Ask Ars: what’s the relationship between CPU clockspeed and performance?

Question: Intel’s Sandy Bridge launch just brought its desktop CPU line up to 3.8GHz, but I remember that the Pentium 4 got up to 3.8GHz before being cancelled. So why is it that Sandy Bridge is just now getting to the clock speed levels that the Pentium 4 was at years ago? And how is it that Sandy Bridge still manages to outperform the older Pentium 4, even though it has a lower clock speed?

via Ask Ars: what’s the relationship between CPU clockspeed and performance?.

Worth a read.

SPARC T4 looks to be good enough to stave off defections to x86, Linux

For those who are still members of the Sparc/Solaris installed base—those who haven’t headed for x86 or Itanium already—the T4 is potentially good news. It provides a way to preserve investments in existing Solaris skills and software while getting a significant performance boost over the year-old T3. The T4 will likely stop some defections, buy Oracle time as it prepares its next generation of processor, and reduce the company’s dependence on reselling Fujitsu SPARC 64 systems to run its own database.

via SPARC T4 looks to be good enough to stave off defections to x86, Linux.