[comp.sys.next] Benchmarks comparing NeXT, Sparc, 80386, Mac

dan@ece.arizona.edu (Dan Filiberti) (04/01/91)

I just glanced through the new edition of NextWorld mag...


It has benchmark tests for Next, Sparcstation 2, and Mac IIfx in a comparison
article...take a look :)


		Daniel Filiberti
		dan@ece.arizona.edu [:)}

cmaz514@ut-emx.uucp (Raghu Ramachandran) (04/02/91)

In article <1991Apr1.001408@ece.arizona.edu> dan@ece.arizona.edu (Dan Filiberti) writes:
>
>I just glanced through the new edition of NextWorld mag...
>
>
>It has benchmark tests for Next, Sparcstation 2, and Mac IIfx in a comparison
>article...take a look :)
>
>
>		Daniel Filiberti
>		dan@ece.arizona.edu [:)}

Did anyone else notice that in Table 1 the IIfx has a '030 processor, but in
Table 2 the benchmarks were compiled using the '020 option!  The co-processor
was also steped down.  

I wouldn't trade my NeXT for a Mac, but this kind of "reporting" doesn't help
Nextworld nor NeXT.

Just my $0.02.

Raghu

edwardj@microsoft.UUCP (Edward JUNG) (04/10/91)

In article <46541@ut-emx.uucp> cmaz514@ut-emx.uucp (Raghu Ramachandran) writes:
>Did anyone else notice that in Table 1 the IIfx has a '030 processor, but in
>Table 2 the benchmarks were compiled using the '020 option!  The co-processor
>was also steped down.  
>
>I wouldn't trade my NeXT for a Mac, but this kind of "reporting" doesn't help
>Nextworld nor NeXT.

The compilers used in the comparison for the Mac IIfx were the MPW 3.1
C compiler and the MPW 3.2 beta C compiler.

Both MPW C compilers have an option called "68020" and "68881",
which utilize 68020-specific instructions and full 32-bit address
arithmetic, and in-line floating point math respectively. These flags
enable 68030-optimized code generation in recent MPW compilers
(there are very few 68020 machines, after all), but to my knowledge
there still is no Apple-supplied compiler that optimizes for the
68882 (different pipelining from the 68881, therefore slightly 
different instruction sequences are best).

Perhaps this should be explained in an addendum?

I could insert various caveats about benchmarking and using the
compiler you are given, etc., but you all know that! The point is
that I did not purposefully hamstring the MPW compiler. If you
have further comments on the article, I welcome them via email.

Thanks!

--
Edward Jung
Microsoft Corp.

My opinions do not reflect any policy of my employer.