FPGA VAX update

Slightly OT: How fast (in comparison to the original 11/780) do PC-based emulators run? My only close-up exposure with this line was a couple of years with an 11/750. It didn't seem like a speed demon then. If PC-based emulators are fast enough, why bother with the IC version? An intellectual exercise? Or will the FPGA version run an order of magnitude faster than the original? Very OT: This was about 1983, when AT&T thought they'd give the retail computer business a go. Over the space of about a month and a half, I did my best to buy a 3B4 (I think) from them. I succeeded only in enriching the long-distance end ot their business. The marketeers didn't have a clue ("Do we make that?"). Apparently, if I'd wanted to buy a 6300, they'd put a dozen on a truck headed my way the next day. But one of their minis? A wall of ignorance. After absolutely no luck, I picked up the phone, talked to the local DEC marketer and had an 11/750 the next week. Cheers, Chuck