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Articles and
Reviews
Sample
some recent media reports on AMD products and
AMD-powered systems.
Server/Workstation:
"The best news for AMD is that the newly
launched 8224SE and 8222 will outperform the current
Xeon MP by a significant margin.
...... it might
seem like a dual Opteron 2224 needs 80W more, but the
reality is different. Intel's Northbridge consumes up to
20W more, and each FB-DIMM needs about 5W more than the
DDR modules the AMD platform uses. So the difference is
not as big as it might seem at first, something we have
shown in a previous article. The AMD CPUs also scale
back to 1GHz when running at idle, while the Intel CPUs
run at 1.6 or 2GHz when idle. As a result the AMD
platforms can consume less power when idle or at lower
loads.
AMD's PowerNow! Technology is very
efficient: it saves you between 150W and 250W depending
on system load and configuration. 250W seems impossible,
but the three fans of our Tyan TA26 had to run at much
higher speeds to cool the CPUs at 3.2GHz than at 1GHz."
AnandTech
"AMD's Opteron hits 3.2GHz"
“AMD still maintains a formidable technological lead
over Intel with the on-chip HyperTransport I/O bus and
DDR memory controllers, server scalability up to eight
sockets, and dedicated Level 2, massive 64KB Level 1
data, and instruction caches per core. In sum, AMD's
advantage over Intel is near-constant parallelization,
over which IT has gone nuts, kicking Opteron servers to
the top of the food chain, where they will remain.”
InfoWorld
“2007 Technology of the Year” awards, page
6"
“The Opteron 2218 is excellent overall in power
efficiency, and I can see why AMD issued its challenge.
Yes, we were testing the top speed grade of the Xeon
5100 and 5300 series against the Opteron 2218, but the
Opteron ended up drawing much less power at idle than
the Xeons—a reality that switching to a lower Xeon speed
grade won't remedy, since all of these Xeons share the
same 2GHz minimum clock speed via DBS. Thanks in part to
their lower idle power draw, the Opterons also fared
best in power efficiency when measured over a set span
of time in which a task was accomplished—a fair
cross-section of a moment in the life of a system.
Finally, the Opteron 2218 system was close to the top in
terms of efficiency when we measured the energy used to
complete a task, whether it was rendering a scene with
POV-Ray or doing a search with MyriMatch. This broad
strength across multiple measurements of power
efficiency, combined with a reasonably good showing in
our performance tests, confirms that AMD's Socket F
Opterons make a compelling recipe for power-efficient
performance.”
Tech Report
"New-look Xeons and Opterons square
off"
Mobile (Gaming):
“Armed
with an AMD Mobile Turion 64 ML-44 running at 2.4 GHz
and 2 GB of memory, the Battalion is ready for anything
that comes its way."
“Gamers like systems like
these when their need for portability is a must. It is
more common to see gaming notebooks at events like LAN
parties and even professional tournaments… As we
mentioned earlier, the system has dual Nvidia GeForce Go
7800GTX graphics processors connected together via SLI
to give the blistering performance for gaming on the
road."
“We can unequivocally say that this is
the fastest notebook we have ever tested; the frame
rates are on par with those of a desktop."
“At
$3,500 this is not your ordinary notebook. It is a
desktop with a built-in UPS (uninterruptible power
supply) and display. It has every feature you could
desire in a desktop or mobile system. While it is not
the most practical system due to its size, power
consumption and weight, it can deliver a great gaming
experience on the road or in your office. If you are
looking for the extreme mobile system, this should fit
the bill.”
Tom’s Hardware Guide
“Can SLI in a Notebook Beat Desktop
Graphics?”
(iBuyPower's
Battalion-101 SC-650 SLI notebook)
Desktop:
“Each chipset
shows the lineage of its integrated graphics. AMD’s
solution is clearly a scaled-down version of their
dedicated graphics chips, while Intel’s offering starts
from a point of minimum functionality and adds features
from there.”
