[svlug] Upgrades

[Javilk]

> 
> >     The slowest part of your computer is the disk head -- seeking takes
> > time, especially if you have swap and temp on the same drive.  I have seen
> > a 486 DX 50 with 16 meg beat a 32 meg 100mhz Silicon Graphics Indy
> > consistently _when_ it came to disk intensive tasks.  And vice versa on
> 
> No doubt about the disk head being slow in comparison with the 
> rest of the system. A test like this still has me wondering about
> how effective disk buffers and such are in the SGI in relationship to
> the 486 system. With the Indy having twice as much RAM as the 486, one

    Most disk drive buffering systems are not look-ahead buffering
systems that pre-load the rest of the file into RAM.  In any event, when
processing a 100 meg file on a single pass, it makes no difference how
much memory you have, since you will have to read the entire file once,
and only once.  It is only when you will re-read the file, that buffering
some of it is of any use.

     In general however, multi-tasking systems consider disk-wait time
useful for other tasks, and so do not consider the losses of disk-wait to
be as significant as in single task systems like DOS or early Windows.

- javilk at mall-net.com -----------------------------
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