From owner-freebsd-hardware Tue Oct 1 19:27:17 1996 Return-Path: owner-hardware Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id TAA22553 for hardware-outgoing; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 19:27:17 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pegasus.com (pegasus.com [140.174.243.13]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with SMTP id TAA22546 for ; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 19:27:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: by pegasus.com (8.6.8/PEGASUS-2.2) id QAA22441; Tue, 1 Oct 1996 16:26:50 -1001 Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 16:26:50 -1001 From: richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) Message-Id: <199610020227.QAA22441@pegasus.com> In-Reply-To: BRETT_GLASS@infoworld.com "Re: H/W recommendation" (Oct 1, 7:15pm) X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.5 10/14/92) To: freebsd-hardware@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: H/W recommendation Sender: owner-hardware@FreeBSD.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk } > As can be seen the best parts to be using are the 100, 133, 166 and 200, } > with the exception that at a mulitplier of 3 the CPU starves for memory. } } Depends on the cache, and whether you get a Pentium or a Pentium Pro. A } Pentium Pro with a built-in 512 KB level 2 cache usually won't starve, even } on UNIX boxes. (To put things in perspective, a typical FreeBSD kernel, } with unnecessary drivers removed, is about that size.) But the bargain } basement version of the Pentium Pro, with the 256 KB cache, will drag in } the same configuration. Unfortunately, far too many clone vendors just } HAPPEN not to mention in their ads that they're including the cheaper CPU. } } I'd like to see a megabyte cache on board. } This isn't quite the way cache works. A board with 512K of cache won't hold 512K of code, even if that were necessary -- most of the code in the kernel or any other large program seldom gets run. But the cache isn't just a mirror of memory, probably half the cache is available for code storage (depends on how it's implemented.) More importantly, diminishing returns sets in real quick after 256K, (actually before.)