VAX vs. Alpha for OpenVMS

From: Jochen Kunz <jkunz_at_unixag-kl.fh-kl.de>
Date: Thu May 22 03:43:00 2003

On 2003.05.22 08:30 Zane H. Healy wrote:

> A co-worker of mine just bought a VAXstation 4000/90 and a DEC
> 3000/400. She wants to use one of them as a Mail Server running
> OpenVMS. The VAX looks to have 104MB, the Alpha looks to only have
> 96MB.
The DEC 3000-[456789]00 need very special 100 pin 40 bit ECC SIMMs. One
memory bank consists of 8 SIMMs. This gives a memory bandwith of
[viewing ek-d3sys-pm.ps.gz] 427 MB/s (model 400) to 640 MB/s (model
800). That is a lot for a 10 year old design. The low end DEC 3000-300
are in the range of 200 MB/s to 329 MB/s. 96MB is not much for an
Alpha...

The VS4k90 maxes out at 128 MB RAM. Are you sure it has 104 MB RAM? The
VS4k90 has 8 SIMM sockets and one bank consists of 4 SIMMs. It needs
special 80 pin ECC SIMMs. It can take 4 MB or 16 MB SIMMs. So the
machine can have 16, 32, 64, 80 or 128 MB RAM.

Maybe it is a VS4k60? The VS4k60 has 8 MB on board and 6 SIMM sockets.
It takes the same RAM as the VS4k90 and one bank consists of 2 SIMMs. So
you get 104 MB RAM with the 8 MB on board 6 x 16 MB SIMMs.

The VS4k60 has 12 VUPs and the VS4k90 24 VUPs (or 30, don't remember).
If it is a VS4k60, it would be best to epay some RAM for the DEC
3000-400 and use it. If it is a VS4k90, well, the DEC 3000-400 eats
about twice (!) as much electricity as the VS4k90. So if this is
importand... Depending on the load, the VS4k90 may be better as it has
more RAM and the VAX is _very_ memory efficient. 128 MB is a _lot_ for a
VAX.
-- 
tsch??,
       Jochen
Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/
Received on Thu May 22 2003 - 03:43:00 BST

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