[Groff] groff performance in respect to hardware platform

[Steve Izma]

I'm wondering how CPU configurations affect groff processing
speed.

I'm planning to replace my workstation and I'm noticing the
availability of a lot of used systems with multiple Xeon CPUs.
Some of these are six or seven years old and seem to have been
used for graphics of video work -- massive hard disks, 12GB to
24GB of RAM, enough video for multiple screens.

I assume that one of the major advantages of Xeon processors over
the i7 and i5 lines is their reliability, but I'm wondering if
multiple cores (more than 4) and two Xeon CPUs on a system would
have a significant effect on groff run times. Or would I need to
re-compile groff in order to take advantage of such a setup?

Given that these used systems run between about $400 and $2000
and would be a lot cheaper than a similarly equipped i7 or i5, I
suspect the Xeon systems would have an advantage using some sort
of a power-to-cost ratio, but the math needed for this isn't
obvious to me.

I'm also interested in bitmap editing (gimp) and batch processing
of bitmaps using convert (imagemagick) or python, but groff is my
main concern. Any advice?

        Thanks,
        -- Steve

-- 
Steve Izma
-
Home: 35 Locust St., Kitchener N2H 1W6    p:519-745-1313
E-mail: address@hidden

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