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Intel Brings 64-bit Processing to the Pentium 4

REVIEW DATE: 18-FEB-2005
By Loyd Case
PCMark04 consists of a series of synthetic benchmark suites, each designed to test individual subsystems, such as memory, processor, and hard drive. Note that the test detects the CPU automatically and loads dynamic libraries for each function that have been optimized for the processor under the test. So an Athlon 64 would run code that's been tweaked to run best on its architecture, while a P4 running the same test would run different code optimized for that processor. As such, it's an idealized view of performance. In the real world, application optimizations can vary widely.
PCMark 2004 Results

PCMark 2004 4MB Blocks

PCMark 2004 192KB Blocks
PCMark04 Memory Latency

Intel has always performed well with these tests. What's most startling, though, is how well the Intel CPUs did in overall memory score. You'd think that the Athlon 64's integrated memory controller would give it some additional efficiency not available to the Pentium 4.

When we look more closely at memory, we can see that the increased front-side bus bodes well for the 3.73GHz Extreme Edition in the 4MB block tests. These tests run with data blocks larger than the cache. The new 660 also performs well. Note that the Athlon 64s move large chunks of data about as well as the older P4 line did.

Next, we look at the 192KB block tests. These tests fit inside the L2 cache of all the CPUs. Note that the P4's do well in block reads and writes, but the Athlon 54's are slightly more efficient in random accesses within the cache.

Finally, we take a look at memory latency using the PCMark04 latency inspection test. Here, the smaller numbers are better. Surprisingly, despite the lower latency of the DDR400 memory running on the Athlon 64 systems, the large block latencies seem a bit higher on the Athlon 64. On the other hand, once we get inside the cache, the Athlon 64s fare noticeably better. This is particularly true of the L2 cache test (192KB), which seems to indicate that the Athlon 64's L2 cache is roughly 20% more efficient in this particular set of tests. Continued...

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