[comp.lsi] Benchmark results using SPICE

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