[aclug-L] Re: Rating CPU's rant..; was Re: Re: Walmart $200 PC

[Chris Owen <owenc@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, David Carmichael wrote:

> Rating CPU's rant..
>
> http://www.viatech.com/en/viac3/c3.jsp
> http://www.viatech.com/en/viac3/pb.jsp
>
> >From what I can read online the VIA C3 chip is not that much slower than the
> Intel Celeron line of chips of the same mhz rating and runs at almost half
> the temperature/heat level.
>
> But on rating..
> You have Horsepower rating for cars..
> You have 'BTU' rating for heating/cooling systems for the home.
>
>     Sure different add-ons make things different.
>
> So why can't the computer companies come up with a true way to rate
> computers?!?

Well there is:

Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (http://www.specbench.org)

Now the problem is that those are probably controversal and depending on
who you talk to not very applicable.

However, I would bet that the same objections would apply to Horsepower or
BTU amoung those that trade in such things.  For instance both my Nissan
Maxima and my Piper Arrow both have 200 horsepower engines but they
produce different results in terms of what I mostly care about which is
speed.  (And ironically the Maxima will probably go faster than the Arrow
although it never does in practice).

Just like CPU speed may not matter depending on such issues as bus speed,
RAM speed and OS, horsepower may not matter based on transmission,
suspension and traffic laws ;-]

With computers there are just too many factors to really compare two
systems with anything other than real world performance numbers.  How fast
does it do X.  The problem is that everyone has a different X they want to
measure.

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <flimzy@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <discussion@xxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, September 04, 2002 3:45 PM
> Subject: [aclug-L] Re: Walmart $200 PC
>
>
> >
> > No, you have it wrong.
> >
> > An 800Mhz C3 runs at 800Mhz clock speed, but performs like a 500Mhz
> > Pentium II. Your claim that it "runs at 500Mhz but performs like an 800Mhz
> > Pentium" is completely backwards.  Furthermore, your claim that VIA is
> > advertising a "performance rating" is completely unfounded, from what I
> > can tell.  VIA's web page talks specifically about clock speeds.  Nowhere
> > does it claim to run faster than a Pentium--and it especially doesn't name
> > the CPUs on a "performance rating" as AMD has once again started doing.
> > Besides, speed is not VIA's selling point.  Their selling point, as I
> > mentioned in my last mail, is cool-running CPUs.
> > Visit http://www.viatech.com/en/viac3/c3.jsp for more information.
> >
> > As for the P4 lawsuit... I hadn't heard about that.  I'm interested what
> > the grounds for the lawsuit is.  Although such a lawsuit is unrelated to
> > how VIA advertises their CPUs :)
> > And a final note... it's pretty impossible and impracticle to have a
> > single way to rate the power of a CPU... because there are so many aspects
> > to a CPU.
> > Just as it's impossible to rate the "power" of an automobile to another
> > across the board, or the "power" of a human.
> > One car may have better gas mileage, and another may be able to haul more
> > cargo.
> > One person may be physically stronger, or be better at arethmetic, and
> > another have more physical endurance and be better at singing.
> > How do you decide which vehicle or person is "more powerful"?  You can't.
> >
> > -- Jonathan
> >
> >
> >
> > > I think that you are thinking of the older 'VIA' chips.. the newer
> > > Via-C3 chips are "Performance Rated" like the newer AMD XP CPU's ...
> > > The 'VIA' chips really run at a slower mhz than their rated speed.
> > >
> > > So while a 800mhz VIA may run at 500mhz bus speed it is able to run the
> > > same software at the same speed as an Intel 800mhz chip would run the
> > > same software package.
> > >
> > > If you had not heard.. there is now a law suite against Intel for false
> > > advertising of the mhz speeds of their current 'P4' CPU's.
> > >
> > > I just wished that there was a true way to rate the power if CPU's!
> > >
> > > --David
> >
> >
> >
> > -- This is the discussion@xxxxxxxxx list.  To unsubscribe,
> > visit http://www.complete.org/cgi-bin/listargate-aclug.cgi
> >
> >
>
>
> -- This is the discussion@xxxxxxxxx list.  To unsubscribe,
> visit http://www.complete.org/cgi-bin/listargate-aclug.cgi
>

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Owen                ~ Garden City (620) 275-1900 ~  Lottery (noun):
President                 ~ Wichita     (316) 858-3000 ~    A stupidity tax
Hubris Communications Inc ~       www.hubris.net       ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


-- This is the discussion@xxxxxxxxx list.  To unsubscribe,
visit http://www.complete.org/cgi-bin/listargate-aclug.cgi