New DEC announcement, 7/11

[Bill Elgie]

In article <7325 at cbmvax.UUCP>, grr at cbmvax.UUCP (George Robbins) writes:
>   ...re the DECsystem 58nn (6000 series box):
> 
> For the sake of argument, let's assume that the XMI bus can provide the
> instantaneous thruput to handle cache load/store operations.  The question
> then boils down whether or not there is a large enough on-board cache to
> allow effective sharing of the bus........ I think with a cache this size 
> ..(256 Kb)..or larger, the XMI bus should be able to support N-way multi-
> processing fairly effectively.

  Quote from DEC: "...the CPU includes a first-level cache of 128 Kbytes, supp-
  lemented by a second-level cache of 256 Kbytes."
> 
> Of couse it's hard to tell, DEC loves to alternate balls-to-the-wall high
> thruput, wide margin, designs with cost driven, compromise or cripple
> everything designs (or unfortunate combinations of the two 8-)...  Lately
> though it's seems they've picked up on IBM's "100 incrementally expensive
> steps to true performance", so who knows?
> 
  Overall, I have been surprised by DEC's RISC-based system pricing: much lower
  than I had expected.  

> I wonder if there is any literature available yet?  The VMS guys here
> were talking about new announcements (6400 etc.) in the next couple of
> weeks.
> 
  The 6400 was announced the same day as the new RISC systems.  Also announced 
  was a 2.8 MVUP Microvax 3100 server, $6,680 with 4 megs and a 100(?) meg hard
  disk.


  A question for MIPS and DEC/ULTRIX people:  the DECsystem 5400, with internal
  clock speed of 20 MHz, is rated at "16.6 MIPS", while the 5810, at 25 MHz, is
  rated by DEC at "18.7 MIPS".  Why the samll difference ?  Memory bandwith ?
  Just curiosity, but would appreciate an answer anyway.

 
 P.S.: For those who may not know, DEC has an online "store" that answers most
       of the questions that have been asked about the July 11 announcement.
       Most of the info was in by mid-morning of the 11th.  The "store" is ob-
       viously not a source for truly in-depth technical info, obviously. 

       You can get an account for it very easily (albeit slowly) by calling one
       of the nos. listed on DEC's "DEC DIRECT" catalog.  You can also dial in
       to 1-800-332-3366; hit ctrl-c when asked to log in.  I don't know if
       this login bypass was intended, but it works.


 greg pavlov (under borrowed account), fstrf, amherst, ny