>are the sparc binaries optimized for V8?  could you try using
>-mv8 option?  this could have a major effect on the speed of
>some of the operations (20-80%? or so.)
>
no -mv8 is deprected. You should use -mcpu=v8.
But I already used -mcpu=supersparc or -mcpu=hypersparc. This includes 
all optimations for v8 and yes that speeds up
~5-30%, especially fpu code.

>also, a "bzip -d" test would also be interesting.
>
yes i have done this, but the result reflects more the system speed.

1x    BridgePoint    HyperSparc RT620D \w RT626    180    239.690sec  
1x    Ross           HyperSparc RT620B \w RT626    125    300.385sec
1x    Intel          Pentium P54CS                 150    303.563sec
1x    Sun            SuperSparc II \w SuperCache    75    355.637sec
1x    AMD            K5 Model 0                     75    414.695sec 
1x    Sun            SuperSparc \w SuperCache       60    442.014sec 
1x    Ross           HyperSparc RT620A \w RT625     55    499.926sec 
1x    Intel          Pentium P54C                   75    528.988sec
1x    HP             PA-7100                        50    591.680sec  
1x    AMD            Am5x86 X5                     133    681.740sec
1x    Ross           7C601 \w 7C605 & 7C602         40    911.759sec
1x    Intel          i486 DX4                      100    986.149sec
1x    Motorola       68040                          25   1600.517sec

> here's some more stuff on other archs (PowerPC, MIPS, x86, etc.), a 
> whole thread:
>
> http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-macppc/2005/03/12/0000.html 

nice! I own a Indigo² and a PowerMac 7600 too, very nice machines. You 
also own one of the early RS6000, keep it, cool hardware.