jack@linus.claremont.edu (01/04/91)
Hi, I just ran some interesting Mathematica benchmarks on a NeXTstation, a Mac IIci (with Math coprocessor), and a DECStation model 3100. The results are a little surprising. The Mathematica benchmarks are a suite of 41 different tests from a number of different sources. The test took a total of anywhere from about 2.5 minutes for the NeXT to 22.5 minutes for the Mac IIci. A summary of the tests follows (the tests are too long to post here). NeXTStation vs. DECStation 3100 Slope of Best Fit of time for each test 1.35 (NeXT as x, DEC as y) Correlation Coefficent 0.98 Mean of ratio's of each test 1.20 Standard Deviation of ratio's 0.3 NeXTStation vs. Mac IIci with coprocessor Slope of Best Fit of time for each test 9.51 (NeXT as x, Mac as y) Correlation Coefficent 0.97 Mean of ratio's of each test 8.94 Standard Deviation of ratio's 3.52 The NeXTStation was about 20-30% faster on this group of benchmarks than the DECStation 3100. This is surprising since the DECStation is rated and 13.9 Mips and the NeXTstation benches at 15.0 Mips. You would expect from the Mips rating only about a 10% increase. I wonder if it has anything to do with RISC vs CISC architectures ?(The NeXTstation is CISC --- The DECStation is RISC.) The Mac IIci was surprisingly slow. A 68030 NeXT (same CPU as the IIci ) is only roughly 3 times slower that the NeXTstation. I wonder if the performance difference might have to compiler optimization or perhaps hardware (caching?)? The complete tests and the Mathematica benchmark are available via anonymous FTP from FENRIS.CLAREMONT.EDU. I will try to benchmark a Mac IIfx over the next few weeks (I think there is one on campus with Mathematica). If anyone has Mathematica running on a different architecture please feel free to grab the Benchmark and run it. If you do so, please put the results back into /pub/submission on FENRIS. I am really interested in seeing the results vs a SPARC, IBM PowerStation, and a DECStation 5000. The Mathematica benchmark is by no means perfect. It does not (nor is intended to) replace LINPACK, SPEC, Mips or any other widely used benchmark. There is a fair deal of variation of the results depending on the specific test. But I do like the test because it is fairly quick and portable (assuming the demo system has Mathematica). I also like the fact that it is a benchmark that uses a "real life" application. System vs. System performance tends to vary with the application. I also like the fact that, as far as I know, no manufacturer has written a compiler to optimize this benchmark. Comments? ---Jack Jack Stewart Jack@Hmcvax (Bitnet) User Support Coordinator, jack@hmcvax.claremont.edu (Internet) Harvey Mudd College, jack@fozzie.claremont.edu (NeXT-Mail) Claremont, Ca. 91711 714-621-8006