The Stock and Overclock Tests
To make our performance data as useful as possible, we decided to run the stock 4200+ and the overclocked CPU through our standard motherboard test suite. As Anand has already shown in the launch article for AMD Dual-Core these are not the most revealing tests you can run on dual core. However, the test suite is a fair representation of the types of applications you run today, and it is a set of benchmarks that are very familiar to regular readers. This makes it a revealing set of tests for dual-core and overclocked dual-core performance.Performance tests were run at stock speed with the 4200+ and at the highest stable overclocked speed that could be achieved with basic air cooling on our test bed. For comparison the same suite of benchmarks were run using the single core 4000+ CPU. In looking at comparisons in the graphs, keep in mind that the 4000+ runs at 2.4GHz versus 2.2GHz for the 4200+. The 4000+ also features 1MB L2 cache compared to 512KB cache on each core in the 4200+.
The test configuration is our most recent DDR memory test bed built around the DFI LANParty nF4.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s) | AMD Athlon64 x2 4200+ (2.2GHz 512KB cache each) 939 AMD Athlon64 4000+ (2.4GHz 1MB Cache) Socket 939 |
| RAM | 2 x 512MB OCZ PC3200 Platinum Rev. 2 |
| Power Supply | OCZ 520 watt PowerStream |
| CPU Cooling | Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 HeatSink/Fan |
| Hard Drive | Seagate 120GB 7200 RPM SATA (8MB Buffer) |
| Video AGP & IDE Bus Master Drivers | nVidia nForce 6.39 |
| Video Card | nVidia 6800 Ultra (PCIe) |
| Video Driver | nVidia nForce 71.89 |
| Operating System | Windows XP Professional SP2; Direct X 9.0c |
| Motherboard | DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR |
For CPU cooling we used the same Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 HSF fan we have used for recent overclocking tests in motherboard reviews. In looking at our overclock numbers, keep in mind that cooling is just a decent stock Heatsink/Fan. Higher overclock will be achieved with more aggressive cooling like liquid cooling or phase-change.
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Viditor - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
"$500 would get you started on an Intel i955 motherboard and cpu, so why would you invest in the end-of-the-road on AMD socket 939 and old DDR1? It's crazy"Because we're more interested in computers than space heaters? :-)
porkster - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
$500 would get you started on an Intel i955 motherboard and cpu, so why would you invest in the end-of-the-road on AMD socket 939 and old DDR1? It's crazy..
dumbnewbie - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
Can anyone speculate as to when a <12" laptop would be made with a dualcore (if at all)?LoneWolf15 - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
Would have been nice to see the X2 4400+ in this mix too. It would answer several questins:a)Do the 1MB caches make it harder to overclock, or does it still go as high as the 512k models?
b)Will the extra cache make for a worthwhile performance increase over the 512k model for the extra $50 or so, and if it does, which apps could benefit the most?
I think most of us won't be able to afford the $800-$1,000 chips, but if you're going to spend for the 4200+, you might consider spending the extra for the 4400+ if it yielded more benefits. It'd be worth knowing.
cryptonomicon - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
hmm, this isnt that interesting, except it shows that the chip can OC... but its logical to assume it could hit the 2.5-2.8ghz ceiling like most a64s on the market right now. it would have been impressive if it did 3g.now the more interesting thing was the TCCD overclock. to me this indicates that AMD has worked on creating a much more robust memory controller. that was the main weakness of the a64 chip, and with it improved, some amazing ram OCs will be possible.
yacoub - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
So is a 4200+ running at 2.64GHz a 5000+? :)Does that make a 4400+ at similar speeds a 5200+?
yacoub - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
*about to turn to Page 2*Sweet! I hope they stick Rome: Total War in their gaming test comparisons! I'd love to see if having a dual-core chip runs the game smoother during large battles, as that would directly influence my coming PC upgrade.
*skips ahead quickly to Gaming Performance page and looks at game titles on charts*
Oh well, maybe one day... =\
ceefka - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
Like Dubb said, it would be interesting to see how these X2's stack up against 2 CPU (Opteron and Xeon) workstations.I like the idea of a 4400+ in my new DAW. An X2 with the right chipset should be able to handle massive loads of multitrack audio, not just 5.1.
Wesley, can you do a Thonex in the next dual-core Intel vs AMD comparison? A 2-3 year old PC would be brought to its knees, it's quite a heavy thing. The point is to get that whole load to play at the least possible latency and compare CPU-loads. Please include a nF3 board also when you do get to this.
Diasper - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
Aboput my point earlier - of course at this stage it may be somewhat problematic to check against all those questions as alot of things eg gaming will be testing only 1CPU etc - but suffice to say some sort of projections should be able to be made when we might have a game drawing on both CPUS simultaneously.A challenge :)
Any game demos for dual cores out there to test against?
MAME - Thursday, June 23, 2005 - link
you should have included a stock 4800+ to the benchmarks for a good comparison