AMD's dual core Opteron & Athlon 64 X2 - Server/Desktop Performance Preview
by Anand Lal Shimpi, Jason Clark & Ross Whitehead on April 21, 2005 9:25 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Multitasking Scenario 3: Web Browsing
For this benchmark, we decided to switch things up a bit and keep Firefox as our foreground application while background tasks ran.The Firefox, iTunes and Newsleecher tasks from the first test scenario were also present in this one, plus we did the following:
Open Outlook, immediately import 130MB PST file and immediately switch app focus to Firefox.
We then recorded the total time required to import the new PST while Firefox was our foreground application. The results were very interesting:
The original version of this test wasn't even competitive on single-core AMD CPUs, but by toning down the Flash usage in Firefox (the major modification was that we removed the IGN page with a huge, and very animated Flash ad), we can now do a good single-to-dual core AMD comparison.
Once again, we see some very good results from the dual core platforms; the Athlon 64 X2 4400+ manages to offer significantly better performance than the higher clocked FX-55, as do the two Intel platforms.
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morcegovermelho - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
page 3 "For example, the Opteron 252 and Opteron 852 both run at 2.6GHz, but the 252 is for use in up to 2-way configurations, while the 852 is certified for use in 4- and 8-way configurations. The two chips are identical; it's just that one has been run through additional validation and costs a lot more. "I thought that they had different number of HyperTransport (HT) links:
152 - 1 HT
252 - 2 HT
852 - 3 HT
I thought that was the reason why it was impossible to use two 152s in a two-way motherboard.
Maybe i'm wrong.
faboloso112 - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
great articlefungmak - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
#50Dual 875s have 4 cores
stmok - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
I have waited SOOOOO long! Finally, a reason to dump my dual PIII setups. Next stop, Athlon64 X2!jediknight - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
Can someone explain the huge performance difference between the dual Operaon 252s (2.6GHz) and the dual Opteron 875 (2.2GHz)?Since:
"The two chips are identical; it's just that one has been run through additional validation and costs a lot more"
I would expect the 252s, running at 400MHz more, would outperform the 875s. Can someone explain this (large) discrepency?
snedzad - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
Yes. That's gonna be a four proc-machine. Terrific.I am really astonished about whole AMD K8 architecture. And K9 should be 4-core processor architecture.
Can't wait.
But, I still won't get a rid of my AX2600 machine.
Griswold - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
Ah the brilliant KillerBob.Anand used plenty of real world apps for the multitask benchmarks.
How much more real world testing would you want to go with your (pointless) whining?
GoatHerderEd - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
Why is their stock price at a 6 month low? I hope this pulls it up a bit. It would be a shame if they don’t start making a profit.suryad - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
I just am astounded at the performance these first versions of dual core processing that is being presented to us...WOW...couple that with a well written 64 bit OS and it will be even more smoking!! I think AMD did a job extremely well done and I am glad that they are being aggressive in keeping their pockets full with the prices of their chips. I personally dont think that would stop me from buying their processors. I would wait for the FX to become dual core though. A 3 ghz dual core FX would rock so bad!!!Also one more thing...so the Tyan mobo holds 2 procs correct? So if we stuck a dual core in 1 socket and another in the other sock...that makes it a 4 proc machine then right?!!
bldckstark - Thursday, April 21, 2005 - link
Thanks for the double post KillerBob. Your statements are as intelligent as your ability to use a keyboard.