[SunRescue] Ultra 1 vs. beefy Sparc 20

[James Lockwood]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2000, Eric Ozrelic wrote:

> I currently have a Sparc 5 110 w/160 mb ram. IT'S TOO SLOW!
> I want more speed and I want to know if I should pop for a low
> end Ultra (like an Ultra 1 200e) or a Sparc 20 with like 2xSM81's
> both would have over 128mb's ram. I like older sparc equipment
> but not for a workstation I need to use for learning Solaris.
> I would love any feedback from any individuals that have used these 2
> platforms.

If you feel that it is slow for interactive use, you may be running into
not only the issue of CPU speed, but of graphics speed.  Most sbus based
framebuffers (excluding the GX+/TGX+) are relatively slow by PC standards.

The SS20 will be cheaper, and may have a slight edge over a low end Ultra
(such as a 1/140) in throughput.  For interactive performance, though, you
want fast CPU's.  The U1/200 should beat the SS20/812 in every way except
for a narrow range of applications that fit well into the 1MB e-cache per
processor.

Keep in mind that not only do the Ultras have faster CPU's, but much
faster memory busses.  An mbus based system takes a big hit on cache
misses (and an xdbus system even more) while UPA systems are much faster.

The U1E also gives you the ability to use a relatively cheap Creator3D
card, which will go a long way towards making the machine feel fast.  I'd
say go with the U1E, or possibly consider a first-generation Ultra 5 if
graphics isn't nearly as important to you.

If you've got lots of bucks handy then build an AXi based system and have
the best of both worlds.

-James