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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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AMD's Thoroughbred leaves the starting gate June 21, 2002 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/hardware/components/soa/AMD-s-Thoroughbred-leaves-the-starting-gate/0,139023397,120266132,00.htm
AMD's latest Athlon XP processor uses a smaller fabrication process and runs at a higher clock speed than its 'Palomino' predecessors. ZDNet puts it through its benchmark paces.
The Athlon XP/2200+ is AMD´s first desktop processor built using a 0.13-micron fabrication process. As a result of this move, the chip´s die shrinks from 128mm2 to 80mm2 and the processor consumes less power. AMD has made no new architectural changes for the Athlon XP/2200+ (1800MHz), so the new processor -- known by the codename ‘Thoroughbred´ -- is no faster than the previous ‘Palomino´ model at the same clock speed. The smaller die size of the Thoroughbred means that AMD can manufacture the chip more easily. The company now has a clear advantage over Intel in this respect: the Pentium 4 has a much larger die size (146mm2), and is therefore more expensive to make. The other Athlon XP versions (1700+, 1800+, 1900+, 2000+, and 2100+) will soon be available only as 0.13-micron chips. Moving the Athlon XP/2200+´s fabrication process to 0.13 microns allows AMD to shrink the die size to just 80mm2, resulting in reduced production costs and lower power consumption. Thanks to its 0.13-micron internal structures, the Thoroughbred Athlon XP requires less voltage and therefore uses less power than its predecessors. The Athlon XP/2200+, whose actual clock speed is 1,800MHz, needs only 1.65 volts compared to 1.75 volts for the 0.18-micron Palomino versions. Power consumption also drops: the forthcoming 0.13-micron version of the Athlon XP/2100+ uses only 62.1 Watts -- slightly less than the 0.18-micron version of the Athlon XP/1700+ (64 Watts). The specification of the cooling fans are not smaller, however, due to the fact that shrinking the chip area from 128mm2 to 80mm2 makes heat dissipation more difficult.
Integrating AMD´s new processors into PCs will require new
Athlon XP/2200+: how we tested
The performance of the new processors was evaluated using the following benchmarks:
The benchmarks were run on the following equipment:
The rest of the equipment was the same for all systems. A Promise Fastrak 100 drove two IBM DTLA307030 hard drives as Raid-0. The graphics card used was the Asus V8200 T5 with nVidia's GeForce 3 Ti 500 chipset and Detonator drivers 22.80. All tests were carried out under Windows XP Professional at a resolution of 1,024 by 768 pixels and 32-bit colour depth. Application performanceZD Business Winstone 2001
With business applications such as Word, Excel, Notes and WinZip, which are all components of Business Winstone 2001, the new Athlon XP/2200+ further extends its lead over the Intel competition. Even a 2.53GHz Pentium 4 using PC1066 Rambus memory doesn't match the performance of AMD's top two processors in this test.
ZD Content Creation Winstone 2002
When running applications used in the production of professional Web content (pictures, video, audio, HTML, Shockwave, Flash), such as Dreamweaver and Photoshop (among others), the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with Rambus memory is the fastest processor.
AMD's new Athlon XP/2200+ narrows the gap between it and the Intel competition, but it can't dislodge Intel's flagship 2.53GHz chip from the top of the rankings. The Pentium 4/2533 is faster than the Athlon XP/2200+ even when using the slower DDR266 memory configuration. Encoding performance
MP3 encoding
Intel's intensive efforts to get software producers to optimise their program code for modern processors -- Intel CPUs, naturally - continue to bear fruit. The MP3 encoder MusicMatch Jukebox has been optimised in version 7.0 for Intel's Pentium 4, allowing the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with Rambus to keep its nose in front of the new Athlon XP/2200+. The Pentium 4/2200 with DDR memory is slower than the Athlon XP, however.
Video encoding
Intel's latest 533MHz-bus processors are faster than the Athlon XP/2200+ at video encoding with LSX's MPEG Encoder 3.5, when equipped with Rambus memory. However, the Pentium 4/2200 with a 400MHz FSB and DDR266 memory lags behind the AMD processors in this test.
When it comes to producing DivX videos using XMpeg 4.5, the Pentium 4 emerges in front: the Athlon XP/2200+ takes 26 seconds longer than the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 to perform this test. Both the Athlon XP/2200+ and 2100+ beat the Pentium 4/2200 with DDR memory, though.
 Rendering performance
Despite a new version 2.46 of 3D Studio Max that contains optimisations for the Pentium 4, the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 does not render simple 3D objects (Kinetix-logo) faster than an Athlon XP/2200+. However, the Pentium 4/2200 with DDR memory is 15 percent slower than the Athlon XP/2100+.
With complex scenes, the Pentium 4 is clearly faster than the Athlon XP. The architecture scene from the 3D Studio Max Benchmark in the SPEC-APC suite is rendered a good 15 per cent faster by the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 than the Athlon XP/2200+. Even so, the fastest AMD processor still beats the Pentium 4/2200 in this test.
Pentium 4 optimisation can deliver the Intel processor's full performance potential. Rendering with the P4-optimised Lightwave 7b runs a good 66 percent faster on the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 than on the Athlon XP/2200+.
