From: eugene@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: [l/m 12/1/92] SPEC info sources	(16/28) c.be. FAQ
Keywords: who, what, where, when, why, how
Organization: NAS Program, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 12:25:10 GMT
Reply-To: eugene@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)

16	SPEC					<This panel>
17	Benchmark invalidation methods
18
19	WPI Benchmark
20	Equivalence
21	TPC
22
23
24
25	Ridiculously short benchmarks
26	Other miscellaneous benchmarks
27
28	References
1	Introduction to the FAQ chain and netiquette
2
3	PERFECT Club
4
5	Performance Metrics
6
7	Music to benchmark by
8	Benchmark types
9	Linpack
10
11	NIST source and .orgs
12	Measurement Environments
13	SLALOM
14
15	12 Ways to Fool the Mass with Benchmarks


Contents:
1. What is SPEC
2. How to Contact SPEC
3. SPEC's Products and Services
4. Current SPEC Benchmarks
4.1 CPU Benchmarks
4.2 SDM Benchmarks
5. Outdated SPEC Benchmarks
6. Forthcoming SPEC Benchmarks
7. Membership in SPEC


1. What is SPEC
===============

SPEC, the System Performance Evaluation Cooperative, is a non-profit
corporation formed to "establish, maintain and endorse a standardized
set of relevant benchmarks that can be applied to the newest
generation of high-performance computers". The founders of this
organization believe that the user community will benefit greatly
from an objective series of applications-oriented tests, which can
serve as common reference points and be considered during the
evaluation process. While no one benchmark can fully characterize
overall system performance, the results of a variety of realistic
benchmarks can give valuable insight into expected real performance.

The members of SPEC are currently: Apple, AT&T/NCR, Bull, Compaq,
Control Data, Data General, DEC, Fujitsu, Hal Computer,
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Intel, Intergraph, MIPS, Motorola, NeXT, Prime,
Siemens Nixdorf, Silicon Graphics, Solbourne, Sun, Unisys.

SPEC Associates are currently: Leibniz Computing Center of the
Bavarian Academy of Science, National Taiwan University, SERC
Daresbury Laboratory.

Legally, SPEC is a non-profit coporation (legal name: Standard
Performance Evaluation Corporation) registered in California.

SPEC basically does 2 things:

- SPEC develops suites of benchmarks intended to measure computer
  performance. These suites are packaged with source code and tools
  and are extensively tested for portability before release. They are
  available to the public for a fee covering development and
  administration costs. By license agreement, SPEC members and
  customers agree to run and report results as specified in each
  benchmark suite's documentation.

- SPEC publishes a quarterly report of SPEC news and benchmark
  results: The SPEC Newsletter. This provides a centralized source of
  information for SPEC benchmark results. Both SPEC members and
  non-SPEC members may publish in the SPEC Newsletter, though there
  is a fee for non-members. (Note that results may be published
  elsewhere as long as the format specified in the SPEC Run Rules is
  followed.)


2. How to Contact SPEC
======================

    SPEC [Systems Performance Evaluation Corporation]
    c/o NCGA [National Computer Graphics Association]
    2722 Merrilee Drive
    Suite 200
    Fairfax, VA 22031
    USA

    Phone:  +1-703-698-9600 Ext. 318
    FAX:    +1-703-560-2752
    E-Mail: spec-ncga@cup.portal.com

For technical questions regarding the SPEC benchmarks (e.g., problems
with execution of the benchmarks), Dianne Dean (she is the person
normally handling SPEC matters at NCGA) refers the caller to an
expert at a SPEC member company.


3. SPEC Products and Services
=============================

The SPEC benchmark sources are generally available, but not free.
SPEC is charging separately for its benchmark suites; the income from
the benchmark source tapes is intended to support the administrative
costs of the corporation - making tapes, answering questions about the
benchmarks, and so on. Buyers of the benchmark tapes have to sign a
license stating the conditions of use (site license only) and the
rules for result publications. All benchmark suites come on QIC 24
tapes, written in UNIX tar format. Accredited universities receive a
50 % discount on SPEC tape products.

Current prices are:

  CINT92          $  425.00
  CFP92           $  575.00
  CINT92&CFP92    $  900.00
  SDM             $ 1450.00
  Release1.2b     $ 1000.00

The SPEC Newsletter appears quarterly, it contains result
publications for a variety of machines (typically, about 50-70 pages
of result pages per issue) as well as articles dealing with SPEC
and benchmarking.

  Newsletter      $  550.00    (1 year subscription, 4 issues)


4. Current SPEC Benchmarks
==========================

4.1 CPU Benchmarks
==================

There are currently two suites of compute-intensive SPEC benchmarks,
measuring the performance of CPU, memory system, and compiler code
generation. They use UNIX as the portability vehicle, but the
percentage of time spent in operating system and I/O functions is
generally negligible.

