In most cases, it is not the cpu that is having troubles, it is either the
hard drive or the memory configuration.
The hard drive is generally the worst bottleneck on any PC system, no
matter how fast that drive is -- even at 160MB/sec with Ultra Fast Wide
SCSI, it is WAAAAAAYYY slower than the typical data transfer rate of
SDRAM. The faster the hard drive you have, the better the system will
perform overall.
Memory configuration can be another issue, especially if you have an
"entry level" system which shares standard RAM and video memory. My
desktop system at work has 96 MB of shared memory, and it is dog-slow
compared to my ThinkPad -- the ThinkPad has less of both standard (64 vs.
"96") and video memory (only 2 MB in the ThinkPad, but it is dedicated to
the card), it has a slower cpu (350 MHz PII vs. 333 MHz Celeron), but it
has a *faster* hard drive. Between the better drive and the dedicated
memory, it makes my desktop look like an old P-75 with 8MB RAM!
Dave
On Wednesday 23 May 2001 17:26, thus spake Ric Tibbetts:
> I thought this was interesting.
> I have an "older" 400 PII, and a "newer" 650 PIII (laptop).
> Using Setiathome as a performance curve to compare by, there is
> something amiss with PIII processors.
>
> My 400 PII will complete a "set" of Seti data is an average of 8 hours
> (my dual 266 PII will complete one set every eight hours, per CPU, so it
> pumps out 2 in 8 hours).
> The PIII takes 50 hours! per set.
>
> Just a data point. The PIII is a laptop, on a different OS. But if I
> boot my 400 PII in that OS, it will still complete them in 8 hours, vs.
> 50 on the PIII
>
> I find this very interesting. While the PIII shows some performance
> abilities that the PII does not (it multi-tasks better, and smoother),
> there are some things that the PIII seems to just suck at!
>
> What's just as interesting is that it's not consistant. There are
> similar machines areound me here at work. Some scream, some crawl. All
> with similar set ups. It has me wondering if Intel has a QA problem?
>
> This could be an indication of why some people are reporting performace
> problems with Mandrake 8.0 / KDE, and others are not.
>
> Just a thought. :)
>
> Ric
--
"Nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecuna possit."
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 B.C.
