Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!batcomputer!pyramid!leadsv!esl!ian
From: ian@esl.UUCP (Ian Kaplan)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: Why is SPARC so slow?
Message-ID: <538@esl.UUCP>
Date: 15 Dec 87 23:51:48 GMT
References: <1078@quacky.UUCP> <8809@sgi.SGI.COM> <6964@apple.UUCP> <344@ma.diab.UUCP>
Reply-To: ian@esl.UUCP (Ian Kaplan)
Organization: ESL, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA.
Lines: 37

In article <344@ma.diab.UUCP> pf@ma.UUCP (Per Fogelstrom) writes:
>Well, the history repeats once again. A new RISC chip is launched and peopels
>expectations reaches new "high scores". A few years ago there was another risc
>chip set brougth to the market, called the Clipper.  [ deleted text ]
>For this chip set the picture has cleared now. The perfor-
>mence range is not much more than can be achived with a 16-20 Mhz 68020. 
[ deleted text ]
>Well they could have had 2-3 times the
>clipper performance with the NS32532 today. And they called the buy a bargin !


   I think that the discussion on the SPARC vs. the MIPS R2000 centers
   around why the SPARC is not faster than it is - specifically, why it is
   not as fast as the MIPS processor.  What seems to have been missed here,
   if I properly understand Mr. Fogelstrom's article, is that the SPARC is
   quite fast.  The lab I work in has a Sun 4/280 and I can tell you that
   it smokes.  It may be 20% slower than the MIPS processor, but it is by
   no means a failure.  The SPARC is much faster than the Motorola 68020 
   and, I would bet, the National processors.  How the MIPS and SPARC scale 
   remain to be seen.  You should remember that neither Sun nor MIPS will
   keep their hardware architecture static.

   I have greatly enjoyed the discussion of SPARC vs MIPS architecture.
   This sort of interchange makes comp.arch worth reading.  A happy
   holiday season to you all,

           Ian L. Kaplan
           ESL, Advanced Technology Systems
           M/S 302
           495 Java Dr.
           P.O. Box 3510
           Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3510

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