Performance of the HARRIS RTX 2000 Stack Architecture versus the Sun 4 SPARC and the Sun 3 M68020 Architectures

Abstract

This study compares a stack machine, the Harris RTX 2000, a RISC machine, the Sun 4/SPARC, and a CISC machine, the Sun3/M68020. An attempt is made to compare the generic features of each machine which are characteristic of their architectural classes as opposed to being characteristic of the individual machine only. Performance is compared based on execution of the Stanford Integer Benchmark series (12) and on interrupt response characteristics. The data indicates that, for these benchmarks, the RTX stack architecture approaches or exceeds the SPARC machine performance for such measures as total execution cycles required, clock cycles per instruction, native MIPS, static code size, and dynamic instruction count. The 68020 machine is by far the slowest of the three. When scaled to account for disparities in process technology, the RTX 2000 is as fast as (or faster than) the SPARC in actual program execution time, and it has a smaller code size.