Greg M. Johnson <gre### [at] my-dejanewscom> wrote:
: for similar speed?

  Define "speed". (Cpu clock frequency? MIPS? MFLOPS? Something else?)

-- 
char*i="b[7FK@`3NB6>B:b3O6>:B:b3O6><`3:;8:6f733:>::b?7B>:>^B>C73;S1";
main(_,c,m){for(m=32;c=*i++-49;c&m?puts(""):m)for(_=(
c/4)&7;putchar(m),_--?m:(_=(1<<(c&3))-1,(m^=3)&3););}    /*- Warp -*/

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"Warp" <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote in message
news:3a5f35e7@news.povray.org...

>   Define "speed". (Cpu clock frequency? MIPS? MFLOPS? Something else?)
>

I assumed (and I think Ken assumed) that he meant rendering speed (what
other benchmark is there?).

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Tom Melly <tom### [at] tomandlucouk> wrote:
: I assumed (and I think Ken assumed) that he meant rendering speed (what
: other benchmark is there?).

  If rendering speed (with povray) is the same, then it really doesn't
matter which CPU you use :)

-- 
char*i="b[7FK@`3NB6>B:b3O6>:B:b3O6><`3:;8:6f733:>::b?7B>:>^B>C73;S1";
main(_,c,m){for(m=32;c=*i++-49;c&m?puts(""):m)for(_=(
c/4)&7;putchar(m),_--?m:(_=(1<<(c&3))-1,(m^=3)&3););}    /*- Warp -*/

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Warp wrote:

> If rendering speed (with povray) is the same, then it really doesn't
> matter which CPU you use :)

Do you really mean that a 450 MHz Pentium II is as fast as a 450 MHz Pentium
III,  Celeron, etc., as far as povray rendering time?   It goes against my
intuition, or at least my cynical view that it's not that simple.

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"Greg M. Johnson" wrote:
> 
> Anyone know the difference between a:
> 
> AMD Athlon
> Pentium III
> Intel Celeron
> 
> for similar speed?

If you mean Povray speed (i.e. mainly FPU performance), AFAIK the Athlon
is fastest when compared at the same Frequency.  Furthermore I think the
Celeron is slower than the P3.  

BTW, the German c't magazine regularly publishes Povray benchmark results
for all CPUs.

Christoph

-- 
Christoph Hormann <chr### [at] gmxde>
IsoWood include, radiosity tutorial, TransSkin and other 
things on: http://www.schunter.etc.tu-bs.de/~chris/

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In article <3A5F48B9.FBA4E5E0@my-dejanews.com> , "Greg M. Johnson" 
<gre### [at] my-dejanewscom> wrote:

> Do you really mean that a 450 MHz Pentium II is as fast as a 450 MHz Pentium
> III,  Celeron, etc., as far as povray rendering time?   It goes against my
> intuition, or at least my cynical view that it's not that simple.

No, you are confusing CPU speed with render time.  They are two _different_
things.  You asked for a comparison of "CPU speed" vs "render time".  Render
time is a measurement of "CPU speed", thus you can't use one to compare the
other...

I think what Warp wants to point out is that CPU clock frequency (which is
what you seem to be up to) has absolutely no value to compare anything.
With this knowledge, the only useful comparison is to give a full system
configuration, both hardware and software, include such obscure factors like
disk fragmentation, and then look at the render time.

I suspect your question is in the direction of what CPU should I buy to
render fastest with POV-Ray?   As for this question, find a friend with a
similar configuartion you would like to buy and install POV-Ray.  Is it fast
enough for you compared to you current system?  If yes, buy exactly the same
system, if no, go to another friend and repeat the exercise.


     Thorsten

____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany
e-mail: tho### [at] trfde

Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

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In article <3a5f59ce@news.povray.org> , "Thorsten Froehlich" 
<tho### [at] trfde> wrote:

> Render
> time is a measurement of "CPU speed", thus you can't use one to compare the
> other...

Grr, this was supposed to be "isn't a measurement of"...


____________________________________________________
Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany
e-mail: tho### [at] trfde

Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

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Thanks but that's hopelessly impractical advice.  What I see are sales on
different PC's.  I was sort of waiting for the price of a 1000 MHz PIII to drop
but now I see AMD chips fall into reasonable prices.  And I have **already** once
before asked my local Circuit City if I could install povray on each of their
machines.  The clerk asked his manager, who asked me if I had ever heard of
something called a "computer virus," the risk being too great.......

Thorsten Froehlich wrote:

> I suspect your question is in the direction of what CPU should I buy to
> render fastest with POV-Ray?   As for this question, find a friend with a
> similar configuartion you would like to buy and install POV-Ray.  Is it fast
> enough for you compared to you current system?  If yes, buy exactly the same
> system, if no, go to another friend and repeat the exercise.
>
>      Thorsten
>
> ____________________________________________________
> Thorsten Froehlich, Duisburg, Germany
> e-mail: tho### [at] trfde
>
> Visit POV-Ray on the web: http://mac.povray.org

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"Greg M. Johnson" wrote:
> 
> Warp wrote:
> 
> > If rendering speed (with povray) is the same, then it really doesn't
> > matter which CPU you use :)
> 
> Do you really mean that a 450 MHz Pentium II is as fast as a 450 MHz Pentium
> III,  Celeron, etc., as far as povray rendering time?

Believe or not, the above is usually true for the three processors you named.
In my experience, the main factor in POV performance is the processor's FPU
(Floating Point Unit), the part of the processor which handles math-intensive
computations such as - surprise - raytracing. The three processors you mention
all belong to the same family of processors (which also includes the old Pentium
Pro, but not Pentium IV). As such they have all but identical floating point
units.
I used to have a Celeron myself, and its POV benchmarks were practically equal
to those of Pentium II / Pentium III at the same clock speed.

-- 
Margus Ramst

Personal e-mail: mar### [at] peakeduee
TAG (Team Assistance Group) e-mail: mar### [at] tagpovrayorg
Home page http://www.hot.ee/margusrt

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"Greg M. Johnson" wrote:
> 
> Anyone know the difference between a:
> 
> AMD Athlon
> Pentium III
> Intel Celeron
> 
> for similar speed?

Athlon (and its little brother, Duron) is probably best of the three, at least
in POV-Ray.
Pentium III should be similar in terms of performance, but costs quite a bit
more than an equivalent Athlon.
Celeron, while probably a reasonable performer in POV, is by now widely regarded
as overpriced and underpowered. It recently experienced a mild facelift
(migrating to a 100MHz bus speed), but in my opinion that's too little too late.

If you want a good machine for POV-Ray, I'd recommend the following:
Athlon "Thunderbird" for best performance (currently goes up to 1.2 GHz)
Athlon "Duron" for best value (currently up to 850 MHz)
The P III is also a solid processor if you've got money to burn. It reputedly
has less compatibility problems than Athlon (although I've had no trouble with
my Duron).
I don't recommend the Celeron; nor do I recommend the new Pentium 4, at least
until system prices drop and optimized software becomes available.

-- 
Margus Ramst

Personal e-mail: mar### [at] peakeduee
TAG (Team Assistance Group) e-mail: mar### [at] tagpovrayorg
Home page http://www.hot.ee/margusrt

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