Slightly off-topic: I’m fascinated by x64 vs. x86 performance comparisons like 
these, especially when x64 lags (often significantly) behind x86.  What’s going 
on here?  Does the sheer size difference between x64 code and x86 code trump 
all other benefits offered by x64?  What about all the extra registers 
available?  (Or is that a non-issue given the prolific register re-naming an 
Intel x86 chip does these days?)  Is it just that compilers generating x64 code 
just aren’t as mature as x86 compilers yet?  Or do we incur a penalty from 
WoW64?  Can we never expect the performance of x64 code to surpass x86 code?  
Surely the momentum towards x64 (try buy a non-x64 CPU these days) is sustained 
by something other than having access an addressable memory area greater than 
2^32?


From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Fugate
Sent: 20 August 2008 22:40
To: Discussion of IronPython
Subject: Re: [IronPython] Informal Poll: measuring IronPython performance under 
x64 OSes

>From what I’ve seen on the mailing list and several emails sent directly to me 
>there seems to be about a 50-50 split between x86/x64 interest.

Anyone interested in x86 vs x64 IronPython performance might want to check out 
the following data points taken from two identical Vista machines that differ 
only in terms of OS bitted-ness:

·         MAY 2008  - IronPython startup performance is 25% slower on x64 than 
x86.

·         JUNE 2007 - IronPython startup performance was %32 slower on x64 than 
x86.



·         MAY 2008 -  PyBench (Calls) is around 33% slower on x64 than x86.

·         JUNE 2007 - PyBench (Calls) was 34% slower on x64 than x86.



·         MAY 2008  - PyStone is 40% slower on x64 than x86.

·         JUNE 2007 - PyStone is %36 slower on x64 than x86.

As you can see, although IronPython performance in given areas may change over 
the course of a year (“PyBench Calls” was about 10% faster in May 2008), the 
delta between IronPython on x86 and x64 platforms pretty much stays the same 
for a given benchmark.  The principal reason behind this is IronPython has few 
(any?) x64 only code paths.  Any differences in performance should be due to 
differences between the x86 and x64 CLRs.  My disclaimer on this statement is 
that deltas can vary widely depending upon which benchmark we look at (e.g., 
the delta for “PyBench Lists” between x86/x64 is under 10%).

From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Dave Fugate
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2008 2:43 PM
To: Discussion of IronPython
Subject: [IronPython] Informal Poll: measuring IronPython performance under x64 
OSes

Hi everyone, one of the things the IronPython test team does daily is run a set 
of standardized benchmarks against the latest internal build of IronPython.  
We’re in the process of reevaluating the platforms we measure these benchmarks 
on with the end goal of increasing the number of tests we can run.  For 
example, if we could cut x64 Vista from the list of platforms, the x64 Vista 
machine(s) could be reimaged to run new benchmarks we wouldn’t have had the 
resources for before.  Alternatively, we might reimage the x64 Vista machine(s) 
as some other platform we don’t currently test under.  Of course in such a 
scenario we’d still run other classifications of tests under x64 Vista.

I wanted to hear peoples’ opinions on the importance of measuring IronPython 
performance under x64 Windows OSes before we make any decisions on this.  First 
off, how many people out there are actually running IronPython under a 64-bit 
OS?  Would it be sufficient for us to report news on IronPython performance in 
terms of 32-bit platforms?

Thanks,

The IronPython Team
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