Although a program like Lightwave 7b can bring out the performance potential of the Pentium 4, Corel Bryce 5.01 is an example of how slow the platform can be with non-optimised applications. With this program, the Athlon XP processors set the standard: the Athlon XP/2100+ is 17 percent faster than the quickest Pentium 4, while the new Athlon XP/2200+ is 23 percent faster.
 Internet Performance
Page building
AMD's Athlon XP has its nose in front when rendering HTML pages. The Athlon XP/2100+ is already slightly faster than the 2.53GHz Pentium 4, and the 2200+ extends that lead.
The benefit of Pentium 4 optimisation is shown by the Acrobat Reader 5.05 test. The fastest AMD processor (Athlon XP/2200+) lags behind a Pentium 4 with 2200MHz and DDR266 memory. The top position is held by the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with PC1066 Rambus memory.
The 2.53GHz Pentium 4 claims the top spot when representing XML pages, with the Athlon XP procesors slotting in above the Pentium 4/2200, which lags behind the others.
JavaScript
Intel processors lag behind AMD's chips when rendering Internet pages with JavaScript. Even the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with PC1066 Rambus memory cannot match the performance of the Athlon XP processors.
The new W3C consortium specification for creating HTML pages with JavaScript shows the Intel chips in a better light. Here, the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with PC1066 Rambus memory can at least keep up with the Athlon XP/2200+.
AMD's processors are again faster than the Intel's fastest CPUs at rendering XML pages with JavaScript.
Internet animation
Flash animations are rendered slightly faster by the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with Rambus memory. When using slower memory types (PC800 Rambus and DDR266), the Pentium 4/2533 is slower than an Athlon XP/2200+ with DDR333 memory.
However, the performance differences between CPUs in the Internet animation tests with Flash and Shockwave (below) are barely significant.
 Gaming performance
DirectX 8.x
The fastest Athlon processor (Athlon XP/2200+) is beaten by the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with PC1066 Rambus memory in MadOnion's 3DMark 2001 test. If PC800 Rambus or DDR266 memory is used, the Athlon XP/2200+ is faster. However, the performance differences among the processors in this test are so small that they won't be noticeable in practice.
When running the DirectX 8 game Aquanox, the processors obtain almost identical power ratings. Obviously with this game the graphics card -- which is bsed on nVidia's GeForce3 Ti 500 -- is the limiting factor.
A similar picture is evident with Comanche 4: the performance of the graphics card is more important than that of the processors.
OpenGL
In the Vulpine test, no significant performance difference is discernible between the Athlon XP and the Pentium 4.
The influence of memory is important in the Quake 3 NV15 demo test. Here, the 2.53GHz Pentium 4 with PC1066 Rambus memory takes a clear lead. However, when used with lower-performance DDR266 memory, the Pentium 4/2533 is matched by the Athlon XP/2200+ with DDR333 memory.
In the test with the texture-intensive Quake 3 Quaver demo, a similar picture is evident.
 Workstation performance
The brand-new OpenGL benchmark Viewperf 7 puts the AMD processors ahead of Intel's chips. The difference in performance is particularly marked in the Data Explorer (DX) test. Here the Athlon XP/2200+ is nearly twice as fast as the Pentium 4/2200 with DDR266 memory.
 Conclusions
AMD´s new 0.13-micron Athlon XP/2200+ delivers very good performance results. Only when faced with SSE2-optimised software and multimedia applications such as video and audio encoding programs does the Athlon XP give way to Intel´s Pentium 4. When running other applications (games, Internet) the AMD chip is either faster than or tied with the Pentium 4. Although Intel has a clear performance advantage with the new 533MHz-bus Pentium 4 in combination with PC1066 Rambus memory, PCs built around these components will be expensive. Equipped with the more common DDR266 memory, the 2.53GHz Pentium 4/2533 will not always match the performance of an Athlon XP/2200+. However, more and more software producers are optimising their programs for Intel´s flagship CPU. Our performance tests with Lightwave 7b and the DivX compression with XMpeg show just how much can be achieved with P4-optimised software. Here, the Pentium 4 has a clear performance advantage over the Athlon XP -- no matter which type of memory is used. AMD processors, on the other hand, enjoy an extremely attractive price/performance ratio. The 2.53GHz Pentium 4 costs at US$637 (when bought in 1,000-unit quantities), which is more than double what you‘ll pay for an Athlon XP/2200+ (US$241). Furthermore, PC1066 Rambus memory is nearly three times as expensive as DDR333 memory. The bottom line In the long term, the Athlon XP cannot keep up with the Pentium 4. Intel is increasing the clock speed on the Pentium 4 faster than AMD can with the Athlon XP. In the second half of this year AMD will release an Athlon XP with 512KB of Level 2 cache, codenamed Barton. However, the company does not plan to increase the Athlon's frontside bus to 166MHz -- which seems appropriate given the advent of DDR333 memory. AMD should remain competitive with the Barton processor until the end of the year. After that, the Hammer chip is set to take over the pursuit of the Pentium 4.
Copyright © 2009 CBS Interactive, a CBS Company. All Rights Reserved. |
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