[H-GEN] CHIP SPEED

[Martin Pool]

> Date: Thu, 12 Feb 1998 12:23:35 +1000 (GMT+1000)
> From: Byron Ellacott <s337166 at student.uq.edu.au>

> On Thu, 12 Feb 1998, BRAND, Frank wrote:
> 
> > 	Pentium 166 (64 MB memory)  	7 min 15 sec
> > 	AMD K6-166 (64 MB memory)	6 min 12 sec
> > 	Pentium II 300 (96 MB memory)	2 min  43 sec
> note that the pII, with the best time, has the most memory.  For a kernel
> compile, the processor is actually in use for a very small percent of the
> time.  *THE* most important factor is memory.  When you do a kernel
> compile, it grinds your HD away .. the more memory you have, the less it
> has to do so.  A fast HD, a caching controller, etc will also improve
> times.  A better processor, in general, will not.

So, it can be worthwhile to run make -j2 or make -j3, to execute
several tasks in parallel.  Of course, there is some overhead in
running more tasks, but on the other hand it's more likely that
when one task is waiting for something to page in another will be able
to do something useful.

--
Martin Pool, Pharos
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