Memory Test Configuration
The comparison of AM2 and Core 2 Duo Memory Performance used the exact same components wherever possible. Memory, Hard Drive, Video Card, HSF, and Video Drivers were the same on both test platforms.
The motherboards used for benchmarking differed by necessity, but they are both top-line boards from Asus - the P5W-DH Deluxe for Core 2 Duo and the M2N32-SLI Deluxe for AM2. The latest motherboard drivers from Intel (P5W-DH) and nVidia (M2N32-SLI) were used for testing. The hard drive configurations for each test platform only differed in the drivers required for the test motherboard.
Our Corsair CM2x1024-6400C3 modules were set to the following memory timings on each platform; DDR2-400 - 3-2-2-5, DDR2-533 - 3-2-2-6, DDR2-667 - 3-2-3-7, DDR2-800 - 3-3-3-9, DDR2-1067 - 4-3-4-11, and DDR2-1112 - 5-4-5-14.
The comparison of AM2 and Core 2 Duo Memory Performance used the exact same components wherever possible. Memory, Hard Drive, Video Card, HSF, and Video Drivers were the same on both test platforms.
The motherboards used for benchmarking differed by necessity, but they are both top-line boards from Asus - the P5W-DH Deluxe for Core 2 Duo and the M2N32-SLI Deluxe for AM2. The latest motherboard drivers from Intel (P5W-DH) and nVidia (M2N32-SLI) were used for testing. The hard drive configurations for each test platform only differed in the drivers required for the test motherboard.
Our Corsair CM2x1024-6400C3 modules were set to the following memory timings on each platform; DDR2-400 - 3-2-2-5, DDR2-533 - 3-2-2-6, DDR2-667 - 3-2-3-7, DDR2-800 - 3-3-3-9, DDR2-1067 - 4-3-4-11, and DDR2-1112 - 5-4-5-14.
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Zebo - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
Nice one Wes and it makes sense no matter what to have memory testing done on the top dog platform, Conroe.Mclendo06 - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
Is there any reason that either company, Intel or AMD, couldn't design a future processor both with an intelligent pre-fetching algorithm such as is seen in the Core 2 Duo and an on-die memory controller like on the AM2 processors? Seems like the apparent memory latencies could be dropped very significantly by combining these features.Calin - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
We are hoping in the next big update to AMD processor (the K8L) to have some kind of intelligent prefetching (it is entirely possible, but it costs a number of transistors). Possibly that "intelligent prefetching" means reordering loads from memory, and this happens before the memory controllerIngas - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
How can Core 2 Duo do prefetch before memory controller?
I miss some point, do I?
Calin - Wednesday, July 26, 2006 - link
I wasn't clear enough. The memory controller gets requests for memory, and returns that memory. Nothing more, nothing less.All the logic for preordering is housed in the proper microprocessor, and not in the memory controller - as such, it has no relation with the integrated/discrete implementation of the memory controller.
vailr - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
Has anyone run: a Core2 Duo CPU comparison of DDR vs. DDR2, running on the ASrock 775Dual-VSTA? To determine how much slowdown would occur, by using the older DDR memory?Ingas - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
Interesting point!Maybe Core intelligent look-ahead so intelligent, that it even performs equaly on DDR!
Hm.
Very interesting!
Gary Key - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
We will show this in our review. ASRock just released bios 1.4 that addressed a few issues we noticed in our preview of the board.photoguy99 - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
...that AMD is thoroughly owned.It's amazing the arguments have still persisted up until now about excuses for Core2 doing so well.
It was mentioned that AMD survived before at the lower end of the market - but remember how much trouble they had? There were losing money all the time back then. Now they have taken *all* of their 2.5B cash reserve and spent it on ATI. Nice.
It hurt AMD's credibility even more when Dirk Diggler recently said 4x4 was going to be an answer to Core2. Right. After 30 years of dual socket systems being a niche they are finally going to take off and save you - good luck with that.
duploxxx - Tuesday, July 25, 2006 - link
because you have no idea what is going behind the scene and only looking at performance of a desktop cpu and think this is the real world.almost no review site is proud enough to get up against the hyping marketing machine from intel. well then believe the marketing hype and own a cpu that has a crapy design when it comes to real multithread and 64bit. way to go to the future knowing vista is comming your way.
multicore/multisocket is the future, even intel knows it.
amd is in a much stronger position know and by the end of this year the make procs with a price tag 50% lower than intel intel can only counter this by going to 45nm end of 2007. knowing the cost of all the intel crew, fabs and size of the processors.