🚀 go-pugleaf

Craig Dewick (craig@zeta.org.au) wrote:

> The IPX has a 40 MHz sun-4c CPU (rated at 28 SunMIP's), the Classic (aka
> LC) has a 50 MHz sun-4m CPU (rated at 59 SunMIP's).

Keep in mind that the cache on the Classic is tiny, and hurts performance
severely in real-world situations.

SPEC ratings for the IPX:
    21.8 SPECint92, 21.5 SPECfp92

and for the Classic:
    26.4 SPECint92, 21.0 SPECfp92

Which is at most a 25% difference.  An IPX with a Weitek PoweruP clock
doubled processor will do significantly better than the Classic in all
areas (about 31 SPECint92).

> The IPX has an on-board cg6 (aka gx) vector-accelerated 8-bit colour
> framebuffer, while the Classic has a cg3 non-accelerated colour
> framebuffer. 

> They are the major differences.

They both take 72 pin SIMMs, but the IPX takes then singly and requires
80ns or faster, the Classic takes them in pairs and requires 60ns or faster.
Both have essentially identical expansion and audio capabilities, though
the Classic also has an onboard parallel port.

Both are excellent low-end Suns, fast enough for real work, and take readily
available memory.  The LX (big brother to the Classic) is basically
identical but has better video and audio capabilities.

-James [heck, I use a few 4/330's and a 4/470, I'm behind the times]

=============================================================================
James D. Lockwood                 College of Engineering and Computer Science
Unix System Administrator              California State University Northridge
james.lockwood@ecs.csun.edu