duncanr@cs.paisley.ac.uk (Duncan Ross) (05/18/87)
I have read with great interest the articles comparing the speed of the
1.79MHz 6502 with the 8MHz 68000. In general, these seemed to give an
overall speed defecit of about 74% for the 6502. However, all these
timings are on the American NTSC Ataris with a 1.79MHz clock. The Ataris
designed to operate on the PAL UK system have a 6502 clocking at 2.12MHz.
This is at least 18% faster than the american counterpart, and closes the
gap considerably. Unfortunately, I have no details on the 68000, but I would
be interested to know if this means that any instructions on the 6502 go faster
than their counterparts on the 68000.
The reason why USA software runs slower over here than it does in the USA is
of course that to keep graphics smooth, the screen is updated every frame. In
America, that is 60 frames a second. In Great Britain, it is only 50. If the
software relies on just plain processor work with no smart graphics, the Uk
Ataris show a considerable increase in execution speed over the American
counterparts.
Duncan Ross
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