[Info-vax] BASIC compiler in the hobbyist distribution

[David Froble]

lists at openmailbox.org wrote:
> On Sat, 30 May 2015 13:49:53 -0400
> JF Mezei via Info-vax <info-vax at rbnsn.com> wrote:
> 
>> On 15-05-30 13:34, David Froble wrote:
>>
>>> The performance difference isn't that great.  Unless you require single 
>>> processor performance, you can usually purchase 2 AMD chips for the
>>> cost of one Intel chip. 
>>
>> Sockets on motherboards are expensive, and having multiple sockets has
>> performance disadvantages with regards to memory access and especially
>> shared cache between cores on the same chip.
> 
> True but AMD still wins there doesn't it? The steamrollers or whatever
> they're called have 8 core single socket CPUs. Intel is faster per core, but
> I don't remember hearing they had anything bigger than a quad for a single
> socket consumer chip...
> 
> The 6 or 8 way AMDs are a big win for stuff like Solaris that charges by
> the socket. I don't know/care how Windows charges.
> 

Well, if we're going to discuss these things, why don't we talk about 
what's available today?

Intel Xeon E5-2697 v3 Haswell 2.6GHz LGA 2011-3 145W BX80644E52697V3 
Server Processor

     *  22 nm Haswell
     *  35MB L3 Cache
     *  145W

     * # of Cores: 14-Core

Now, this 14 core chip costs $2,764.  Some issues I have with that.

1) I seem to remember some talk in the past about how hard it would be 
to get a $1000 Alpha chip.  Doesn't seem as if the Intel stuff does any 
better job.

2) That's not an E7, which probably will cost more, and have better 
performance.

Sure, some people might need this, and more.  Perhaps for them Intel is 
the only choice today.  However, what about those who don't need such 
from their CPU.  Developers?  Smaller shops?  Some of the AMD chips, 
should AMD survive, just might allow for rather inexpensive systems for 
when such is appropriate.

Since I touched on AMD surviving, I have to ask, if they cannot survive 
against Intel, then where is some entity going to come from that might 
provide an alternative to Intel?  Huh?

In the interest of not being another nail in the AMD coffin, I think it 
would be good for VSI to at least have code that supports at least one 
AMD configuration.