Re: benchmarks...

> I put a set of benchmark figures accumulated from this list.
>
> http://www.hashcash.org/benchmark/
>
> If I missed your machine -- fire me an email with the info or reply
> here.

I found someone with a 2GHz G5, who got 9.2Mh/s (0.114 sec for 20-bit), 
using the Altivec standard 2x4-pipe core (and almost as much on the 
compact version).  Unlike on the G4, the 1x4-pipe version was 
noticeably slower.

I also managed to bench a real 25MHz 486DX, which achieved about 9700, 
using the compact 1-pipe core.  That's about 100 seconds for 20 bits.  
That run also confirmed that the MMX detection code was fixed, as it 
correctly skipped the MMX cores even though they were compiled in, and 
that 486 doesn't have CPUID.

My 200MHz Pentium-MMX achieves about 0.33Mh/s using the Standard MMX 
core.

There's an obvious error in the listed benchmark for the G3 - it can't 
possibly run the Altivec cores, as only a G4 or G5 can do that.  It's 
probably running best on the 1-pipe standard core, as do all the scalar 
PowerPCs I've seen.  The number seems about right, though - it's worth 
noting that even without vector extensions, the G3 is clock-for-clock 
faster than the Pentium-MMX.

I'll try to pull an up-to-date result from my older PowerPCs (601, 
603e) at some point.  I don't directly know anyone with a 604e, but 
it's likely to be clock-comparable with a G3, as the layout of the 
basic integer units is similar.

I haven't yet got reasonable 68K code, but at one point I got about 
0.01Mh/s from my 80MHz 68040 (it should be capable of much more than 
that - my 68K compiler frankly sucks).  I think I should install a *IX 
on it, and thus get access to GCC.

We could do with finding someone with a K8 (Opteron/A64) core, as 
that's the one major x86 subarchitecture missing right now.  It would 
also be instructive to run on an ARM chip of some description, as it 
seems to be very widely used in PDAs and appliances.  My parents have 
an old Archimedes with an early ARM in it, so if push comes to shove I 
could try to install Linux on it.

Trivia:  ARM used to be a division of Acorn, and the ARM processor 
(then the Acorn RISC Machine) was specifically designed to run the 
Archimedes computer, the successor to the BBC Micro series.  
Eventually, they were persuaded to make the ARM core available more 
widely, so Advanced RISC Machines was born.  Today, more ARM cores are 
sold than any other architecture.  And people say Acorn was a 
failure...

--------------------------------------------------------------
from:     Jonathan "Chromatix" Morton
mail:     [email protected]
website:  http://www.chromatix.uklinux.net/
tagline:  The key to knowledge is not to rely on people to teach you it.