4 ms·

Correct about the I/O. You can let the space-bar auto-repeat 1919 times, for instance (nearest equivalent to circling the mouse) and the CPU cost is... zero. Wh

Correct about the I/O. You can let the space-bar auto-repeat 1919 times, for instance (nearest equivalent to circling the mouse) and the CPU cost is... zero. When, exactly, do you think that the X86 surpassed the Mainframe processors, and in what particular way? Current generation (expect a new one this year) is 5Ghz (actually slower than the previous) and has lots of stuff. A fully-loaded box has a theoretical throughput of 30bn (yes, billion) RESTful transactions per day. And if that isn't enough power, you can hang another 31 boxes onto it and treat them as one.

tyingq 9y ago
"When, exactly, do you think that the X86 surpassed the Mainframe processors, and in what particular way?" Fairly recently. Through things like affordable ssd, enough Moore's law around intel, and better distributed data stores. And better app side knowledge on how to break up a monolith. I was around for a few failed "rewrite this TPF system" attempts and I saw what broke. Commodity stuff can replace it now...but only very recently. Or if you just meant x86-64 vs any other CPU, for the CPU alone? That debate is just done. They poured enough money into that mess that they won, assuming you don't care about power consumption.
- BillWoodger 9y ago
  Moore's runs into the laws of physics: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/02/24/how-ibm-plans-to-innovate-past-moores-law/#73e8afd24dde https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/02/24/how-ibm-p... Mainframe DASD is the same as "X86" disks, at least for those using "storage arrays". Pretty much all the smaller Mainframes are gone, many years ago. I've not heard of any successful replacement of a loaded system which used fewer than three times the initial projection of "X86-power". Anyway, time will tell. In 10 years' time you'll still think X86 is faster and there'll still be Mainframes. As to your last line, who is "they"? I'm just interested. Thanks.
  - tyingq 9y ago
    They is Intel directly, but collectively everyone buying Intel products. And a bit of AMD.

tyingq 9y ago

"When, exactly, do you think that the X86 surpassed the Mainframe processors, and in what particular way?" Fairly recently. Through things like affordable ssd, enough Moore's law around intel, and better distributed data stores. And better app side knowledge on how to break up a monolith. I was around for a few failed "rewrite this TPF system" attempts and I saw what broke. Commodity stuff can replace it now...but only very recently. Or if you just meant x86-64 vs any other CPU, for the CPU alone? That debate is just done. They poured enough money into that mess that they won, assuming you don't care about power consumption.

BillWoodger 9y ago
Moore's runs into the laws of physics: https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/02/24/how-ibm-plans-to-innovate-past-moores-law/#73e8afd24dde https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2016/02/24/how-ibm-p... Mainframe DASD is the same as "X86" disks, at least for those using "storage arrays". Pretty much all the smaller Mainframes are gone, many years ago. I've not heard of any successful replacement of a loaded system which used fewer than three times the initial projection of "X86-power". Anyway, time will tell. In 10 years' time you'll still think X86 is faster and there'll still be Mainframes. As to your last line, who is "they"? I'm just interested. Thanks.
- tyingq 9y ago
  They is Intel directly, but collectively everyone buying Intel products. And a bit of AMD.