Timings now and then
19.11.2010 21:22
I've encountered this table of timings for typical operations on a modern PC at a few different places lately. I can't add much to what has already been said about it: without question it is something every programmer should be aware of.
| execute typical instruction | 1 ns |
| fetch from L1 cache memory | 0.5 ns |
| branch misprediction | 5 ns |
| fetch from L2 cache memory | 7 ns |
| Mutex lock/unlock | 25 ns |
| fetch from main memory | 100 ns |
| send 2 kB over 1 Gbps network | 20,000 ns |
| read 1 MB sequentially from memory | 250,000 ns |
| fetch from new disk location (seek) | 8,000,000 ns |
| read 1 MB sequentially from disk | 20,000,000 ns |
| send packet US to Europe and back | 150,000,000 ns |
For fun and to put these numbers into historical perspective I've put together a roughly equivalent table for Galaksija.
| fetch from main memory | 1,000 ns |
| fetch from ROM | 1,000 ns |
| execute typical instruction | 1,500 ns |
| branch | 4,000 ns |
| read 1 kB sequentially from memory | 8,000,000 ns |
| read 1 kB sequentially from tape | 30,000,000,000 ns |
| send packet US to Europe and back | 1,000,000,000,000,000 ns (depends on postal service) |
These numbers also approximately hold for Sinclair Spectrum and other home computers of the era. Note the changes in orders of magnitude in both columns that happened over the last 30 or so years.
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