[Starkit] Re: Extraneous benchmark between Red Hat Lynux andUnix

[Techentin, Robert W.]

Arjen Markus wrote:
> 
> "Eduardo Rodriguez (Gerencia de Desarrollo)" wrote:
> >  P4:
> >   256 MB ram
> >   1 Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 1.70GHz
> > Alpha Server:
> >   1 Gb ram
> >   2 alpha processors at 600 MHz each one.
> 
> But the raw CPU speeds differ by a factor of 3 already - isn't that 
> about the difference you saw? I'd say: look no further ;)


Not necessarily.  Intel and Alpha CPUs are very different, and you can't
compare MHz/GHz clock speeds in any meaningful way.

If you look at CPU benchmarks at http://www.spec.org, you'll see a Compaq
AlphaServer DS10 6/600 with a SPECint of 364.  Nobody bothers benchmarking
Celerons for CPU performance (because they're slow) but SPECint for "real"
P4 1.7 GHz CPUs runs around 590.  That's a difference of 1.6X.  

And Celerons are slow when compared to the Pentium.  The alpha servers have
lots of multilevel cache for just this sort of application.  I wouldn't be
surprised if the Alpha outperforms the Celeron in raw CPU power.  So I think
looking further is reasonable.


Bob
-- 
Bob Techentin                        techentin.robert at mayo.edu 
Mayo Foundation                                 (507) 538-5495 
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