Re: Why VAX Was the Ultimate CISC and Not RISC

On Sat, 01 Mar 2025 11:58:17 GMT, Anton Ertl wrote:

Like other USA-based computer architects, Bell ignores ARM, which
outperformed the VAX without using caches and was much easier to design.

While those ARM chips were legendary for their low power consumption (and
low transistor count), those Archimedes machines were not exactly low-
cost, as I recall.

Without caches, did they have to use faster (and therefore more expensive)
memory? Or did they fall back on the classic “wait states”?