The document discusses different measures used to compare computer performance: Clock speed measures the number of cycles per second, but the number of cycles needed varies between processors. MIPS measures millions of instructions per second and is affected by instruction complexity. FLOPS measures floating point operations per second and better compares arithmetic speed between processors using similar instructions. Benchmarks use standard tasks to measure overall performance.

2. Clock Speed
The time between pulses is called the cycle time
A 3 GHz processor has 3000 million cycles per second
However it cannot be taken for granted that the computer with the highest clock speed
is the faster system as the number of cycles needed to carry out an instruction may vary
between the processors.
Which is faster - 3 GHz Pentium processor or a 3.2 GHz Pentium processor?
Which is faster – 3 GHz Pentium processor or a 3 GHz AMD processor?

3. MIPS
Millions of Instructions per Second = MIPS
MIPS are a measure of how many millions of instructions the processor
can execute in one second.
Note that the machine cycle time is the time it takes to fetch and execute one instruction
It cannot be taken for granted that the
computer with the highest MIPS rate is the
faster system
because
there is no standard set of instructions and so
some processors use simpler and faster
instructions than others.

4. FLOPS
Floating Point Operations per Second = MIPS
This is a measure of the arithmetical speed of a processor.
The procedures involved in carrying out
floating point multiplication are basically the
same in every processor
so
FLOPS is a better measure than clock speed or
MIPS when comparing system performance.

5. Benchmarks
Benchmarks are a standard set of computer tasks designed to allow a
computer’s performance to be measured.

6. Credits
Higher Computing – Computer Structure – Measures of Performance
Produced by P. Greene for the City of Edinburgh Council 2004
Adapted by M. Cunningham 2010
All images licenced under Creative Commons 3.0
• Blue Boost Gauge by Sandy Zieba
• Purple Boost Gauge by Sandy Zieba
• Intel Core i5 by Flutlicht PR on Flickr
• AMD Athlon 64 CPU by Nayu Kim (nayukim on Flickr)
• Windows, Mac y ubuntu en la oficina by Javier Aroche
• Precision by Leonid Mamchenkov

7. Credits
Higher Computing – Computer Structure – Measures of Performance
Produced by P. Greene for the City of Edinburgh Council 2004
Adapted by M. Cunningham 2010
All images licenced under Creative Commons 3.0
• Blue Boost Gauge by Sandy Zieba
• Purple Boost Gauge by Sandy Zieba
• Intel Core i5 by Flutlicht PR on Flickr
• AMD Athlon 64 CPU by Nayu Kim (nayukim on Flickr)
• Windows, Mac y ubuntu en la oficina by Javier Aroche
• Precision by Leonid Mamchenkov