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AMD 2010 CPU Series in Tests, Part 1



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Compilation


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Group Score 57 68 19%

Theoretically, our compilation benchmark supports up to 16 threads, so the victory of the triple-core processor isn't surprising.

Java


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Group Score 61 83 36%

We've known about SPECjvm's excellent parallelization since our test method of 2009.

Web browsers


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Flashbench 90 94 4%
Google v8 93 97 4%
Sun Spider 111 94 -15%
Group Score 98 95 -3%

This is a new, unexplored group of benchmarks. And it suprises us right away: Sun Spider, one of the JavaScript performance tests, doesn't like the reduction of L2 at all. Althouth judging by the Google benchmark that also tests JavaScript performance, it may be just a peculiarity of the benchmark itself. The general dispersion of results in this group is close to zero.

Audio encoding


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Apple Lossless 50 67 34%
FLAC 50 66 32%
Monkey's Audio 50 67 34%
MP3 (LAME) 50 67 34%
Nero AAC 51 67 31%
Ogg Vorbis 50 67 34%
Group Score 50 67 34%

In 2009, our audio encoding benchmarks got some nice multithreading optimization in the form of dbPoweramp that can launch an encoding process for every processor it finds. This predetermines the victory of the triple-core CPU.

Video encoding


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
DivX 88 106 20%
Mainconcept (VC-1) 72 92 28%
Adobe Premiere 54 80 48%
Sony Vegas 66 92 39%
x264 57 74 30%
XviD 80 95 19%
Group Score 70 90 29%

Video encoding suites, including Adobe Premiere and Sony Vegas we haven't used before, also demonstrate good multicore optimization. Note that the two aforementioned suites are among the most optimized in our group of benchmarks.

Video playback


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
DXVA/H.264 40 55 38%
DXVA/VC-1 108 51 -53%
Software/H.264 66 94 42%
Software/VC-1 55 84 53%
Group Score 67 71 6%

This is also a new group of benchmarks, and it also surprises us by reacting very negatively to the triple-core CPU. And it seems that the number of cores, not the smaller L2 cache, is the reason, because a quad-core CPU doesn't demonstrate a performance drop that large. Perhaps, this very software just doesn't like the numbers of cores which are not the powers of 2. We've seen that before.

Virtualization


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Ubuntu Linux 84 81 -4%
Windows XP 89 88 -1%
Group Score 87 85 -2%

Another surprise. Turns out, VirtualBox likes large L2 cache. We don't have any other explanation for the results we've got. 7-Zip that we use on the virtual machine has very nice multithreading optimization, which fact is confirmed by our data compression tests.

Games


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Batman: Arkham Asylum
(with and w/o PhysX)
90 100 11%
Borderlands 102 108 6%
Colin McRae: DiRT 2 66 91 38%
Far Cry 2 78 100 28%
Fritz Chess Benchmark 53 81 53%
Grand Theft Auto IV 60 85 42%
Resident Evil 5 73 97 33%
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat 95 100 5%
Unreal Tournament 3 + PhysX Mod
(with and w/o PhysX)
70 97 39%
Crysis: Warhead 100 107 7%
World in Conflict 78 83 6%
Group Score 79 95 20%

Most games use the third core well. Only Borderlands, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Crysis and World in Conflict are not so glad about it, offering less than 10% boost. The trend isn't quite clear (see UT3 results, for example), but three games out of the aforementioned four are not so new.

Total score


  2 cores + 2x1024 L2 3 cores + 3x512 L2 %%
Overall Score 76 85 12%

The total score is adequate to the spirit of the times. Multicore solutions are favored, even with a smaller cache. Now without peculiarities, though: 16 benchmarks out of 57 preferred fewer cores and larger L2 cache. We are tempted to say that certain programmers are to blame for not being able to fully use the resources of modern CPUs. But we're still optimistic, because such benchmarks are in the minority. As for practical recommendations, in case of Athlon II CPUs, three cores are definitely better than two.


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