Methods for predicting instruction execution efficiency in a proposed computer system

A method for predicting the instruction execution efficiency of a proposed computer system configuration, the proposed computer system configuration having a proposed memory size and a proposed processing capability, the method comprising:

• obtaining an actual instruction execution efficiency value for each of two or more actual computer systems, each actual computer system having a different combination of memory size and number of processors, the actual instruction execution efficiency value determined by monitoring the number of instructions that are executed while executing a predetermined software code;
• performing a multi-variant regression analysis of selected actual instruction execution efficiency values of the at least two actual computer systems to identify a processing capability contribution or function and a memory size contribution or function;
• and
• applying the processing capability contribution or function and the memory size contribution or function to the proposed processing capability and the proposed memory size, respectively, of the proposed computer system configuration to predict the predicted instruction execution efficiency value of the proposed computer system configuration.