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AMD Takes Opteron To 2.4GHz
EconolineCrush writes "AMD has added a series of Opteron x50 processors to its workstation and server line that push the K8 core up to 2.4GHz. The Tech Report has tested the latest single and dual-processor Opterons against more than 20 other processors, including exotic Pentim 4 Extreme Edition chips, affordable Athlon 64s, and everything in between. Even if you have no interest in AMD's latest workstation chips, the review is worth checking out to see how two dozen of the fastest workstation and PC processors stack up in rendering, scientific computing, speech recognition, and even gaming tests."
I've been a die hard of Intel chips since having been disappointed with earlier versions of AMD processors. However, from this at least, it appears that AMD has come a long way and is going in the right direction. And come on now, just look at that 940-pin socket interface and attractive metal cap. Sure is exciting!!!
I have a bunch of VAXes in my basement and that's all I work on, so this newfangled GigaHurts is too hard to understand.
What I really want to know is: How many VUPS can I get out of this new AMD puppy?
Thanks to you keen insight sir, the proce of tea in China have reached and all time low.
;)
Now exuse me while I clean my belly button with a rusty brillo pad, though I have to be careful not to form a vacum between the brillo and said navel. Would hurt like bitch when I pulled away.
How can you take this review seriously? It even sounds like the reviewers don't know shit about what they a) testing and b) writing. Ooh pages of graphs with the AMD winning stuff! Pretty. How many ass-covering qualifiers and indistinct articals do you need guys? You don't end an authoritative evaluation with with random questions and musings either. And why the frick test a 64 CPU on a non-64 bit OS? Ran out time they say, but they had time to bench test a bunch of games on 20 or so processors? That's just stupid. How about some quality instead of quantity eh? The article even describes the grey metal AMD chip cover as "attractive"! Are these guys just licking AMDs balls or what? Still, they must be creaming themselves over the clicks they're getting from /. readers.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
I gathered that they tested on Windows 32-bit because that is the OS with the most desktop workstation user base. To compare existing products to new ones on what people actually use, and more importantly, what is actually available (have you bought your copy of Windows XP 64-bit edition yet?), you benchmark what they did. Another reason to test a 64-bit-capable CPU on a non-64-bit OS is simply because they can, as it's not limited to solely 64-bit applications.
Well, that's kinda the point now isn't it? They're saying look how fast it runs the Windows stuff they're comfortable with. The kind of stuff the bulk of their audience probably uses. The kind of mass market that will not fully utilize these crazy fast 64 bit processors. They even included a bunch of slower processors with the fast stuff, presumably for comlpeteness, which got predictably stomped. Big surprise there, but people will go Ooh, the Opteron is faster than *all* of them. This review will probably make folks go and buy product - mission accomplished.
They test on games because the benchmarks are easy for them to perform (they've been doing the same set of tests for quite a while) and because they cater mostly to a game-playing audience. AMD almost always compares favorably to Intel in game tests.
Great, if that's thier thing, but it's hardly a reason for this story to hit Slashdot with presumptions of being a complete workstation and server Opteron review.
It also does not tell me how much faster a Dual Opteron will run my database queries. It doesn't tell me anything about running a Java application server. Doesn't say shite about distributed rendering with 64 bit code. The scientific benchmark tests were cute, and seeing the SSE and 3DNOW opimization boosts is quaint, but where are the 64 bit Opteron optimized FORTRAN apps vs the 32 bit Xeon stuff? Where are the flags used to compile the code, and which compiler was used? How does it compare to the 64 bit G5 then? That's useful for science folks.
Here's an example: "The Opteron doesn't seem to care how the data is organized, performing the same with vector and scalar operations in SSE2 and with x87 FPU assembly language." You know you can compile with GCC and tell it use BOTH the 387 FPU and the SIMD units? Is that what happened? Or was it only using one set the whole time in both cases? I dunno, and I doubt the guys that wrote the article do either. But hey, it the CPU just doesn't care, what are ya gonna do?
There's a HUGE amount of useful info NOT there, because all these guys know is how to run 32 bit WinXP benchmark software. And despite making some educated guesses about the meaning of the results, it's not even close to an indepth evaluation of the processor.
Still, I agree that it would be nice to see benchmarks of 64-bit software running on a 64-bit operating system. Is UT2kX 64-bit ready for Linux?
Who knows? If I was into gaming, I'd be following the gamers sites, not reading Slashdot.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Naah, it's Beleagued and Dying :)
Troc
Troc's dubious podcast and blog: http://www.trocnet.net
"Looks like they're windows fanboys to me."
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Look, when the article is headed "EconolineCrush writes "AMD has added a series of Opteron x50 processors to its workstation and server line that push the K8 core up to 2.4GHz. The Tech Report has tested the latest single and dual-processor Opterons against more than 20 other processors..." there are certain expectations. Did I go in looking for something useful? Yes. Did they deliver? No. They presented a broad range of benchmarks on joe-blow hardware, with little serious analysis. A single barracuda V drive in a professional workstation, especially one that's hitting the disk like some of these tests do? Um, no. It's hardly news for nerds they got going on there. Perhaps news for consumers would be appropriate. I can see from your previous posts that you're a TechReport fanboi and that's fine, but don't try and justify their consumer level report as something useful for IT professionals on Slashdot. They ran some mainstream Windows benchmarks and produced some graphs, and mused over the results - that's all.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.