🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <sMbDr*UK5@kink.PhaedraV.On.Ca> 
(Hugh D. Gamble) writes: 
        ...
> excitement over 66MHz 486es that still run at 33MHz to the rest of the
> machine is Marketing hype aimed at DOS weenies who don't know what a
> system benchmark is. Someone on a budget would be better off spending

        The mainstream PC press publishes system benchmarks, running
        real-world, full-spectrum processes. Read them.

>          ...
> I try to explain to non-techies how a whole computer works, and what
> makes one faster than another, but all the ads and salesmen keep going
> at them about how this one has more Megahertz than that one, and it
> works every time. Sigh.

    Hugh is solving yesterday's problems. I/O bandwidth _was_ a critical
    factor. It isn't any more when you can have a really fast chip,
    really big cache for both RAM and disk and smart video with
    on-board DSP. With today's technology, the biggest bang for the
    buck comes from adding local-bus memory and CPU cycles. Keep in
    mind that today's PC is a multi-processor, with a fast CPU and RAM
    on pretty well every I/O board. Big fast bus is good only if you
    have massive database processing you do a lot, or lots of I/O
    things going on, as in a multi-function server. This is computer
    room stuff, not PC.

    The Bus Wars degenerated into sandbox tussles a couple of years
    ago. They aren't expected to warm up again (if ever) until we
    start arguing over the 64-bit standards.


---
 Marc Thibault        |                              |  Any Warming,
 marc@tanda.isis.org  |  Oxford Mills, Ontario       |  Global or otherwise,
 CIS:71441,2226       |     Canada                   |   appreciated.