AMD Phenom Preview: Barcelona Desktop Benchmarks
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 10, 2007 12:03 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Final Words
We can't draw too many sweeping conclusions based on the data here today, but here's what we do know:
- Gaming performance is much improved with Barcelona over K8, this is most likely a result of the improvements to the SSE engine and the wider front end of the core.
- Encoding performance is improved (again SSE128 rearing its head), but 3dsmax saw an unexpectedly large performance improvement.
- With a 10 - 15% increase in performance on average, Phenom should be more competitive than K8 was on the desktop (as expected).
Here's where things get complicated; we knew Phenom/Barcelona would be faster clock for clock, it was only a matter of how big of an improvement we'd get. If we are to believe that 15% is the best we'll get on average, taking into account that Penryn is around 5% faster than Conroe, the updated architecture from AMD alone isn't enough to really compete with Intel. In other words, price matters.
We saw how competitive AMD became after the first round of price cuts this year, but after the second set Intel went back to dominating. The trouble for AMD this time around is that Phenom is a much larger chip than the outgoing Athlon 64 X2, whereas Intel's Penryn family will actually be smaller than Conroe. AMD is already losing a considerable amount of money each quarter, so fabbing a larger chip at the same price as current CPUs will only make the situation worse. However, Intel can afford to continue to keep its processors as aggressively priced, especially moving to 45nm.
To put it plainly: Phenom/Barcelona make this price war more difficult on AMD, while Penryn makes it easier on Intel. What's the end game? Is there a solution? We're not sure, all we know today is a starting point for Phenom expectations.
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AbRASiON - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
Anand's final page sums it up really.Pythias - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
I sure as hell hope not. If either side prevails, say goodbye to affordable processors.hifisoftware - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
I guess it means we just have to say good buy to affordable processors then. Maybe AMD can ramp-up speeds very fast, but until they get there, they will be hurting/losing money. How much can they bleed red ink until it's too much?Howard - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
We'll have more Barcelona server content coming as we spend more time with the system, but be sure to check out Johan's coverage to get a good idea of how Barcelona will compete in its //indended// market.MDme - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
I have a feeling that Barcelona will be much more competitive in the server market compared with the desktop market. i.e. Barcey will hold off intel in the server space while it may not be enough to dethrone intel in the desktop arena, it will at least narrow the gap with intel.DeepThought86 - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
Barcelona, the chip that launched a thousand flames!Fanbois on both sides: on your mark, get set, go!
KeypoX - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
Didnt know why i couldnt view it till now but been waiting all day :)Frags - Saturday, September 15, 2007 - link
AMD needs a Forrest Gump moment with the leg braces flying off to run away from the Bully.The road to Barcelona was a Flop. They need to cut their path to 45nm in half or recieve a blood transfusion soon.
KeypoX - Monday, September 10, 2007 - link
but it was called "AMD's Quadcore: defending new found territory" on my google Anandtech article channel.Thatguy97 - Thursday, June 18, 2015 - link
lol i sadly remember this embarrising launch