Lostcircuits
"AMD's 690G vs Intel's 965G"
“A pretty river flows past Pleasantview. Its
rippling waters reflect clouds and the graceful arches
of a bridge. Unless, that is, you're playing Electronic
Arts' (ERTS) The Sims 2 video game on an Intel (INTC)
computer with underpowered graphics. If so, the water
appears as a featureless patch of monochromatic blue,
and many other graphic subtleties of the game are lost.”
“Graphics performance has long been a concern
for dedicated gamers and for users of advanced
professional software, such as computer-assisted design
tools. But it may soon become a lot more important to
everyone else.”
“In my tests, all the Intel
chips had enough heft to display Vista's spiffy graphics
features, such as animated icons and transparent
windows. But they fell way short of the ATI and NVIDIA
(NVDA) systems in games. The Intel chips don't meet
minimum requirements for running Linden Lab's Second
Life virtual-world software on Vista.”
“For
better graphics performance, consider a system using ATI
or NVIDIA graphics."
BusinessWeek
"Is Your PC a Graphics Wimp?"
“To determine the greenest CPU, we compared AMD’s
2.4GHz Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Energy Efficient chip… to a
comparable Intel part. Intel says all its CPUs are
energy efficient, so we chose the closest one in cost to
AMD’s proc, the Intel 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo E6300… To
narrow the variablels we used micro-ATX boards with
integrated graphics from each company: AMD’s new 690 for
the Athlon and Intel’s 965G for the Core 2. All other
components were identical in all tests.”
“The
results?... The Athlon 64 EE showed significant savings
at idle, and even under load, the CPU consumed almost 18
percent less power while performing 13.1 percent better
in Cinebench!”
Maximum PC
“19
Bright Ideas” / “Power-Efficient CPU”, June 2007 issue,
page 28
“The newcomer to the party is the AMD 690. Actually
designed by ATI before the two companies merged, this
chipset comes in two varieties: the AMD 690G, which
supports HDMI, DVI, and component-video output; and the
lower-cost AMD 690V, which supports only VGA and TV
output. One particularly slick feature is SurroundView:
Add a dual-output Radeon graphics card to your system,
and you can drive up to four displays simultaneously.”
“Like the GeForce 6150, the AMD 690 has
excellent 3D capabilities… Unlike PureVideo, which
requires the purchase of a separate software package
from nVidia, the Avivo software is part of AMD's driver
software. Also, the AMD 690 is the only chipset here
that supports dual-link DVI, allowing you to run at full
2,560x1,600 resolution on large monitors.”
“The
AMD 690 board was the clear performance winner, turning
in 32.5fps in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast at 800x600
resolution, and a fairly playable 22.3fps at 1,024x768."
“In our playback-quality tests with DVD video,
the AMD 690 board clearly outclassed both the nVidia and
Intel entries, offering smoother color gradients and
fewer visual artifacts. nVidia's chip is capable of
matching the AMD's quality if you purchase the optional
PureVideo decoder software.”
Computer Shopper
"The Right GPU for You"
“The desktop graphics tests certainly came out in
favor of the Athlon 64 X2 + GeForce 6150 LE platform, as
the CINEBENCH 9.5 Cinema 4D and OpenGL benchmarks left
absolutely no doubt. It was the same with the HQV
benchmarking, as the GeForce 6150 LE proved to be the
superior video processor, and didn’t lose a single test
to the Intel G965 Express.”
"Game benchmarking
was also heavily weighted toward the AMD configuration,
as it won five out of the six real-world tests. Intel
also failed to provide a playable framerate in its sole
gaming victory, making that one a pseudo-stalemate.”
“Compiling this article has provided a great
opportunity to evaluate what the entry-level market has
to offer. As the top-end hardware gets all the press, it
can be difficult to even allocate the less-flashy
systems for review, as these aren't likely to be make
headlines. But when you realize the majority of systems
will be similar to these two AMD and Intel platforms,
and that Intel is by far the leader in GPU sales, the
importance of this type of coverage is magnified.”
