  We compare the performance of the PHMC algorithm with the one of the HMC
algorithm in practical simulations of lattice QCD. We show that the PHMC
algorithm can lead to an acceleration of numerical simulations. It is
demonstrated that the PHMC algorithm generates configurations carrying small
isolated eigenvalues of the lattice Dirac operator and hence leads to a
sampling of configuration space that is different from that of the HMC
algorithm.
