Re: [ANNOUNCE] Dolphin PCI-SCI RPM Drivers 1.1-4 released

[Jeff V. Merkey]

On Tue, Jan 30, 2001 at 07:22:48PM +0200, Pekka Pietikainen wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 30, 2001 at 10:19:58AM -0700, Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
> > On Mon, Jan 29, 2001 at 09:41:21PM -0700, Todd wrote:
> > 
> > Sparc servers.  The adapters these drivers I posted support are a bi-CMOS 
> > implementation of the SCI LC3 chipsets, and even though they are 
> > bi-CMOS, the Link speed on the back end is still 500 MB/S --
> > very respectable.
> Sounds impressive (and expensive)

??? - Cheap PCI boards I think are the idea here.

> > 
> > in another system with **NO COPYING**.  Ethernet and LAN networking always 
> > copies data into userspace -- SCI has the ability to dump it directly 
> > into user space pages without copying.  That's what is cool about SCI, 
> Well, my GigE card does that too. Not with TCP, though :)
> (see http://oss.sgi.com/projects/stp)
> > processor utilitzation will be high, and there will be lots of 
> > copying going on in the system.   What numbers does G-Enet provide 
> > doing userspace -> userspace transfers, and at what processor 
> > overhead?  These are the types of things that are the metrics for 
> What I get is 102MB/s with 4% CPU use on a dual pIII/500 32/66 box sending to
> a dual pII/450 32/33 box (about 10M/s less the other way around, so 
> I'm assuming I'd get somewhat more with real 64/66 PCI buses on both 
> machines) 
> 
> > I could ask Dolphin for a GaAs version of the LC3 card (one board would
> > cost the equivalent to the income of a small third world nation), and 
> > rerun the tests on a Sparc system or Sequent system, and watch G-Enet
> > system suck wind in comparison.  
> Or you can buy an Alteon-based Netgear 620 for under $300. It all 
> depends on your budget and needs :)

Hummm...  The SCI Adapters are very close to the same price.  They don't
need switches and can be cabled via fiber, copper, or cables in stack 
mount boxes containing dozens (or hundreds) of systems fault tolerantly.  
Not requiring a hub is a plus ..... could save someone $500K in expenses
for a big cluster.  Switch vendors love G-Enet ... customers have to pay 
more for it since the high end switches are so costly.

Jeff

> 
> -- 
> Pekka Pietikainen
> 
> 
> 
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