Relative Performance of Micro and Mainframe Computers

Abstract : This article compares the relative performances of two typical operations research algorithms implemented on an IBM PC microcomputer and on a CDC Cyber 6400 mainframe computer. The basis of comparison is the computation time expressed in central proessing unit seconds. The first algorithm performs exclusively integer operations, while the second algorithm performs primarily real arithmetic and transcendental functions. For the integer algorithm the speed ratio is 2.14 or 2.65 depending on the accuracy of the PC, for the real algorithm the speed ratio is 3.6. In general, the speed ratio is approximately equal to 3 to 1, which is extremely favorable for the microcomputer, considering the relative cost of CPU time on each machine. (Author)