CompuServe Messages

Shawn: The PC version running on a 486/66 renders about 4 times faster than the released Amiga version on an 040/25. Since 3.0 was released, I have ported the Amiga code over to the SAS C compiler, which has resulted in about a 30% improvement in rendering speed making the Amiga 3.1 about 3 times slower. There are two major factors in the speed difference, one being compiler optimization and the other being processor speed. The WatCOM compiler on the PC has many man-years of optimization in it which SAS does not yet have. Given the size of the market, SAS is doing quite well with their compiler, improving it with each release, but it doesn't generate nearly the revenue that a PC compiler does, hence less money available for optimization. From what I've seen, if you had a 486/25 and an 040/25, they would be pretty close in speed. The reason that PCs seem so slow is usually the fault of Windows and code written in 16 bit mode, rather than the processor. VistaPro is actually a pretty good test of processor speed and compiler optimization as the rendering code is identical on the various processors. I am looking forward to seeing how well it does on the 060. <grin> Clint <VRLI><Chaocity>