🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <31486@hydra.Helsinki.FI>, karell@cs.Helsinki.FI (Esa Karell) writes:
|>
|>1) How parallel is Alpha? Can it execute more than
|>   1 instruction/cycle (say, yes )? If yes, how many
|>   optimal/average?

The alpha architecture is designed for multiple issue, thus the architecture 
will support more than one instruction.  This implementation, the 21064 supports
two instructions per cycle.  
|>
|>3) How scalable it is with clock rate? 200 sounds
|>  quite steep. Can you *easily* (means, still use
|>  the same technology) jack it up to say 400?
|>  Is it CMOS?

The current implementation is CMOS, and it runs anywhere (in current products)
from 133Mhz to 200Mhz.  Scaling has many implications, so it's difficult to 
answer your question, but yes, Alpha is designed to scale.  Our design goal
is to scale over 1000 x over the life of the architecture.  This obviously
can't come from clock speed alone, so there are other ways to scale.
|>
|>4) How big are icache and dcache?
|>   Does it vary on any of the currently introduced boxes?
|>

The 21064 chip has 8KI/8KD on chip.  Each system has a different backup 
cache.  The workstations are 512K, the DEC 10000 has 4MB.

|>5) The ad said that also SV(R4?) *IX is (yeah, it really did
|>   say *is* not will :-) available besides OSF/1.
|>   Who did this for Alpha and any details on it?
|>

Encore has adopted the Alpha chip for their future generation systems, and
will be doing a SVR4 port.  If they are going to deliver that for general 
availbility I don't know.

|>6) Greetings to dec mktg. Couldn't you possibly come up
|>   with a more pathetic way to push this chip than
|>   by tooting this 4 ??? ??? ??? whatever number.
|>   And think that some poor sobs may actually buy the
|>   propaganda that this box is 4 <whatever> times
|>   better than what they have now.... 
|>  

Huh?
--


William M. Jackson
Workstation Product Marketing Manager
Workstation Engineering
Digital Equipment Corporation
146 Main Street
Maynard, MA 01754

Mail:	Jackson@pravda.enet.dec.com