> 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.)

i saw a really awesome speed up (e.g. for sshd) when i did a V8 
optimized build for my SS20, and used it on the machine.

> also, a "bzip -d" test would also be interesting.