Re: Multia 166 performance

[Ryan Kirkpatrick <rkirkpat nag cs colorado edu>]

On Sun, 29 Nov 1998, Dave Wreski wrote:

> >>      As an information benchmark, my UDB (166MHz/64MB) was able to
> >> perform a complex database query (mSQL) faster than a P100 (32MB) and even
> >> a P133 (16MB) was able to perform the same query on the same data. UDBs
> >> are defintely not speed demons (my XL-366 Alpha makes the UDB look pokey),
> >> but they are good solid machine that provide P90-P100 performance at a
> >> nice price. They should be considered starter alpha machines, not a good
> >> representation of current Alphas. Remember, UDB came out when 486s were
> >> the rage, so for thier time, they are speed demons!
> 
> How about IO speeds?  Would they make a good internal web server, or perhaps a
> samba file server?

	Probably for memory and hard disk the UDB is average to below
average. Remember that this machine came out when Intel was still playing
with 486s, so while the UDB's may have P100 performance, thier IO is more
akin to 486s, especially with respect to disk. The SCSI subsystem on board
is Fast SCSI, and most of the internal drives are just standard SCSI. The
340MB one I had pushed 1.1MB/sec maximum! From what I understand the IDE
interface is even slower, and it is only IDE, not EIDE. 
	As for memory, there is a well known bottle neck here as well,
though I don't remember the specifics at this moment. 
	Overall, the UDB is not bad, performance wise, especially for its
time, and it level of integration. Everything you need short of a hard
drive in a single, small, slim case. 
	For web/file serving, it performance is decent from my experience.
Also, if you have heard of slashdot.org, it began its existence on a
UDB, which supported it for some times. 
	Hope this helps.

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|  Ryan Kirkpatrick  |  Boulder, Colorado  | rkirkpat@nag.cs.colorado.edu  |
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