From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Mar 30 11:56:58 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3D8E016A4CE for ; Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:56:58 -0800 (PST) Received: from nimbus.webrelay.net (nimbus.webrelay.net [66.243.72.15]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 19AA443D1F for ; Tue, 30 Mar 2004 11:56:58 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from scion@webrelay.net) Received: from webrelay.net (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by nimbus.webrelay.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4DC0138026; Tue, 30 Mar 2004 14:56:54 -0500 (EST) To: Zhang Weiwu To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: scion+fbsdq@webrelay.net In-reply-to: Your message of "Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:27:51 +0800." <4069AE17.1010107@realss.com> Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 14:56:54 -0500 Sender: scion@webrelay.net Message-Id: <20040330195654.4DC0138026@nimbus.webrelay.net> Subject: Re: about Ultra-sparc and alpha: what makes the difference? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 30 Mar 2004 19:56:58 -0000 Date: Wed, 31 Mar 2004 01:27:51 +0800 From: Zhang Weiwu >Hello. The question sounds really silly, but google with "compare sparc >i386 alpha" / "benchmark sparc i386 alpha" doesn't give meaningful >result in several pages. Please suggest me a better keyword compilation:) How about this instead: Sparc (UltraSparc) A 32(64) bit processor designed by Sun Microsystems to advance beyond the Motorola 68040. Chips made by TI, Fujitsu, and perhaps others. www.sparcinternational.com Alpha, A 64 bit processor designed by Digital to advance beyond the VAX architecture. Digital, bought by Compaq, merged into HP. Chips made by Samsung (only, I think) www.alpha-processor.com (which may no longer work) FreeBSD runs on them all, multi-processor. They are more expensive primarily due to their lower volumes and the desire of their manufacturers to not enter low-margin markets. As a result, there is more money per computer to manufacture hi-quality enclosures. But this can be done with x86 systems, of course. -sam