Conroe Performance Preview Follow-Up
by Anand Lal Shimpi on March 9, 2006 9:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
Final Words
The performance picture with regards to Conroe hasn’t really changed all that much - on average we’re still seeing a bit over a 20% increase in performance over an overclocked Athlon 64 FX-60. While it’s worth noting that these results should be taken with a grain of salt, we really were not able to determine any cause for suspicion based on Intel’s setups. The machines were as clean as they could get, with the BIOS oversight having no tangible impact on most performance.
Believe it or not, Intel doesn't seem malicious in their intent. The AMD system could be better configured by using a RD580 based motherboard instead of a RD480 platform, but other than that there's not much else that can be done to improve the performance of the system Intel used. Obviously we're not going to rely on these initial benchmarks for our final take on Conroe, but the scores are extremely interesting to say the least.
Conroe is supposed to launch in Q3 of this year, and here we are at the end of Q1 with some fairly impressive performance numbers. What could happen over the next quarter or so?
AMD will be launching Socket-AM2 in Q2 of this year, which will bring about more memory bandwidth as well as lower power consumption thanks to the Energy Efficient CPUs that will ship on the platform. We have yet to see whether or not real world performance will go up as a result of the move to DDR2, but it very well may.
On the Intel front, there is a lot of time for performance optimization with regards to Conroe and its platforms. It’s also worth noting that the 2.66GHz E6700 we previewed here is simply a high end mainstream part, it is not an Extreme Edition flavor of Conroe. At 2.8 or 3.0GHz, a Conroe EE would offer even stronger performance than what we’ve seen here.
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fitten - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Right conclusion, wrong cause. What really "halves the cache" is pointers (which have to be 64-bit now instead of 32-bit). Programs that use few pointers will show little difference in cache usage. Programs that use lots of pointers (read: written in Java, C#, and those type languages) will show increase cache usage from all the larger pointers. 64-bit and 64-bit instruction set does not imply that the instructions are actually 64-bits long, in fact, it rarely implies that (64-bit RISC processors, for example, tend to have all/mostly/many 32-bit instructions, just like their 32-bit processor counterparts, for example).Nighteye2 - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
I'm not saying it halves the cache. Just that the instructions are longer, not necessarily 64 bits long. I expect the difference to be more like a quarter, rather than half, if I'd have to make a guess at it.AlexWade - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
AMD forced Intel to make a first-rate CPU. And the good news is we win. I knew Intel couldn't stay down forever. Neither will AMD. I think it still bothers Intel, however, that they have to use AMD's 64-bit code.Am I reading this correctly that Conroe is a single-core CPU? I would like to know more about dual-core CPU's, that is the future.
fitten - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
From what I've heard in the rumor mill (nothing that anyone else can't hear), there will be no single-core Conroe chips. I'm sure marketing pressure might lead to them, though. The test system definitely had a dual-core Conroe, though.Von Matrices - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
No single core Celeron Conroes?pnyffeler - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
I have to agree. I've been building AMD rigs for many years and have always pulled for the underdog, but I have to tip my hat to the Intel man on this one. They have raised the bar after getting smacked in the forehead with it for too long.Intel had become pretty lazy over the past few years, and I think it took way too long to realize that they were peddling 2nd rate products that wasted enough heat to qualify as a space heater.
AMD also has done well in this, too. By building a no-question better product, they were able to steal a good chunk of the market share, and their momentum right now will be hard to beat. Now I'm waiting for AMD's counter punch, and from what I've seen so far, if they think it's the AM2 with DDR2, they're gonna get steam-rolled.
cscpianoman - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
This is Intel!Sorry, had to be an ostrich fan-boy for the moment. I think it interesting that Intel really upped the ante on this one. They didn't want to match AMD's next stuff, they wanted to clobber it. Unless AMD pulls a rabbit out of their hat, I see Intel holding onto this performance crown. I'm interested to see what AMD has to counter this.
psychobriggsy - Thursday, March 9, 2006 - link
Even I, as an AMD supporter, hope that this will shut up the extremist ostrich-like fanboys on the AMD side who can't see that Intel has finally done well.It will be interesting to see a comparison between Conroe at $x and a Pentium D at $x when they're released too.
And well done for admitting a fault with the FEAR test.
mongster - Friday, March 10, 2006 - link
Agree with you. Been an Intel supporter for many years and when it was time to upgrade my flailing Willamette system, I decided to wait for Prescott, thinking that I don't want to jump onto the AMD bandwagon. When AMD trounced Intel Prescott, I decided to wait for dual core. But when AnandTech and other sites put out convincing data on why AMD continues to be the better buy for CPU's, I decided it was high time to switch over to the other camp. That was what I did last year when I finally assembled my first AMD system (have assembled AMD systems for my friends but never for myself). Now, I am thinking, should I have waited? Conroe's numbers sure are impressive but I will wait for the architecture to mature first (and the prices to stabilize haha) and see if AMD has anything up their sleeves to counter Conroe.Just my 2 cents.
Calin - Monday, March 13, 2006 - link
Yes, if your old computer's performance was enough, you should have waited another 6 or more months for Conroe. If you were concerned about price, maybe you should have waited until early next year.When you choose to upgrade, Intel wasn't the clear cut best option, like it seems to become in half a year