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Current Processors Tested With Linux
Happy-Jollies writes "The team at LinuxHardware.org have kept us up-to-date on the latest in processors for quite some time now and they're at it again. With the latest release of the Pentium 4 'Prescott,' many Linux users will be deciding where to spend their money. LinuxHardware.org's round-up takes a look at the Prescott, Northwood, Extreme Edition, and the AMD Athlon 64."
the G5? It can run linux too, you know.
I know that this is a little off-topic, but does anyone know where the extra transistors in Prescott are coming from? There are 125 million in that baby. Even with alleged 64-bit extensions (hidden, at this point), SSE3, improved branch prediction and the extra large cache, there should be under 100 million, no?
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
It seems that Linux is becoming substantially more mainstream, and quite quickly. I don't think the desktop war has really even started -- it won't start until that linux user base reaches a critical size, where managers, etc. start having linux at home and start to desire to be consistent at work too, and then have everyone convert. Still, articles like this seem to point to a more heterogeneous system environment in the near future.
stuff |
Seriously, why why anybody use Intel anymore? AMD kills them almost every single time. AND they're cheaper! (Note: I said *almost*)
The Kerr Divine: My wife's battle with a mysterious illness.
I'm not biting, I'm looking at upgrading my 1.2 Gig AMD to some 2.something Gig P4 or AMD. Why not? They're cheap (under 400) plus they'll keep up for more time than you'd think. When will we really _need_ 64bits on the desktop? I don't see it for another 2 years.
CB
free ipod and free gmail!
-sound of high powered, yet extremely fine lathe-
one, two, three...
I'll be back.
ceci n'est pas un sig.
Decide what the requirements are for your system then choose appropriate hardware. Do you need 64 bit extensions? Do you need hyperthreading? Do you need instruction set X because it'll make your game run faster?
I'm sick of hardware sites and the lame "X vs Y showdown" articles. They're utter bullcrap.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Intel inside. Idiot outside.
I run 2 PPro 200 boxen. They are up 24/7/365. I find that linux keeps it lean and the incentive to keep up with the Prescott's just isn't there for me. For a home server I would say keep it simple and reliable. If you want a work engine that will be used for large EDA jobs etc, then the cpu may get you somewhere (coupled with a good system mobo etc). For EDA jobs though we are starting to look at the future wrt 64bit Synopsis builds for the Opteron family.
I am curious if home server users need all this power...
Hedley
But we won't know if we don't look.
That's why I still buy Intel.
The owls are not what they seem
example of the megahertz myth. The chip with the largest cache won. Hands down, no contest.
Been 'Dotted already??? Jeez, that was fast.
Don't let the fact that they proclaim the Athlon 64 to be the 'clear looser' in the SPECViewperf discipline because of the poor results in the DX-08 and DRV-09 tests fool you.
Those scores are probably not representative of the true performance of the AMD processor but rather of the early stages of optimization of the Linux support for the Nvidia NForce 3-150 chipset. The very same weakness was observed in the past in other reviews that used Specviewperf on Windows platforms, such as this one from THG. Subsequent versions of the Nvidia drivers have since brought noticeable improvements.
The AMD scores would likely have been much more competitive if a motherboard based on another Athlon 64 chipset like the VIA K8T800 would've been used for this review.
"Prescott, Northwood, Extreme Edition, and the AMD Athlon 64."
In all honesty--unless you absolutely need 8GB of memory--there's little difference between these processors in terms of performance. They're all more or less in the same ballpark. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower, depending on the benchmark. None of them is a huge breakout CPU performance-wise.
Here's what's different:
PRICE: There's a lot more than a few percent variation in price.
WATTS: In exchange for your 5-15% speed boost, note that you're getting more than a 15% increase in power usage.
For my day-to-day activities, I'm much more affected by the speed of my hard disk and the amount of memory I have installed. IMHO one should spend the minimum amount on a processor that they feel comfortable with, and then use the savings for the rest of the system.
Buy brand name components, a decent 7200 or even 10K RPM hard disk, and a GIG of memory. Don't forget input and output either! A cheap monitor, keyboard, or mouse will ruin your experience. Don't skimp on where it counts so you can simply brag about having one processor vs. one that's slightly slower.
The first market I can think of for these machines is the memory hungry. Mostly I'm thinking of databases seeking to be entirely in ram. I don't personally have any 8gb databases but I think they are more common than people think.
I'd love to see a comparison, on linux, Solaris, even windows of Databases crunching big piles of data.
LS
Although the Athlon64/Opteron and AthlonXP processors either match or surpass the Pentium 4 line, the one application that the Pentium 4 processors still excel at is in multimedia editing and encoding. Most people don't look at Hyperthreading favorably, yet with Hyperthreading enabled you get an over 30% performance boost in DV25 to MPEG-2 transcoding for video with everything else equal. That's not to say that the Athlon64/Opterons are not useful, but this is one area where they still excel. Considering that transcoding is the major bottleneck for the folks who edit video and create DVDs, there is a good reason to go for a Pentium 4. 30% of your time on a 2 hour video is a lot of time lost if you're trying to crank out videos. Not to mention that most of Matrox's editing cards are almost always approved for Intel hardware to be stable but not for all AMD hardware, particularly motherboards.
