Re: Why Alpha? (aka: is it worth it?)

["Andrei A. Dergatchev" <A Dergatchev tn utwente nl>]

Hi!

As I bought Alpha only recently, just a few comments.
[snip]

> probably $1000.  The basic Alpha system I'm looking at (533 mhz
> 21164) is probably going to cost me well over double that.

Obviously you're thinking about LX or UX. I'm, for one, bought SX - it's a bit
cheaper. You probably want to look in comp.os.linux.alpha - there is some
discussion going on about cheapest way to build an Alpha system.

Sorry don't have experience with apps yet.

>    So - is it worth it?  Will I see enough of a speedup from a (say) PII-266
> to a 21164-533?

Well, I safely should say - it depends :-) For example, as you mentioned
an intensive math - I see a clear difference for FEM package I'm using between
PII-350 and my SX533. However, it might be rather specific - iterations
to get smaller difference between large float values are very sensitive to
32/64 floating of course.
I suppose applications shouldn't be too faster unless package is rewritten
for Alpha ?

>  What about from a PII-450 to a 21164-533?

I'd expect that most of applications won't see a difference larger then a few %

> I've always thought of Alpha as sort of a holy grail to deliver Linux users
> from the chains of x86, but lurking on this list has disillusioned me a little
> bit.  So convince me - you guys are using Alphas, so you must like 'em. :)

:-) We like them not (only) because they can run similar appls as Intel can.

>
> Thanks,
> Adam

So, for me it's a floating math and 64 bit.

Andrei