CINT92, current release: Rel. 1.1
---------------------------------

This suite contains 6 benchmarks performing integer computations,
all of them are written in C. The individual programs are:

Number and name  Area                       Approx. size
                                            gross   net

008.espresso     Circuit Theory             14800   11000
022.li           LISP interpreter            7700    5000
023.eqntott      Logic Design                3600    2600
026.compress     Data Compression            1500    1000
072.sc           Spreadsheet Calculator      8500    7100
085.gcc          GNU C Compiler             87800   58800
                                           ------   -----
                                           123900   85500

The approximate static size is given in numbers of source code lines,
including declarations (header files). "Gross" numbers include
comments and blank lines, "net" numbers exclude them.

CFP92, current release: Rel. 1.1
--------------------------------

This suite contains 14 benchmarks performing floating-point
computations. 12 of them are written in Fortran, 2 in C. The
individual programs are:

Number and name  Area                       Lang.   Approx. size
                                                    gross   net

013.spice2g6     Circuit Design             F      18900   15000
015.doduc        Monte Carlo Simulation     F       5300    5300
034.mdljdp2      Quantum Chemistry          F       4500    3600
039.wave5        Maxwell's Equation         F       7600    6400
047.tomcatv      Coordinate Translation     F        200     100
048 ora          Optical Ray Tracing        F        500     300
052.alvinn       Robotics                   C        300     200
056.ear          Medical Modeling           C       5200    3300
077.mdljsp2      Quantum Chemistry          F       3900    3100
078.swm256       Shallow Water Model        F        500     300
089.su2cor       Quantum Physics            F       2500    1700
090.hydro2d      Astrophysics               F       4500    1700
093.nasa7        NASA Kernels               F       1300     800
094.fpppp        Quantum Chemistry          F       2700    2100
                                                   -----   -----
                                                   57900   43900

More information about the individual benchmarks is contained in
description files in each benchmark's subdirectory on the SPEC
benchmark tape.

The CPU benchmarks can be used for measurement in two ways:
- Speed measurement
- Throuput measurement

Speed Measurement
-----------------

The results ("SPEC Ratio" for each individual benchmark) are
expressed as the ratio of the wall clock time to execute one single
copy of the benchmark, compared to a fixed "SPEC reference time"
(which was chosen early-on as the execution time on a VAX 11/780).

As is apparent from results publications, the different SPEC ratios
for a given machine can vary widely. SPEC encourages the public to
look at the individual results for each benchmarks; users should
compare the characteristics of their workload with that of the
individual SPEC benchmarks and consider those benchmarks that
best approximate their jobs. However, SPEC also recognizes the
demand for aggregate result numbers and has defined the integer
and floating-point averages

  SPECint92 = geometric average of the 6 SPEC ratios from CINT92
  SPECfp92  = geometric average of the 14 SPEC ratios from CFP92

Throughput Measurement
-----------------------

With this measurement method, called the "homogenuous capacity
method", several copies of a given benchmark are executed; this
method is particularly suitable for multiprocessor systems. The
results, called SPEC rate, express how many jobs of a particular type
(characterized by the individual benchmark) can be executed in a
given time (The SPEC reference time happens to be a week, the
execution times are normalized with respect to a VAX 11/780). The
SPEC rates therefore characterize the capacity of a system for
compute-intensive jobs of similar characteristics.

Similar as with the speed metric, SPEC has defined averages

  SPECrate_int92 = geometric average of the 6 SPEC rates from CINT92
  SPECrate_fp92  = geometric average of the 14 SPEC rates from CFP92

Because of the different units, the values SPECint92/SPECfp92 and
SPECrate_int92/SPECrate_fp92 cannot be compared directly.

No more SPECmark computation
----------------------------

While the old average "SPECmark[89]" has been popular with the
industry and the press (see section 5: Oudated SPEC Benchmarks), SPEC
has intentionally *not* defined an average "SPECmark92" over all CPU
benchmarks of the 1992 suites, for the following reasons:

- With 6 integer and 14 floating-point benchmarks, the average would
  be biased too much towards floating-point,
- Customers' workloads are different, some integer-only, some
  floating-point intensive, some mixed,
- Current processors have developed their strengths in a more diverse
  way (some more emphasizing integer performance, some more floating-
  point performance) than in 1989.


4.2 SDM Benchmarks
==================

SDM stands for "Systems Development Multiuser"; the two benchmarks in
this suite (current release: 1.1) characterize the capacity of a
system in a multiuser UNIX environment. Contrary to the CPU
benchmarks, the SDM benchmarks contain UNIX shell scripts (consisting
of commands like "cd", "mkdir", "find", "cc", "nroff", etc.) that
exercise the operating system as well as the CPU and I/O components
of the system. The workloads of the benchmarks are intended to
represent UNIX software development environments.

