AMD's 0.13-micron Thoroughbred - Cool but Slipping at 2200+

3D Rendering Performance

Next we have our usual two 3D rendering tests. We'll start off with rendering the first frame of the Waterfall.max scene (provided on the 3DSMAX CD) at 1024x768

3D Rendering Performance 3D Studio MAX 4.2.6 Waterfall.max (Rendered Images per Hour - Higher is better) Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.80GHz) Intel Pentium 4B 2.4GHz AMD Athlon XP 2100+ (1.73GHz) Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz) Intel Pentium 4 2.0AGHz AMD Athlon XP 1600+ (1.40GHz) Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz 57.1 57.1 55.4 54.5 54.5 51.4 51.4 48.0 46.8 44.4 43.9 38.7 35.3 | 0 | 11 | 23 | 34 | 46 | 57 | 69

The Pentium 4 has been able to overcome its architectural weaknesses by quickly scaling to higher clock speeds which allow it to still be at the top of the charts even under 3D Studio MAX; this time around Intel has to share that spot with the Athlon XP 2200+.

AMD has little to worry about in the x87 intensive workstation market; higher clock speeds will give them all they need to remain competitive.

3D Rendering Performance Maya 4.0.1 Rendertest (Rendered Images per Hour - Higher is better) Intel Pentium 4 2.53GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+ (1.80GHz) Intel Pentium 4B 2.4GHz Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz AMD Athlon XP 2100+ (1.73GHz) Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) Intel Pentium 4 2.0A GHz AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz) AMD Athlon XP 1600+ (1.40GHz) Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz 43.9 43.4 42.4 41.4 40.9 39.6 39.1 36.7 36.4 34.6 33.6 30.8 27.1 | 0 | 9 | 18 | 26 | 35 | 44 | 53

Although a different application, Maya's performance characteristics don't differ at all from 3D Studio MAX. Remember that it's not the application that dictates performance, it's the workload that determines everything.