Conroe Extreme gaming performance analysed
On Slashdot, geeky nerds are having loads of fun on the report that Conroe Extreme Edition will be 40% faster than the 3.7GHZ Pentium XE 965 in gaming performance. Of course, there are debates about the impact on AMD. Some readers point out that the old 2.8GHZ Athlon FX 57 was 36% faster than the Pentium XE 965.
Previous benchmarks showed that even the low end Athlon 64 X2 3800+ is often faster than the 65nm Presler Pentium XE 965.
posted by Sharikou, Ph. D. @ 5/13/2006 07:49:00 AM
7 Comments:
If the Core 2 Extreme is only 40% faster than the 965, than Conroe is not much of a "next-gen" chip.
Conroe will undoubtably perform pretty well, but for a "next-gen" chip, Conroe is about as good as a first-gen Opty over the Last-Gen Athlon MP's.
I've been analyzing benchmarks of the so-called "Conroe ES" from XSystems and others, and I see inconsistencies: Such as 3DMARK scores between 2 are off by 100 points on the CPU test, dropping from 2450 to 2349, with the same configuration.
If you compare a reasonably timed DDR2 sAM2 system to Conroe, you're looking at a max of 5% increase with Conroe, and that's on benchmarks.
The ScienceMark2 scores I've seen, comparing a 2.4GHz Conroe to a 2.0GHz Opteron 64, puts the Conroe ahead at about 5-12%, and that's against a 400MHz deficient on the Opteron 64.
Conroe is a good step forward, but NGMA (Conroe/Woodcrest/Merom) are NOT the next-gen performers to hurt AMD, as Woodcrest is not any faster clock-for-clock than the Opteron 64 and not to mention anything beyond 2P w/ Woodcrest is a joke.
I disagree with first post. Based on all seen previews Conroe is faster than Athlon/Opteron clock for clock. But it doesn't mean that AMD will be hurt. Reason is quite simple. Fastest Conroe available now is 2.66GHz and difference between 2.8GHz AM2 will be marginal. Will be? We don't know because AM2 will be competitive against Pentium and we can only hope that Intel will release Core 2 chips in July.
It is time to lower X2 prices and give me a chance to buy one.
We should all wait and see.
Until then it's only speculations ..
The Inquirer has a link to Merom 3DMark01 score, Overclocked to 3.4GHz Merom is ultra-fast but 10% slower clock for clock than X2 (So 3.1GHz 939 should win. ). AMD should start sampling 65nm AM2 chips and introduce 5200,5400,5600 models to stay on top till December. There is so much effort about AM2 only to keep this CPU for 6 months that I really cannot understand that.
There is so much effort about AM2 only to keep this CPU for 6 months that I really cannot understand that.
AM2 is not just for 6 months. DDR2 scales to higher clock rate and is better for larger cache size, so it's a logical step forward. The problem is when to do it - and AMD's been waiting for the right price/performance point.
Since AMD put memory controller inside the CPU chip, a new memory technology will require some changes to the CPU layout. But this will happen every time Intel change their north bridge, anyway. Also, just because something is highly anticipated by enthuists doesn't mean AMD spent euqally large amount of efforts in making it. After all, AMD's working on K8L as well as other next generation chips at the same time. ;-)
working on K8L as well as other next generation chips at the same time.
AM2 is just a common socket for all DDR2 AMD desktop CPUs from Sempron to FX. AMD can upgrade the cores but keep the AM2. There will be k8L core AM2s and AM2 quad-cores.
The Inquirer has a link to Merom 3DMark01 score, Overclocked to 3.4GHz Merom is ultra-fast but 10% slower clock for clock than X2
Said 3.4GHz Merom scored over 62000 points, by far the fastest score ever recorded for 2001. The fastest AMD system, a FX-60 at 3.6GHz scores only 53896.
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