Have you looked at a virtual solution or perhaps a thin client? More and more I am seeing performance increases with virtual solutions. A single quad system core with a nice amount of RAM could easily replace 4-5 workstations. Perhaps 8-10 with reasonable design considerations.
-Chris On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Randall Whitman <909li...@whizman.com> wrote: > > How would *4* ARM cores compare with *2* Intel/AMD cores? > (quad-core ARM Cortex A9 cf Intel Core2 Duo) > > A. Background > 1. Current workstation is adequate 99% of the time but creaks when > Firebug & Dragonfly chew up CPU - current hardware is: > 1x AMD-Athlon-XP3000+ (2166Mhz, 128k L1, 512k L2) w/ 166Mhz bus, 2G RAM; > current RAM usage runs 3G including cache&buffers, 2G without. > 2. I have read that the biggest TCO of a computer is often the > electrical power consumption. > > B. Objectives of new workstation (for which i am starting to plan/spec-out) > 1. Run Firebug/Firefox & Dragonfly/Opera simultaneously, > with OpenOffice responsive meanwhile. > 2. Potentially run OpenOffice (or Firefox, etc) under debuggers > (gdb, valgrind; not at the same time as B1). > 3. Limit electrical power usage - rationale is both TCO & environment/green. > 4. Limit noise - silent/fanless ideal. > 5. Usable for at least 5 years before replacement, > no hardware-induced downtime. > 6. Run my choice of GNU/Linux distribution (currently Ubuntu, > subject to change), with full hardware support. > 7. Balance all of the above objectives with budget/initial-cost/price. > > C. Draft specs > CPU: ARM Cortex A9 (2x 2-core 2-scaler 2Ghz @ 2W) (or 1x 4-core) > RAM: 3-4G > video: ~2000x1600 capable, specs avail for FOSS X-driver (monitor separate) > I/O: HD >= ~200G, DVD, USB, Eth > OS: Ubuntu-LTS > other: low electric power use, low noise > > I think roughly i'm trying to maximize mips-per-watt, price/performance, > and/or mips/watt/price - given the minimum capabilities/performance listed > in B1-2 above. > > T.I.A. for additional insights. > > /Randall > _______________________________________________ > LinuxUsers mailing list > LinuxUsers@socallinux.org > http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers > _______________________________________________ LinuxUsers mailing list LinuxUsers@socallinux.org http://socallinux.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxusers
