Re: SPARC worlds fastest
The last benchmark Oracle released for SAP was 2016, An 8 Socket Machine with 256 Cores.
Giving a SAPs per core performance of 2787. A total SAPs score of 713480.
In the same year a Dell Poweredge R730 had a SAPs per core of 2677. Yes this was only a 2 Socket box with a SAPs rating of 117780.
The same server with Skylake has a per core SAPs rating of 3129.
So yes SPARC won on overall numbers. However I am yet to meet the customer who has a DB server requirement of 713480 SAPS.
Even a requirement of 117780 SAPs for a DB server is very rare. Yes the whole landscape might require lots of SAPs but a bunch of 2 Socket x86 servers will a) be cheaper, b) won't have all your eggs in one basket.
Yes there are workloads that have been tuned for SPARC, likewise for intel. At the end of the day it comes down to cost. x86 is a good enough workhorse at a far cheaper price.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
