Veteran dev’s newest computer is ‘200,000 times’ faster than his oldest in custom benchmarks — single-thread Dhrystone performance charted across 25 systems released between 1976 and 2023

Veteran Windows developer Dave W Plummer conducted a performance test on 25 computers spanning from 1976 to 2023, revealing a 200,000X difference in CPU performance. The benchmark code used for the test is single-threaded, potentially underestimating the performance gap. Plummer's chart includes iconic systems like the DEC PDP-11/34 and Apple Mac Pro with M2 Ultra processor. The benchmark code, available on GitHub, is optimized for older systems but can be compiled for modern platforms. While older systems may perform well in certain tasks, modern systems benefit from advanced instructions like AVX-512 for significant performance gains.