Intel Yonah Performance Preview - Part I: The Exclusive First Look at Yonah
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 30, 2005 2:50 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Test
Our test configuration is identical to what we used in our Athlon 64 X2 3800+ review, however we can’t disclose the motherboard used for the Yonah platform. We can say that it used the Intel 945G chipset and was outfitted with 2 x 512MB DDR2-533 DIMMs; the rest of the configuration remained the same as the AMD and Intel systems.
Once again, keep in mind that the platform and processor are pre-release samples, and performance could change by the time the parts head to retail. This is nothing more than a preview, so treat it as such.
Business Winstone 2004
Business Winstone 2004 tests the following applications in various usage scenarios:
. Microsoft Access 2002
. Microsoft Excel 2002
. Microsoft FrontPage 2002
. Microsoft Outlook 2002
. Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
. Microsoft Project 2002
. Microsoft Word 2002
. Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003
. WinZip 8.1
Just as we saw in the Dothan vs. Yonah tests, Yonah loses some of its competitive edge in the Business Winstone benchmark. Although in this case, it's not very far off the Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
Office Productivity SYSMark 2004
SYSMark's Office Productivity suite consists of three tests, the first of which is the Communication test. The Communication test consists of the following:
"The user receives an email in Outlook 2002 that contains a collection of documents in a zip file. The user reviews his email and updates his calendar while VirusScan 7.0 scans the system. The corporate web site is viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0. Finally, Internet Explorer is used to look at samples of the web pages and documents created during the scenario."
Yonah manages to be quite competitive in the SYSMark tests, slightly outpacing the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ here.
The next test is Document Creation performance, which shows very little difference in drive performance between the contenders:
"The user edits the document using Word 2002. He transcribes an audio file into a document using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6. Once the document has all the necessary pieces in place, the user changes it into a portable format for easy and secure distribution using Acrobat 5.0.5. The user creates a marketing presentation in PowerPoint 2002 and adds elements to a slide show template."
Here we see that at 2.0GHz, Intel's Yonah is right in the middle of AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and the X2 3800+. Given that the CPU has no on-die memory controller, yet performs comparably to an identically clocked Athlon 64 X2, it's not a bad position to be in for Yonah.
The final test in our Office Productivity suite is Data Analysis, which BAPCo describes as:
"The user opens a database using Access 2002 and runs some queries. A collection of documents are archived using WinZip 8.1. The queries' results are imported into a spreadsheet using Excel 2002 and are used to generate graphical charts."
The Data Analysis test is dominated by the Pentium D, but even the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ holds a slight advantage over the 2.0GHz Yonah.
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lee1026 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
They still can't beat the A64 3800+? sad, intel, sad.Pythias - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Graphs I looked at, it appeared the two were neck and neck. And the yonah cosumes less power.Darth Farter - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
well, what about the RAM power consumption difference... is this censored or something?Yonah's 1.8V DDR2 ram opposed to the Athlon X2's 2.6V DDR ram
if the reviewer really measured "Total System Power" this will factor in... the same reason why the Pentium M is still king of Battery Life on mobile platforms...
When Socket M2 arrives Q2 2006 it could prove better for performance and less for power requirements again.... and without being transitioned to 65nm process yet.
anyway, this is not cpu isolated and therefore I'd suggest just mentioning it includes the worse DDR power consumption (apples to apples) before the community blames the cpu only like in the comments here.
(btw, if there would be any way to isolate the cpu power usage only without motherboard and ram I would really like to know. (I thought I saw something like that on overclockers.com a few moths back.)
anyway could my point matter on the graphs on last page Anand?
coldpower27 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
This is the price you pay for having an On Die Memory Controller, Intel can adopt new memory technologies quciker then AMD can as they don't need another revison of a CPU plus a Socket change due to the memory controller, this is the price AMD paid to get the added performance, and reduced power cosumption of having the memory cnotroller on Die and not needing a Northbridge. This is AMD's choice and they have to live with the consequences of this choice.Zebo - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
Nevermind they did change thier socket.coldpower27 - Sunday, December 11, 2005 - link
I think they wanted to make sure that only the i945M Chipset series is compatible with the Dual Core Yonah and not run the risk of people sticking these into older i915M and the currently available desktop Pentium M boards.This is a move for profit of course, as Intel wants to sell their new i945M chipsets as a Centrino bundle with Yonah.
nserra - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
AMD 64 2.0Ghz at .13 at full load does 68WAMD 64 2.0Ghz at .09 at full load does 43W
AMD 64 2.0Ghz at .65 at full load maybe ~27W
AMD 64 2.0Ghz at .13 at idle does 19W
AMD 64 2.0Ghz at .09 at idle does 13W
AMD 64 2.0Ghz at .65 at idle maybe ~9W
tayhimself - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
90nm 3800x2 is around 68 W. Take out 8 or so for the northbridge. There is no 130nm x2 IIRCnserra - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Sorry I forgot to mention, its single core amd processors not dual.Viditor - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Someone who doesn't know the difference between TDP and power usage...