Help about SPARC

[RoshanP]

Hi,
I want to know few things

what is the difference between the SPARC processor and other processor?

what are Benefit of SPARC process?

[miguel_lobos]

SPARC is an early implementation of RISC processors, created by Sun Microsystems in 1985. Check out the Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARC
UltraSPARC, the more recent and current architecture, has been 64-bit capable, where 64 bits is a more recent addition to the Intel-based architectures. So, SPARC is far less common than the ubiquitous x86 / Intel based architecture, and historically has been a leader in performance and introduction of expanded capabilities. Of late, there seems to be a move at Sun to use Intel and AMD processor core technologies in addition to the current UltraSPARC T1 and T2 architectures. So, they have historically been very serious technology leading processors pushing the limits of computing ability, but it is questionable whether or not this dominance will continue as time moves on.

[prince_of_hackers]

From my experience and people I have talked to, SPARC hardware seems to be more reliable and longer lasting than most common x86 hardware - largely due to being designed more for the higher end server/workstation market, I would guess. Of course, this means that new SPARC hardware is generally more expensive, but it also can mean that used hardware often has a longer/more reliable lifetime left on it than used x86. I have recycled a number of old UltraSPARC IIi-based system and use them as small scale servers, and they work great. I haven't yet had one crash, where my x86 servers generally seem to go down due to a hardware fault of some sort at least once a year or so.