Conroe Performance Preview Follow-Up
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 9, 2006 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
The DDR2 Issue
As we mentioned earlier, the Conroe system was supposed to be running at 4-4-4-15 timings but was instead configured at 5-5-5-15, giving Conroe a bit of a disadvantage. We re-ran all of our tests with the timings correctly set to 4-4-4-15, the results are below:
Intel Conroe Platform |
5-5-5-15 |
4-4-4-15 |
Quake 4 - 1280 x 960 (Avg Frame Rate) | 257.8 fps |
259.1 fps |
F.E.A.R. - 1024 x 768 (Avg Frame Rate) | 186.0 fps |
189.0 fps |
Windows Media Encoder 9 (Encode Time) | 66 seconds |
66 seconds |
DivX 6.1 (Encode Time) | 31 seconds |
31 seconds |
iTunes 6.0.1.3 (Encode Time) | 65 seconds |
65 seconds |
While the faster timings gave Intel a small performance boost in the games, it’s nothing to write home about.
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Questar - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
I think you have confused AMD for ATI.amano - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Not really: "Why Ati drivers where modified to recognize the Conroe processor?"Indeed, why ? Perhaps to fix the disadvantage that the FEAR benchmark gives to ATI?
If this disadvantage was fixed for the INTEL-setup, and not for the AMD-setup, then the 2 setups can not be compared and the benchmark-results are flawed.
(sorry, my first post was a bit confusing..)
Accord99 - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
That was fixed several driver revisions ago. All it was was a mistake in one If statement.DSaum - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
So the 41% Conroe advantage over AMD has suddenly become 20%? After this sorry episode I have serious doubts as to Anandtech's objectivity as an unbiased reviewer."Believe it or not, Intel doesn't seem malicious in their intent." LOL
clnee55 - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
After a great review and re-test by Anand, I hope i don't see fanboism comment again. Unfortunately, there are still kids around, who cannot understand a simple review.Bladen - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
^And the AMD fanboy of the year award goes too...BTW for thoes wondering if Conroe and the others are 64 bit, the answer is yes.
I highly doubt Intel will release a processor that is not 64 bit in the future. Well for any processor designed for laptop, desktop or server anyway...
Bladen - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Ohh crap, I failed to realise my post would not be directly below DSaum...matthewfoley - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Um, would they have released a follow up article telling you about it if they were trying to hide something?Sunrise089 - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
It was a 41% advantage in one game during one total hour of testing. In addition, not only did Anand explain how they messed up, but also provided new graphs only 2 days later. What are you really thinking here, that Anand's mistake will increase Conroe's sales even though the corrected numbers are out and its 6 months away from launch? I'm pretty sure even Intel fanboys didn't just read the first story and then plan on not visitng another hardware site before launch.Aileur - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Way to be able to readNow, thats not the same as dropping from 40 to 20%, is it?