[SunRescue] Re: Speaking of SGI equipment...

[Dave McGuire]

On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Chris Kozlowski wrote:
>Oddly, my SPARCbook @ 110mhz seems to run Solaris faster
>than the Compaq @ 266mhz can run Linux.  Figure that one out.

  Clock speed does not directly determine processor or system performance.

  MicroSPARC-II @ 110MHz...1-3 clock cycles per avg. instruction; 
Pentium, 6-8 cycles/avg. instruction.  Average Pentium instructions have a
higher "potency" than average SPARC instructions (RISC vs. CISC coming into
play)...that fact pulls the balance back the other way.  But it still doesn't
make for a 1:1 clock speed/system performance comparison.

                    -Dave McGuire