[comp.benchmarks] xStones and X11Perf Questions

Mark K. Seager (03/05/91)

I have been looking at the XBench X11 benchmark and found the summary
calculation for the "xStones" number quite mysterious.  The "xstones.awk" file
in the scripts directory uses various weights in conjunction with the results
for various operations (text, rectangles, blit, etc.) to compute the
"lineStones", "fillStones", "blitStones", "arcStones", "textStones",
"complexStones" and, most importantly, "xStones".  Does anyone have a clue as
to how or why these weights were chosen?  Is there some corelation between
large weights and importance of various X11 operations?

Secondly, some vendors are quoting a single "X11Perf" performance number.  Here
is a sample of such, given to me by a nameless vendor: IBM RS6000/320- 1,220;
IBM RS6000/320C-1,220; DEC 5000-2,640; Dec 5000PX-2640; SparcStation 2-1,514;
SparcStation 2GX-1,514.  Does anyone know how these single "X11Perf" numbers
are calculated?  By the way, the documentation for X11Perf claims that such a
number is meaningless!
Regards,
Mark 

tohanson@gonzo.lerc.nasa.gov (Jeff Hanson) (03/05/91)

Mark asks
> Does anyone have a clue as
> to how or why these weights were chosen?  Is there some corelation between
> large weights and importance of various X11 operations?

I believe the weights and measures is Xbench are from Sun 3/50 performance.
Last year, prior to the creation of this group, there was much discussion in
the trade papers about how terrible a benchmark Xbench is and that X11perf
should be used instead.  

> Does anyone know how these single "X11Perf" numbers
> are calculated?  By the way, the documentation for X11Perf claims that such a
> number is meaningless!

I have no idea how single numbers are calculated but I recommend that anyone
interested in X11perf based benchmarks look at Digital Reviews organization
of X11perf.  They produce a kiviat graph based on comparison with DecStation
3100 where the four corners are general graphics, window tasks, X specific
operations and one I can't remember.  I will write to Digital Review and
ask them to put their organization of X11perf on expo.
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