Subject: DEC Alpha 566 vs. 600 MHz

From: "Andrzej Eilmes" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 1998 09:42:24 MET+2

Dear CCL-ers,

We are considering purchase of a workstation based on DEC Alpha processor.
There is a substantial price difference between 566 MHz and 600 MHz:
7000 $ vs. 8200 $ which is about 17%, while the increase of
"nominal" processor speed is 6%.

My question is: does anyone know from his own experience what is the actual
speed difference between these two procesors in typical theoretical
chemistry or solid state physics calculations. I guess that it is larger
than simply 6%. In other words I wonder whether it is reasonable to pay
17% more for faster machine - is the gain worth the money?

I would be grateful for any suggestions,

            Andrzej Eilmes

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  Dr Andrzej Eilmes                   [email-masked]
  Faculty of Chemistry, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland
  Phone: (48-12) 6336377 ext. 213          Fax: (48-12) 6340515
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