mark@mips.UUCP (Mark G. Johnson) (09/15/87)
We finally located a VMS-VAX 11/780 with SPICE available, so we ran the three public domain SPICE benchmark circuits. Hopefully this will let the VAX show off its FP performance, as the VMS-fortran compiler generates better code than the Unix f77 compiler does. A companion article includes the input circuit files ("decks"). ========================== TABLE 1. DIGSR circuit ========================== Berkeley-2G6 MACHINE seconds Vaxes OS, compiler, notes ------- ------ ----- ------------------------- VAX 11/780 1354.0 0.60 4.3BSD, BerkF77 V2.0 Microvax-II 993.5 0.81 Ultrix 1.1, fortrel SUN 3/160 901.9 0.90 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -f68881 VAX 11/780 848.0 0.95 4.3BSD, fortrel VAX 11/780 808.1 1.0 VMS 4.4, fortran/opt SUN 3/260 744.8 1.1 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -f68881 SUN 3/160 506.5 1.6 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -ffpa SUN 3/260 361.2 2.2 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -ffpa SUN 4/260 225.9 3.6 SunOS 4-beta2 f77 -O3 -Qoption as -Ff0 MIPS M/800 136.5 5.9 UMIPS-BSD V2.01, f77 V1.21 AMDAHL 470 V/7 125.5 6.4 VMSP-CMS 4.0, FORTVS 4.1 MIPS M/1000 114.3 7.1 UMIPS-BSD V2.01, f77 V1.21 FPS 20/64 48.0 16.8 VSPICE (2g6 derivative) ========================= TABLE 2. BIPOLE circuit ========================== Berkeley-2G6 MACHINE seconds Vaxes OS, compiler, notes ------- ------ ----- ------------------------- VAX 11/780 439.6 0.68 4.3BSD, BerkF77 V2.0 Microvax-II 394.3 0.76 Ultrix 1.1, fortrel VAX 11/780 312.6 0.96 4.3BSD, fortrel VAX 11/780 299.1 1.0 VMS 4.4, fortran/opt SUN 3/160 285.1 1.0 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -f68881 SUN 3/260 221.7 1.3 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -f68881 SUN 3/160 170.0 1.8 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -ffpa SUN 3/260 112.0 2.7 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -ffpa SUN 4/260 63.7 4.7 SunOS 4-beta2 f77 -O3 -Qoption as -Ff0 MIPS M/800 42.6 7.0 UMIPS-BSD V2.01, f77 V1.21 AMDAHL 470 V/7 39.5 7.6 VMSP-CMS 4.0, FORTVS 4.1 MIPS M/1000 35.4 8.4 UMIPS-BSD V2.01, f77 V1.21 FPS 20/64 12.5 23.9 VSPICE (2g6 derivative) ========================= TABLE 3. TORONTO circuit ========================= Berkeley-2G6 MACHINE seconds Vaxes OS, compiler, notes ------- ------ ----- ------------------------- VAX 11/780 460.3 0.63 4.3BSD, BerkF77 V2.0 Microvax-II 366.9 0.80 Ultrix 1.1, fortrel SUN 3/160 328.6 0.89 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -f68881 VAX 11/780 302.9 0.96 4.3BSD, fortrel VAX 11/780 291.7 1.0 VMS 4.4, fortran/opt SUN 3/260 266.0 1.1 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -f68881 SUN 3/160 189.1 1.5 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -ffpa SUN 3/260 129.4 2.3 SunOS 3.2 f77 -O -ffpa SUN 4/260 73.4 4.0 SunOS 4-beta2 f77 -O3 -Qoption as -Ff0 MIPS M/800 41.4 7.0 UMIPS-BSD V2.01, f77 V1.21 AMDAHL 470 V/7 39.3 7.4 VMSP-CMS 4.0, FORTVS 4.1 MIPS M/1000 34.5 8.5 UMIPS-BSD V2.01, f77 V1.21 FPS 20/64 17.5 16.7 VSPICE (2g6 derivative) ############################################################################ Since the first posting, we discovered that we were not running the standard Berkeley Spice2g6 UNIX distribution on our 780. The standard distribution includes code for block copy and zero that uses VAX string instructions. Our copy had that replaced with simple byte copy loops so as to be portable to our own machines. We went back to the VAX string instruction version for VAX times so that the results will correlate with results obtained elsewhere with the standard distribution. And to be fair, we used the 4.2 bcopy/bzero routines on other machines that we ran it on (SUNs, MIPSs). The end result: the 780 numbers have improved by 15-20% since the last posting, the MIPS numbers by 7%. (The 1.21 compiler and 2.1 OS releases also improved MIPS results.) We have also added 780 results for spice2g6 compiled with two more compilers: the fortrel compiler from Lawrence Livermore Labs and the DEC VMS-fortran compiler. The relative performance column ("Vaxes") is now normalized to the DEC VMS-fortran compiler. We would like to thank Aedan Coffey, Joerg Bach, and David Hough for their contributions to this list. -- -Mark Johnson *** DISCLAIMER: The opinions above are personal. *** UUCP: {decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!decwrl!mips!mark TEL: 408-720-1700 x208 US mail: MIPS Computer Systems, 930 E. Arques, Sunnyvale, CA 94086