SharkyExtreme
"AMD vs. Intel: Action at the
Entry-Level"
“AMD should be pleased that we can confirm their
point. The performance of the Intel-based integrated
video graphics in the HP Pavilion a1640n is inferior to
the nVidia-based integrated video graphics in the HP
Pavilion a1630n. The fact that this AMD processor system
actually sold for some 10% less is also worthy of note.
Neither system is marketed as a gaming PC, so the fact
that the a1630n allows an occasional casual game to be
enjoyed is a bonus.”
“Most interesting are the
power assessments. There's little doubt that the
AMD-based system, with its much lower idle power, has a
substantial energy efficiency advantage over the
Intel-based one… The Athlon 64-X2 4600+ in this system
is about the lowest in idle power demand we've seen from
any desktop processor thus far.”
“It's
surprising that in stock form, the a1630n exceeds the
most stringent energy requirements for the soon-to-be
effective Energy Star Computer Spec 4.0.”
“The
energy savings of the a1630n over the a1640n in real use
will probably be at least 20%, and considerably more if
the computer is powered on more than four hours a day,
the conservative figure used for our calculations. For
typical home or office use, as long as the AMD CPU
performance remains within 10~20% of Intel's, it's the
lower idle power that looks compelling to us. For a
corporation running hundreds or thousands of PCs,
>30% energy savings is nothing to scoff at in this
day of rising energy and environmental costs.”
Silent PC Review
"HP Pavilion a1640n & a1630n: Intel vs.
AMD?"
“It's quite apparent to me that if you are planning
on doing even intermediate gaming on a PC using one of
these platforms, the AMD 690 chipset and the Athlon
processors are better solutions than any CPU on the
Intel G965.”
PC Perspective
"Asus M2A-VM AMD 690G Motherboard Review"
“The quad-core gaming era is about to begin. In less
than a week, the world’s first quad-core enabled game
will hit store shelves, Gas Powered Games/THQ’s highly
anticipated 3D RTS, Supreme Commander."
“The
game will support multi-threading out-of-the-box, with
major game threads devoted for aspects such as graphics,
physics, and unit movement, and smaller threads for
things like sound and networking… We asked Gas Powered
what kind of performance impact quad-core CPUs can have
on performance and we were told that the game runs about
35% faster on quad-core processors versus dual-core when
the game is CPU-bound.”
“If RTS games aren’t
your thing and you prefer first-person shooters, you’re
still in for a treat. Games such as Unreal Tournament 3
and Valve’s Half-Life 2: Episode Two have been designed
with quad-core CPUs in mind. And of course, there’s also
the title everyone’s been talking about lately, Crysis.
Crytek has confirmed that Crysis will take advantage of
quad-core when the game ships later this year.”
“With so many quad-core ready games shipping
this year, gamers planning to upgrade for these games
have been clamoring for cheaper hardware. The least
expensive quad-core processor right now is AMD’s Athlon
64 FX-70… you can pick up AMD’s Quad FX platform for
just under $1,000 at $960 total.”
“By going the
AMD route, you’d also get the benefit of upgrading to
eight processing cores later this year when AMD’s native
quad-core “Barcelona” processors debut. Intel’s
competitor to Barcelona codenamed “Wolfdale” should also
appear before the end of the year, but it’s unknown at
this time if today’s Core 2 motherboards will be
compatible with Wolfdale.”
“Without a doubt, the
Quad FX CPU we’re most enthusiastic about right now is
AMD’s Athlon 64 FX-70… The FX-70 really shines though
when it’s overclocked. We pushed our FX-70s to 3.12GHz
and feel that we probably could have gone a little
further if we’d had a little more voltage. At 3.12GHz
though the FX-70 really impressed us, outperforming both
the FX-74 and Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600 in some cases,
both of which cost significantly more than the FX-70.”