If, however, you're a gamer and aren't doing much media encoding or do it casually, then I would recommend an Athlon64.
Oh goody, this gives me a chance to trot out one of my favourite rants.
I really don't understand why more sites don't let you compare *any* part to any other, in a database approach, like StorageReview and some online stores. It is in fact relevant to do so for more than interest, you could for example find out if it is more cost effective to use 5 $100 chips or one $1000 chip. But sites do not support this, instead you have to piece it together yourself (if you're lucky and they're using consistent methodologies). It's not suprising on the candy sites like Anandtech or ExtremeTech where plainly they're just there to sell product, but on this type of site you might expect a little more.
They were running Gentoo yet they apparently didn't even attempt to get the Althon 64 running the AMD64 port. Both POVRay and Vorbis-tools are already marked stable on AMD64, would have at least made the comparison a lot more interesting.
I don't see AMD64 showing up in Intel's processor line for a long, long time. I expect they'll build their own set of 64-bit X86 instructions and specifications. After all, they didn't adopt 3dnow! or 3dnow!ext, did they?
In fact, that's probably why Microsoft hasn't released a 'final' AMD64 port of their OS yet. They're expecting a split in the market, and they're not going to get caught in bed with the side that hasn't historically been dominant.
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I didn't know if this should be modded as troll or as funny. But it's so far away from my reality that I couldn't help but reply.
;-)
I'm 32 with short hair, don't drink Mountain Dew because here in Canada it doesn't have caffeine, I live with my girlfriend and 1 year old baby, and I write GPL/BSD code and get paid for it.
But you got it right on the lack of sleep part.
I think *this* is the lowest common denominator of Linux users
I agree in a sense, but for now most people who buy G5 machines will stick with OS X.
...couldn't you say exactly the same about x86 machines and Windows? So I don't see what the argument is.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I suggest you try both methods, and report back to us. If you can find a significant difference in the results, do tell (read: nada in either case).
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
As a side note, MMX.
AMD licensed MMX and then added on top of it...
This article provides background.
---- Move SIG...For great justice!
They're all a bunch of 16-year olds with long hair
Hey, I am 17, but I do have long hair.
Mountain Dew can marks embedded in their chin
Does Code Red still count as Mountain Dew?
living at home with mommy and daddy
Now this one is just plain wrong. It's a finished basement apartment. At least that is what Mommy calls it.
no job
Now, now, some of us mow lawns in the summer.
never had a date
Who needs a date? I saved up using my lawn job and got a RealDoll(TM)!
eyes more bloodshot from lack of sleep than Robert Downey Jr. after a weekend binge
Okie, so ya got me on this one.
who enjoy puzzles based on multi-dimensional quantum chromodynamics
I prefer building proteins with Legos, but to each their own.
giving away all their hard work FOR FREE!
I get 8 an hour for mowing lawns, wrong again.
WHAT F'ING MONEY?!?
Got me again, I spent all my mow money on the RealDoll(TM). She was worth it though.
Note: The above is not an accurate representation of reality.
but for now most people who buy x86 machines will stick with Windows. so what?
but in reality the vast majority of individual Linux boxen will be using x86 based hardware so I don't think it's that big of a deal.
but in reality the vast majority of individual desktop boxen will be using Microsoft based software so I don't think it's that big of a deal to test with Linux anyway.
Sarcasm apart, I think it's a very bad tradition to consider Linux only as for x86 platform. There are Linux users on other non-x86 platforms. Their percentage is most likely not less than the percentage of Linux/86 users among all x86 users. So, the logic of using any percentage here is basically corrupted.
Linux is multiplatform system. Check the kernel source code for the list of all supported platforms. Kernel - because that wat makes it called Linux, the distributions are usually more platform specific. Also Linux is multi-purpose system - it can be used for servers, for embedded systems and for desktops. The list of oticable desktop systems on the market includes at least x86 and PPC platforms. Therefore considering Linux desktop as only Linux/x86 is not more fair than considering desktop OS only as Microsoft Windows.
Less is more !
I laughed for minutes when I read "Without further adieu" in the article. What a wonderful new way to announce I'm a total illiterate and blissfully unaware of it!
"Skill shows through where genius wears thin." -Wittgenstein || Religion: uniting aviation and architecture.
I was excited to look at these benchmarks because I know that Linux does 64 bits and I really, really want to see what kind of difference there is before buying an Athlon64. But there is no 64-bit testing. What is the point of running on Linux if you don't take advantage of what Linux offers?
You said "boxen". I hereby lower my previous bid to $2.75.
XML causes global warming.
I support that. But should it be positive, negative, random or neutral?