Re: What's the IIe's--Arghh!--MHz Speed?

[supertimer@aol.com (Supertimer)]

kaimbridge@my-dejanews.com wrote:

> Alright, I'll ask what has probably already been asked 10^1000 time:  What is
>the Mhz processor speed of a regular, 128K, 80-column Apple IIe?
> Given that the "popular" "fast" PCs are around 200 MHz these days--which
>would be quite a feat, just a few years ago--I'm guessing about maybe 2,3 or
>possibly 5 (10?) MHz?

The Apple IIe normally runs at 1Mhz.  With a TransWarp IIe, it runs
at 3Mhz.  With a Rocket Chip, it runs at either 5Mhz or 10Mhz.  So
the answer is all of the above.  ;-)

The most popular CPU replacement is the ZipChip, though, and
4Mhz and 8Mhz units were available.

Other Apple II speeds:

Laser 128EX and Laser 128EX/2 at 3.6Mhz
Apple IIGS at 2.8Mhz (and 16-bits with 24-bit addressing)
Apple IIc+ at 4Mhz (using caching, cache is 8k, motherboard speed
     is still 1Mhz)

The important thing to remember about Apple II speed is that the
Mhz are unique to the 65Cxx family of CPUs.  These processors,
starting with the 65C02, are sometimes considered early RISC chips.
Compare a 65C02 to a Z80 or an 8088/8086, for example, and you
notice that for some instructions, the 65C02 can execute in as little
as a single CPU cycle whereas the Z80 or 8088/8086 takes 4 or
more.  Thus, realistically, that 1Mhz IIe runs as fast as the original
4.77Mhz IBM PC.

Speed in an Apple II is mostly important while running GUI
programs.  A IIe user that runs GEOS pretty much needs an
8Mhz ZipChip.  The Apple IIGS, as a 16-bit computer equipped
with a recommended 4MB to 8MB of memory, runs an advanced
GUI that pretty much could use fast speed.  Therefore, many
IIGS users have got their IIGS units running anywhere from
12.5Mhz to 16Mhz.  Mine is running at 12.5Mhz and Finder
opens and closes windows and scrolls through menu bars as
fast as on my Windows PC (you have to remember that Apple II
software is also much more efficiently written).

The speed king goes to the Commodore 64 and Commodore 128.
They have a SuperCPU cartridge that accelerates their units
to 20Mhz.