Re: Scaling noise

Larry McVoy
2003-09-03T17:32:53Z

On Wed, Sep 03, 2003 at 01:07:03PM -0400, Brown, Len wrote:
> Fortunately seek time on RAM is lower than disk;-) Sure, parallel
> systems are a waste of effort for running a single copy of a single
> threaded app, but when you have multiple apps, or better yet MT apps,
> you win. If system performance were limited over time to the rate of
> decrease in RAM latency, then we'd be in sorry shape.

For a lot of applications we are. Go talk to your buddies in the processor
group, I think there is a fair amount of awareness that for most apps faster
processors aren't doing any good. Ditto for SMP.

> Back to the original off-topic...
> An OEM can spin their motivation to focus on smaller systems in 3 ways:
>
> 1. large server sales are a small % of industry units
> 2. large server sales are a small % of industry revenue
> 3. large server sales are a small % of industry profits
>
> Only 1 is true.

How about some data to back up that statement?

Sun: ~11B/year and losing money, heavily server based
Dell: ~38B/year and making money, 99% small box based

If you were gambling with _your_ money, would you invest in Sun or Dell?
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Larry McVoy lm at bitmover.com http://www.bitmover.com/lm