About processor/performance ratios:

I was told that the performance increase in the SGI O2 line

was attributable not so much to processor improvements, but to

a radical new board design that kept the memory/processing

for a great many system components (video, sound, co-processors,

etc.) on the main board, using some sort of unified memory space,

thus reducing/eliminating a great many 'bus' accesses and even

reducing the time lost in moving data around between different

on-board components...(those in the know, is this an accurate

picture?)

I remember J. Piche posting an impressive message about a

substantial increase in the number of oscillators the (then)

new O2 could do... perhaps it was due to this new OS design

approach, rather than processor 'MIPS'?

Please, corrections, clarification, anyone?

Charlie

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Charles Baker              baker@charlieb.com
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On Mon, 13 Apr 1998, Charles Baker wrote:

> About processor/performance ratios:
> 
> I was told that the performance increase in the SGI O2 line
> 
> was attributable not so much to processor improvements, but to
> 
> a radical new board design that kept the memory/processing
> 
> for a great many system components (video, sound, co-processors,
> 
> etc.) on the main board, using some sort of unified memory space,
> 
> thus reducing/eliminating a great many 'bus' accesses and even
> 
> reducing the time lost in moving data around between different
> 
> on-board components...(those in the know, is this an accurate
> 
> picture?)
yes....

> 
> I remember J. Piche posting an impressive message about a
> 
> substantial increase in the number of oscillators the (then)
> 
> new O2 could do... perhaps it was due to this new OS design
> 
> approach, rather than processor 'MIPS'?
yes nad the O2 will never be a multiprocessor box anyway... so the
andvancements were in the memory arch and OS design. I say were cause the
O2 is an old (by computer terms) machine. 

Michael