[SunRescue] SS20 (??) is it really?

[James Lockwood]

On Thu, 29 Jul 1999, Chris Conn wrote:

> What is faster in terms of CPU power; my other SPARC is a SS4 110Mhz.
> This one would be 60Mhz?  Are they comparable architectures, or does one
> have an advantage?

Yes.  If your SS20 is a 60MHz unit then it will outperform the SS4 by a
considerable margin.  The SuperSPARC chips used in the SS10/20/600 perform
very well for their clock speed (they can do 3-way issue per clock cycle 
and have a comparatively large 1MB L2 cache).

Run a module-info, it will tell you more.  If you send your results then I
can give you a speed comparison.

> I knew ahead of time that this machine was MP capable, how difficult is it
> to find more Mbus processors?  Do they have to be the same?  Also, I

Yes.  The processors have fallen in price considerably in the last 6
months.

> noticed that this machine uses a weird SCSI connector (SCA I think its
> called).  Are there any HDs I can buy that can be used on this machine or
> do they have to be SUN-manufactured?  I guess i could use an external
> arrangement, but have no knowledge of how the machine behaves with no disk
> inside.

Both the internal drive connectors and back-panel SCSI connector are on
the same SCSI chain, so there is no difference to the machine where the
drive is.  You can use standard 1/3rd height SCA drives internally but you
will need the Sun mounting bracket (fairly inexpensive).  Note that the
onboard SCSI is fast/narrow SCSI-II and runs at 10MB/sec (hey, it was
1993).

If you will put multiple CPU's into this machine and do not have it in a
machine-room environment, I would advise caution when putting drives
internally.  Heat can be a big problem in those small cases.  Check to
make sure that your SS20 has had the 3rd fan upgrade, it will be a small
fan in the middle front of the case blowing over and through the hard
drive bays.  If you don't have this, you can get a free one from Sun.

-James