> I can imagine INFOWORLD headlines now! 
> 
> 		Regards,
> 			Steve Childress
> 			Eaton IMS    R&D Group MS 43 
> 			31717 La Tienda Drive
> 			Westlake Village,  CA    91360
> 			(818) 889-2211 X2148
> 			{trwrb, scgvaxd, ihnp4, voder, vortex} !wlbr!steve
> 		        or	 		        ...wlbr!wlbreng1!steve

Maybe Steve's entire article needs an :-) around it.  

Otherwise (FlameOn)
When Intel quotes a microprocessor clock speed it uses the internal divide-
by-two clock  not the external crystal.   Thus, you use a 12 MHZ crystal in
your PC-AT with a 6MHZ 80286, unless of course you've upgraded it to use
a 18MHz crystal.  

At the risk of reopening the "Architecture Wars", Intel 
could quote the crystal speed and have the same speed bus (4 clocks)
as an 68010, or an 32032 and a faster clocks speed 25Mhz for a 12.5Mhz 286.   
I have found that most of uninformed media concentrates on clock speed 
therefore a 10Mhz 68000 should be faster than a 6Mhz 286 because 10 > 6.

Needless to say this line of reasoning is falicious.  If say my Vette 
runs at 4000RPM, and you say that your Mazada RX-7 runs at 5500RPM, I 
can not say which car runs faster, unless I know what gears the cars
are in and what the gearing ratio is.    The auto industry has solved
this problem by inventing a very handy standard benchmark, Miles 
Per Hour (MPH). 

The computer industry has yet to develop such a benchmark, but we kept
trying :-). 






-- 
Clif Purkiser, Intel, Santa Clara, Ca.
HIGH PERFORMANCE MICROPROCESSORS
{pur-ee,hplabs,amd,scgvaxd,dual,idi,omsvax}!intelca!clif
	
{standard disclaimer about how these views are mine and may not reflect
the views of Intel, my boss , or USNET goes here. }