MathGroup Archive 2000

[Date Index] [Thread Index] [Author Index]

Search the Archive

Re: Help! Mathematica on my 500MHz outperforms my GHz machine!

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg21643] Re: Help! Mathematica on my 500MHz outperforms my GHz machine!
  • From: Jens-Peer Kuska <kuska at informatik.uni-leipzig.de>
  • Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 03:59:54 -0500 (EST)
  • Organization: Universitaet Leipzig
  • References: <86158s$jss@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Hi,

a) add some memory
b) dont't use Windows NT with Mathematica 3.0.x

The most of the time Mathematica does Interger operations
like referencing pointers, exchange pointer ... the floating
point performance is not so critical.  The a fast memory 
access is also usefull.

But Mathematica 3.0.x has
a bug in it's MathLink protocol on NT that prevent the same high speed 
as with Windows 95/98.

You should upgrade to Mathematica 4.0.1 to get the fixed MathLink
libraries.

Personal I think you have waste the money because for a allmost
numerical
computation C-program as MathLink binary run 40 times faster than a
simulation 
with Mathematica 4.0.1. With Mathematica 3.0.x you shoud gain a factor 
of 100-200. How overclocked must your computer be to run Mathematica 40
faster ?
It would be much better to spend some money for Mathematica 4.0 and some 
brain power to make a C-program. Brute force is not the best way to talk
with
a noble lady like Mathematica.

Hope that helps

Jens

terryis at my-deja.com wrote:
> 
> Help!
> 
> I just took delivery of a 1GHz machine which I
> bought expressly for the purpose of running
> Mathematica. After installation and setup I ran
> a couple of simulations only to discover that it's
> performing at about the same level as my 500MHz
> Pentium III!! Can anyone explain to me why this is
> the case?
> 
> Additional configuration information:
> 
> Pentium III vs. AMD Athlon (K7 overclocked)
> 500MHz vs. 1000MHz
> 128MB RAM vs. 128MB RAM
> 100MHz Front Side Bus vs. 200MHz system interface
> bus based on the Alpha EV6 bus protocol
> 
> Windows98 vs. Windows NT 4
> 
> Both running the same version of Mathematica
> (3.0.1.1), the same simulation (90% of which
> is simple floating point calculations), both
> dedicated only to running Mathematica at the time
> of testing. Disk speed is irrelevant as the
> simulation completes without writing to disk. Swap
> space doesn't seem to be the issue.
> 
> I don't have the exact clock speed of the AMD
> processor but I would imagine it's at least 600MHz
> which in my mind means that it should be faster
> even without over-clocking to 1GHz but it isn't!
> 
> Simple tests of floating point speed (with for
> example a QBASIC program) and other processes
> perform as expected so it would appear that
> Mathematica is doing something different on the
> AMD machine then on the Pentium, but what?
> 
> I've already gone to Wolfram Tech Support. They
> suggested I post here.
> 
> Any and all help will be appreciated.
> 
> Please reply to tchung at us.oracle.com as I do not
> regularly read this newsgroup.
> 
> Thanks in advance!
> 
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Before you buy.


  • Prev by Date: Re: Help! Mathematica on my 500MHz outperforms my GHz machine!
  • Next by Date: Re: Flat, OneIdentity Again
  • Previous by thread: Re: Help! Mathematica on my 500MHz outperforms my GHz machine!
  • Next by thread: Re: Help! Mathematica on my 500MHz outperforms my GHz machine!