[PyMOL] Comparison SGI <-> PC?

[Dirk K. <dir...@ps...>]

Dear pymol users,

in your experience, how does the graphical performance of pymol (or any o=
ther=20
graphical program) on a PC running under Linux with a good stereo-capable=
=20
graphics card (Nvidia Quadro, ATI FireGL) compare to a stereo-capable SGI=
=20
workstation (O2, Octane, Fuel, Onyx)? I've got an old Pentium III PC with=
 450=20
MHz and a (non-stereo) Nvidia GeForce2 MX440 graphics card side-by-side w=
ith=20
an SGI O2 with a R12000 processor: a simple pymol (0.86) movie of a prote=
in=20
sketch at 800x800 resolution and maximum display quality requires on the =
SGI=20
3 minutes for 180 frames, i.e. 1 frame/sec, whereas the same movie requir=
es=20
on the PC 20 seconds, i.e. 9 frames/sec. I wonder how this can be and wou=
ld=20
like to hear about your experiences.=20
I've compiled pymol from the source file with the mips pro compiler from =
SGI.=20
Results were comparable with the previous pymol version for which I've=20
installed directly the binaries. Thus, I don't think that the speed=20
difference is due to a compiler problem on the SGI. I've got another grap=
hics=20
program for protein modelling, Moloc, that runs on both platforms. There,=
=20
I've observed similar subjective speed differences in favour to the PC. B=
ut I=20
couldn't measure any benchmarks.

Best regards,

Dirk Kostrewa.

--=20

****************************************
Dirk Kostrewa
Paul Scherrer Institut
Life Sciences, OSRA/007
CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland
E-mail: dir...@ps...
Phone: +41-56-310-4722
Fax: +41-56-310-4556
WWW: http://www.sb.psi.ch
****************************************