hall@ittral.UUCP (Doug Hall) (12/23/84)
> 4. As a rough figure of merit (for this type of operation only) we can > multiply the time by the cost of the computer. Averaging the times > where there are more than one, and taking the approximate cost of the > computers involved, I get that the Vax and the IBM PC have about the > same figure of merit, while the Z80 system is about 3 times worse. > Curious. Anybody want to try it on their Macintosh? > That's curious alright. It's silly. This 'figure of merit' is almost totally meaningless. If you didn't know the difference between a 780 and an IBM PC, what would it tell you? If I multiply my benchmark time by the cost of my homebuilt computer I get a figure of merit that beats them both. You simply can't ignore the differences in machines so different from each other. The figures obtained might be more reasonable if you divided by the number of processes currently running, the number of users, etc. Otherwise they mean nothing. I wonder what the 'figure of merit' would be for a Cray? Douglas Hall ITT Telecom Products Raleigh, NC ittvax!ittral!hall