[comp.sys.hp] HP 340 vs. Sun 3/80

mic@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Mic Lacey) (05/12/89)

How come the HP 340 has a 68030 running at 16.7 mhz and HP claims it is a
"4 mip" machine and the new sun 3/80 has a 25 mhz 68030 and they only claim
it to be a meger "3 mip" machine??????

	-Mic Lacey

usenet@cps3xx.UUCP (Usenet file owner) (05/12/89)

in article <3074@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>, mic@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Mic Lacey) says:
> Keywords: mips, speed, 340, 3/80
> Summary: Speed/Performance Claims
> 
> How come the HP 340 has a 68030 running at 16.7 mhz and HP claims it is a
> "4 mip" machine and the new sun 3/80 has a 25 mhz 68030 and they only claim
> it to be a meger "3 mip" machine??????
> 
> 	-Mic Lacey
The Key word is claim. I have tested both machines and found the suns to
be faster when both are run under their native windowing system. This is
due to the fact that HP's run X11 which is very slow. The difference in
claims might be due to the floating point accelerator or the memory
cache. BTW... We bought 100 HP 340's.
Greg Fell
Michigan State University
Fell@frith.egr.msu.edu

fkittred@bbn.com (Fletcher Kittredge) (05/12/89)

In article <3074@sun.soe.clarkson.edu> mic@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Mic Lacey) writes:
>How come the HP 340 has a 68030 running at 16.7 mhz and HP claims it is a
>"4 mip" machine and the new sun 3/80 has a 25 mhz 68030 and they only claim
>it to be a meger "3 mip" machine??????
>
>	-Mic Lacey

Hum... do you know what a MIP is (does anyone?)  This question implies
that you are not taking the following factors in to account:

1) quality of the system compiler and optimizer

2) efficency of the operating system

3) the rest of the chips the system is using besides the CPU, any
   caches, co-processors, accelerators, etc.

All of these will effect the amount of useful work a system can do in
a given amount of time.  Sun has a reputation for quoting "mythical"
MIPS based on calculations or CPU speed.  DEC, HP, and MIPs (the company)
are more likely to give more useful figures like MVUPS (microVax II Units
Per Second).  Remember, this is not PC land where everyone is running
the same system software.

My personal workstation is a Sun;  I use many HPs and DEC things;  my
strong impression is that as of today (89Q2) the HP compilers
have best optimizers.  A good optimizer alone could account for the
difference in the "MIPS" rating.

regards,
fletcher
Fletcher E. Kittredge  fkittred@bbn.com

wunder@hp-ses.SDE.HP.COM (Walter Underwood) (05/16/89)

   DEC, HP, and MIPs (the company) are more likely to give more useful
   figures like MVUPS (microVax II Units Per Second).

I believe that VUP is VAX Unit of Processing.  If you make the
assumption that a VAX-11/780 is a 1 MIPS machine, then 1 VUP = 1 MIPS.

Personally, I think that someone should mount a VAX-11/780 on a
platinum-iridium block in Paris and define it to be the SI standard
for MIPS.

wunder