“Now all we’re waiting for is the quad-core
games to ship.”
Firing Squad
"AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 Overclocking"
“Looking at the [HQV] scores above, we clearly see
that the AMD platform is able to produce a higher
quality image in this visual benchmark than the Intel
platform.”
“Based upon the two nearly identical
HP systems we've evaluated, we would have to give AMD's
LIVE! platform and edge in terms of overall performance
and functionality. Given the superior video quality,
competitive gaming performance, game compatibility, and
lower overall cost, the HP a1630n based upon the AMD
LIVE! platform is a better solution than the HP a1640n.”
“Overall, we would have to give AMD's LIVE!
platform the nod as the better overall multimedia
initiative for its more complete and in-depth
specifications and better overall performance at the
lower price points… based on the two machines we've
evaluated here, the AMD LIVE! solution is currently the
better option for those looking for a pre-built
multimedia or home theater PC on a budget.”
Hot Hardware
"Intel VIIV vs. AMD Live!"
“Onboard GeForce 6150 graphics consume so little
power that the Northbridge can be passively and silently
cooled, even at a high enough performance level for
viewing MPEG2 and MPEG4 video at common 720p and 1080i
resolutions. Buyers looking for more audio or fewer
video connections can certainly find these in the wider
selection of Socket AM2 motherboards available from
several manufacturers."
“Moving up to a Core 2
Duo Mobile processor limits onboard graphics power to
less capable Intel solutions, which could result in a
system that can transcode video files more quickly but
at lower viewing resolutions."
Tom’s Hardware
"Building a Low-Power Home Theater PC
System"
“AMD users can skip this section [the right
dual-core support] because, well, the company seems to
be able to deliver better than Intel. All AM2
motherboards support dual-core and all the company’s
CPU. Intel, on the other hand, has completely fracked it
up…”
Maximum PC
“Hardware
Buying Guide: Mobo”, Special Issue: Hardware Guide,
Winter 2007, page 16
“Generally speaking, all new 65 nm Athlon 64 X2
processors require less energy. Our test results show
that the energy savings between a system with a Windsor
processor and a Brisbane-equipped machine at 2.6 GHz is
2% in idle mode with Cool'n'Quiet enabled (Brisbane
offers the Enhanced Halt Mode C1E), 5% in idle without
Cool'n'Quiet, and as much as 11% under full load. The
last number especially makes clear the huge difference
that the new processor makes in energy consumption!.."
“Whether you run a 90 nm Windsor core or the 65
nm Brisbane newcomer only makes a difference on your
energy bill: under load, the new processor is capable of
reducing the power requirements of the overall system by
up to 11%. This is a tremendous improvement given that
the rest of the system remains unchanged, and the
performance is very much the same as well.”
Tom’s Hardware
"Can AMD'S 65 nm Core Fight Back?"
"most CPUs - at least in the case of AMD - are
running way below TDP even under maximum load that can
be achieved in any desktop situation."
“In both
idle and full power scenarios, the Brisbane-based 4800+
running at 2.5 GHz sets essentially new standards. If
the core frequency was factored in, the Brisbane would
beat out even the 3800+ ADD (ultra low power) in idle
and under full load it would also be among the top
contenders.”
Lost Circuits
"AMD's Brisbane Core - the Transition to 65
nm"
“The reason for its quick success is largely due to
how well the Sempron matches up against Intel’s Celeron.
Well perhaps "matches up" is not the correct word to
use, AMD's Sempron processor runs circles around the
wheezy little Celeron D!"
“It's okay if you're
not familiar with the Sempron name, there's been little
news about the line even though it wipes the floor with
its Celeron competition."
“...the AMD Sempron
3600+ is an absolute steal.”
PC
Stats
Sempron 3600+ (socket AM2) review
(Winner of “BEST VALUE”
award)
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