ALPHA WILL EXIT THE YEAR IN POLE POSITION (AGAIN)

Barring further slippage, The Microprocessor Report estimates that Compaq’s Alpha RISC should finish 1999 at the top of the CPU integer performance pile. The 750MHz 21264 is expected to exit the year at around 37 SPECint95. Hewlett-Packard should take the integer lead this quarter with its 440MHz PA-8500 at 30 SPECint95, though it will also be overhauled by Sparc if Sun can ship its 600MHz, 35 SPECint95 UltraSparc III by year-end. Intel’s 600MHz Katmai-enabled Cascades chip will supposedly be doing 25 Specint95.SPECint95. SGI’s MIPS will be at around 22 SPECint95 with the 400MHz R12000 while Motorola’s 450MHz G4 PowerPC will be at around 20 SPECint95. On floating point, the 750MHz 21264 and 600MHz UltraSparc III should be tied by year-end at 60 SPECfp95. The 440MHz PA-8500 should reach 50 SPECfp95 by this quarter. IBM Corp’s 400MHz Power3 should reach 45 SPECfp95 next quarter. The 400MHz R12000 is slated to reach 33 SPECfp95, the 450MHz G4 PowerPC 20 SPECfp95 and Cascades around 19 SPECfp95. The irony is that its is HP’s PA-RISC instruction set wins the Report’s award for best RISC processor when it is destined for the scrap heap.