PPC vs x86 speed/performance comparions?

[mingle]

Hi,

I understand that since the old PPC were RISC chips, they outperformed equivalent clockspeed x86 CPUs...

Is this true?

Would a 1GHz G4 PPC be the same as, or faster than a 1GHz PIII?

How do each of the PPC processor generations (G3, G4, G5) correspond to the rival x86 families (PII, PIII, PIV, etc)?

Cheers,

Mike.

[Caius]

Would a 1GHz G4 PPC be the same as, or faster than a 1GHz PIII?

You can't compare two different processors by their clock speed. It's like an engine; revolutions per minute doesn't say anything about how fast the car moves.

[jj]

You cant even compare different genrations of the same  processor family by MHZ.  MHZ is the most pointless indicator of chip performace of chips thers is. Unless you are comparing chips of eexactly the same architecture.  Obivously 50mhz 030 is faster than a 25mhz 030.  But you cant compare it against anything else by the MHZ

[mingle]

Okay, I understand that MHz isn't a good benchmark...

What I'm getting at is how they compare, ie: MIPs/ Dhrystones/ Real World performance...

If I have a 1.8GHz G5 Mac and a 2.0GHz P4, running the same OS (Say a flavour of Linux), which would yield better performance?

[Piru]

If I have a 1.8GHz G5 Mac and a 2.0GHz P4, running the same OS (Say a flavour of Linux), which would yield better performance?

Depends on what you do, but G5 should beat P4 at the same clockrate at many tasks.

The thing is P4 is stoneage x86 technology these days. Take modern core2 cpu .. it runs 1333 fsb (and new ones 1600) and it runs circles around any ppc. Runs cooler, too.

[bloodline]

mingle wrote:
Okay, I understand that MHz isn't a good benchmark...

What I'm getting at is how they compare, ie: MIPs/ Dhrystones/ Real World performance...

If I have a 1.8GHz G5 Mac and a 2.0GHz P4, running the same OS (Say a flavour of Linux), which would yield better performance?

The P4 is pretty lame... The G5 will be at least as fast if not quite a bit faster... If you had an Athlon64 or a CoreDuo then they would piss all over the G5 :-)

[downix]

Piru wrote:

If I have a 1.8GHz G5 Mac and a 2.0GHz P4, running the same OS (Say a flavour of Linux), which would yield better performance?

Depends on what you do, but G5 should beat P4 at the same clockrate at many tasks.

The thing is P4 is stoneage x86 technology these days. Take modern core2 cpu .. it runs 1333 fsb (and new ones 1600) and it runs circles around any ppc. Runs cooler, too.

But throw it against an UltraSPARC T2, and it will be crushed in both heat and performance, despite the T2 being half the clock speed.

[adolescent]

downix wrote:
But throw it against an UltraSPARC T2, and it will be crushed in both heat and performance, despite the T2 being half the clock speed.

The T2 isn't quite in the "consumer" class.  Sure, it's the meanest thing out there, for now.  But since the cheapest box that comes with it is >$10k, it's really unfair to compare it with processors that cost <$200.

[downix]

adolescent wrote:

downix wrote:
But throw it against an UltraSPARC T2, and it will be crushed in both heat and performance, despite the T2 being half the clock speed.

The T2 isn't quite in the "consumer" class.  Sure, it's the meanest thing out there, for now.  But since the cheapest box that comes with it is >$10k, it's really unfair to compare it with processors that cost <$200.

Oh Sure, tie my hands for comparison.... *tee hee*

and where do you fine a core2 for under $200?  Lowest price I can find locally is $350!

[dammy]

and where do you fine a core2 for under $200? Lowest price I can find locally is $350!

Pricewatch is your friend.

Dammy

[da9000]

Although what was said already is good and to the point, I'd like to add (for the original poster or others in his predisposition) that x86 CPUs after and including the PentiumPro (as far Intel, and K5 I think for AMD, if not then K6) are all RISC internally. They convert x86 assembly/machine code into micro-ops (operations) which execute on a RISC core. So they're not really that far removed from what PPC chips, as far as high-level architecture. Of course the devil's in the details...

[pyrre]

Sparc on Wikipedia.

As a result of SPARC International, the SPARC architecture is fully open and non-proprietary.

Implementations of the SPARC architecture were initially designed and used for Sun's Sun-4 workstation and server systems, replacing their earlier Sun-3 systems based on the Motorola 68000 family of processors.

Is there any chance of the sparc (any version of it) running Amiga OS as well???

[Piru]

Is there any chance of the sparc (any version of it) running Amiga OS

no

[downix]

$207 for a year old revision, riiiight.

dammy wrote:

and where do you fine a core2 for under $200? Lowest price I can find locally is $350!

Pricewatch is your friend.

Dammy

[downix]

pyrre wrote:
Sparc on Wikipedia.

As a result of SPARC International, the SPARC architecture is fully open and non-proprietary.

Implementations of the SPARC architecture were initially designed and used for Sun's Sun-4 workstation and server systems, replacing their earlier Sun-3 systems based on the Motorola 68000 family of processors.

Is there any chance of the sparc (any version of it) running Amiga OS as well???

Would be an easy job (I've gotten parts of AROS running w/o any real programming skill) especially if one were to use the migration toolchain Sun developed back when they introduced the Sun-4, especially as the Amiga's OS was built on the Sun-3 to begin with!