For each benchmark, throughput numbers (scripts, i.e. simulated user
loads per hour) are given for several values of concurrent workloads.
The reader can determine the peak throughput as well as the ability
of a system to sustain throughput over a range of concurrent
workloads. Since the workloads for the two benchmarks (057.sdet,
061.kenbus1) are different, the throughput values for different
benchmarks cannot be compared.


5. Outdated SPEC Benchmarks
===========================

SPEC has published the first CPU benchmark suite in 1989, the current
release of it is 1.2b. It contains 10 compute-intensive programs, 4
integer (written in C) and 6 floating-point (written in Fortran). The
following average values had been defined:

  SPECint89  = geometric average of the SPEC ratios of the 4 integer
                 programs in rel. 1.2b (CPU-Suite of 1989)
  SPECfp89   = geometric average of the SPEC ratios of the 6
                 floating-point programs in rel. 1.2b
  SPECmark89 = geometric average of all 10 SPEC ratios of the
                 programs in rel. 1.2b

In addition, there was the possibility of throughput measurements,
with 2 copies of a benchmark running per CPU, called "Thruput Method
A" (There was never a "Method B"). The following average values had
been defined:

  SPECintThruput89 = geometric average of the Thruput Ratios of the
                      4 integer programs
  SPECfpThruput89 = geometric average of the Thruput Ratios of the
                      6 floating-point programs
  SPECThruput89 ("aggregate thruput") = geometric average of the
                      Thruput Ratios of all 10 programs

SPEC now discourages use of the 1989 benchmark suite and recommends
use of the CINT92 and CFP92 suites, for the following reasons:

- The new suites cover a wider area of programs (20 programs instead
  of 10),
- The execution times for some of the old benchmarks became too short
  on today's fast machines, with the danger of timing inaccuracies,
- Input files have now been provided for most benchmarks in the 1992
  suites, eliminating the danger of unintended compiler optimizations
  (constant propagation),
- The new suites do no longer contain a benchmark (030.matrix300)
  that was too much influenced by a particular compiler optimization.
  This optimization, while legal and a significant step in compiler
  technology (it is still often used with the benchmarks of 1992),
  inflated the SPEC ratio for this benchmark since it executed only
  code susceptible to this optimization.

However, SPEC is aware of the fact that results with the old
benchmark suite will still be quoted for a while and used for
comparison purposes.

SPEC will discontinue sales of Rel. 1.2b tapes after December 1992
and discontinue result publications for it after June 1993.


6. Forthcoming SPEC Benchmarks
==============================

SPEC is currently working on an NFS benchmark, also known as the
LADDIS benchmark, measuring the performance of network file servers
that follow the NFS protocol. Release of this benchmark is expected
in March 1993. A beta test version ("pre-LADDIS") has been made
available earlier to interested parties; however, SPEC explicitly
disallowed the use of pre-LADDIS results in company publications.
There have been significant changes between pre-LADDIS and the final
version of LADDIS.

A number of other areas have been considered or are being considered
by SPEC for future benchmark efforts:
- I/O benchmarks
- Client/Server benchmarks
- RTE-based benchmarks
- Commercial computing benchmarks

SPEC is always open to suggestions from the computing community for
future benchmarking directions. Of course, SPEC even more welcomes
proposals for actual programs that can be used as benchmarks.


7. Membership in SPEC
=====================

The costs for SPEC membership are

  Annual Dues   $ 5000.00       Initiation Fee  $ 1000.00

There is also the category of a "SPEC Associate", intended for
accredited educational institutions or non-profit organizations:

  Annual Dues   $ 1000.00       Initiation Fee  $  500.00

Associates have no voting privileges, otherwise they have the same
benefits as SPEC members: Newsletters and benchmark tapes as they are
available, with company-wide license. Probably more important are
early access to benchmarks that are being developed, and the
possibility to participate in the technical work on the benchmarks.
The intention for associates is that they can act in an advisory
capacity to SPEC, getting first-hand experience in an area that is
widely neglected in academia but nethertheless very important in the
"real world", and providing technical input to SPEC's task.

SPEC meetings are held about every six weeks, for technical work and
decisions about the benchmarks. Every member or associate can
participate and make proposals; decisions are made by a Steering
Committee (9 members) elected by the general membership at the Annual
Meeting. All members vote before a benchmark is finally accepted.


8. Acknowledgment
=================

This summary of SPEC's activities has been written initially by
Reinhold Weicker (Siemens Nixdorf). Portions of the text have been
carried over from earlier Usenet postings (Answers to Frequently
Asked Questions, No. 16: SPEC) by Eugene Miya (NASA Ames Research
Center). Additional input has been provided by Jeff Reilly (Intel).
This summary is regularly updated by Jeff Reilly and possibly other
SPEC people.

Managerial and technical inquiries about SPEC should be directed
to NCGA (see section 2). E-Mail questions that do not interfere
too much with our real work :-) can also be mailed to
    jwreilly@mipos2.intel.com       from North America
    Reinhold.Weicker@stm.mchp.sni.de from Europe or elsewhere

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