Why The Move To RISC Architectures? ('386 vs. RISC)

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Article #3539

#3539

From: Will E Estes
Date: Sun, 18 Mar 1990 15:42

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What is the MIPS rating of these microprocessors:

386SX-15
386-20
386-25
386-33

Also, since the 80386 has a more complex instruction set and does
more work in a given instruction than does a typical RISC chip,
does comparing MIPS figures between RISC and non-RISC
architectures really tell you anything of worth?

Finally, why is everyone so excited about RISC?  Why the move to
simplicity in microprocessor instruction sets?  You would think
that the trend would be just the opposite - toward more and more
complex instruction sets - in order to increase the execution
speed of very high-level instructions by putting them in silicon
and in order to make implementation of high-level language
constructs easier.

Thanks,
Will              (sun!portal!cup.portal.com!Will)

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From: Will@cup.portal.com (Will E Estes)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Why The Move To RISC Architectures?  ('386 vs. RISC)
Message-ID: <28012@cup.portal.com>
Date: 18 Mar 90 15:42:33 GMT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
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