[LinuxUsers] ARM Cortex A9 vs x86

[Chris Louden]

Have you looked at a virtual solution or perhaps a thin client? More
and more I am seeing performance increases with virtual solutions. A
single quad system core with a nice amount of RAM could easily replace
4-5 workstations. Perhaps 8-10 with reasonable design considerations.

-Chris



On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 11:43 AM, Randall Whitman <909linux at whizman.com> wrote:
>
> How would *4* ARM cores compare with *2* Intel/AMD cores?
> (quad-core ARM Cortex A9 cf Intel Core2 Duo)
>
> A. Background
>   1. Current workstation is adequate 99% of the time but creaks when
>      Firebug & Dragonfly chew up CPU - current hardware is:
>      1x AMD-Athlon-XP3000+ (2166Mhz, 128k L1, 512k L2) w/ 166Mhz bus, 2G RAM;
>      current RAM usage runs 3G including cache&buffers, 2G without.
>   2. I have read that the biggest TCO of a computer is often the
>      electrical power consumption.
>
> B. Objectives of new workstation (for which i am starting to plan/spec-out)
>   1. Run Firebug/Firefox & Dragonfly/Opera simultaneously,
>      with OpenOffice responsive meanwhile.
>   2. Potentially run OpenOffice (or Firefox, etc) under debuggers
>      (gdb, valgrind; not at the same time as B1).
>   3. Limit electrical power usage - rationale is both TCO & environment/green.
>   4. Limit noise - silent/fanless ideal.
>   5. Usable for at least 5 years before replacement,
>      no hardware-induced downtime.
>   6. Run my choice of GNU/Linux distribution (currently Ubuntu,
>      subject to change), with full hardware support.
>   7. Balance all of the above objectives with budget/initial-cost/price.
>
> C. Draft specs
>   CPU:    ARM Cortex A9 (2x 2-core 2-scaler 2Ghz @ 2W) (or 1x 4-core)
>   RAM:    3-4G
>   video:  ~2000x1600 capable, specs avail for FOSS X-driver (monitor separate)
>   I/O:    HD >= ~200G, DVD, USB, Eth
>   OS:     Ubuntu-LTS
>   other:  low electric power use, low noise
>
> I think roughly i'm trying to maximize mips-per-watt, price/performance,
> and/or mips/watt/price - given the minimum capabilities/performance listed
> in B1-2 above.
>
> T.I.A. for additional insights.
>
> /Randall
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