> > If you had two machines, equal MIPS z10 BC boxes, would you want the box > with 5 CPUs or the one with 3 CPUs? Memory, etc all equal. >
Well therein lies your problem. They are NOT equal machines and the reason why this comparison is incorrect is because you're using that nonsense metric MIPS. If we use your example and simply said that the total machine configuration was 600 MIPS, then the one machine would actually be a 5 x 120 MIPS machine and the other would be a 3 x 200 MIPS machine. They would be quite different in the power available for any given set of instructions. This is only one reason why MIPS is such a bad number to use and is generally so completely misunderstood. The most obvious point is that if 600 MIPS were the power available, then it is clear that this is wrong since no single unit of work could actually use it. Adam ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@bama.ua.edu with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
