rs4u+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Richard Siegel) (08/19/87)
Instead of using Sieves, and Dhrystones, and so forth to test the various
processors, why not do "application" benchmarks? Run comparable (or identical)
applications on a Mac II (or other 68020/68881 system), and on an IBM PS/2-80
(or other 80386/80387 system), and compare the times. For example:
PageMaker Mac vs. PageMaker PC -- load document, redraw, save
MS Word Mac (3.01) vs. MS Word PC -- load, reformat, repaginate, save
MS Multiplan Mac vs. MS Multiplan PC -- load, recalculate, save
Lotus Jazz (Mac) vs. Lotus Symphony -- load, sort, search, reformat,
redraw, save.
This isn't intended to be an exhaustive list, just an example. I suggest
these application benchmarks, because all the programs listed here exist
in identical (or nearly so) version for Mac and PC -- PageMaker for example;
80% of its code is shared between Mac and PC; the remaining 20% is
machine-dependent stuff like user interface, disk i/o, and printing.
An additional advantage is that no one can bitch about the reviewr's having
used an old C compiler, or one that doesn't use the math chip, or
whatever; the programs in question weren't written by the reviewer (??!)
so no one can accuse the reviewer of biasing the benchmarks.
Please note that the comparisons for load and save times will tend to be
more dependent on disk speed than on CPU power, and therefore will
be dependent on machine architecture. But even so, it's useful, since
disk I/O generally uses CPU time, and there's always processing that happend
when a document is loaded.
I think that application benchmarks are more useful, because even
the average Byte reader (like me) spends more time using applications
than he does running useless benchmarks.
(The issue of timing is another one, but is simple to resolve.)
If there are any comments, please send a copy to me (as well as the net)
and I shall summarize.
-_Rich
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