[gmx-users] Is Total Test time for regression tests relevant to real performance?

[Bin Liu]

Hi All,

Today I compiled GROMACS 5.1.2 on two machines. One has i7-3770k, the other
one has i7-4770k. The odd thing I saw was it took 264.77 sec to complete
the regression tests on the 4770k machine while it took 150.05 sec on the
3770k machine. The specs of the 3770k machine are lower in all aspects. The
gcc for 3770k is 4.6.4, while 4770k is 4.7.3.

In theory, the total test time for these two machines should be comparable.
I don't understand what caused such a huge difference. And I am more
concerned about if the total test time is relevant to real world
performance.

Thank you for any clues.

Regards,

Bin