Athlon 64 X2 + SLI - Double the Fun!! - Benchmarking Results

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Foreword and Test Platform In the report “Athlon 64 X2 the Pentium D Terminator” we learnt the various performance aspects of the AMD desktop dual core processor. In this benchmarking article, we’ll focus on the gaming performance of the dual core Athlon 64 X2 and go one step further by incorporating it into an SLI dual graphics card platform. Just what benefits will the dual core processor bring to today’s games? Let’s find out!

For the low-down on the Athlon 64 X2 processor please visit the link above. Below is the test platform for the dual core +SLI benchmarking process:

Hardware

CPU

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (2.2GHz/512KB*2 L2 Cache/Socket 939)

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (2.0GHz/512KB L2 Cache/Socket 939)

Motherboards

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe (nForce4 SLI)

Memory

A-DATA DDR500 256MB x2

HDD

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160G SATA (8MB Cache）

Graphics card

Jetway PCX66GT (NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3) x2

Display

Viewsonic P95f+

PSU

Century Star 500W

Optical drive

LITE-ON 52x CD-ROM

Software

OS

Windows XP Professional + SP2

DirectX

9.0c

Intel INF

nForce4 Standalone Kit 6.53

Graphics driver

Forceware 71.89

Desktop resolution

1280 x 1024@32bit

Benchmarking Applications and Configuration

DirectX

AquaMark3

3DMark03 Pro build 360

3DMark05 Pro build 120

Gaming applications

Doom3
Timedemo: demo1
Quality: High

Far Cry v1.3 + FarCry benchmark v1.4
Demo HardwareOC Volcano
Detail: Maximum

Half-Life 2

TimeDemo: CplusE Demo
Advanced settings:
Model detail: High
Texture detail: High
Water detail: Reflect world
Shader detail: High
Shadow detail: High
Vsync: Disabled

Memory latencies: DDR400 2-3-3-6

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AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor FAQ

Q:What did AMD announce today?
A:Today, AMD announced the immediate availability of the AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 Dual-Core processor. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor is poised to deliver an experience unmatched in the industry, targeting prosumer and digital media enthusiasts, as well as those who run many software applications simultaneously. These new processors, designed for desktop and desktop-replacement notebooks, deliver performance improvements up to 80 percent on many digital media and productivity applications over single-core AMD Athlon™ 64 processors. The model numbers in this new family of processors include the 4200+, 4400+, 4600+ and 4800+.

Q:What is the target market for the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor?
A:The AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core processor is targeted towards the prosumer & digital media segments. These processors are designed for sophisticated power users who run multiple processor-intensive applications simultaneously. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor is also ideal for digital content creation and entertainment consumption.

Today’s PCs are multi-tasking environments. With the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors, the ability to multi-task, such as creating digital content while checking and writing e-mails, while downloading audio files such as MP3s or music downloads off the Web, will allow users to do more in less time. AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors will also deliver superior performance as multi-threaded applications spread from the enterprise server market to the client and consumer markets.

Q:What are the prices of the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors?
A:The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors 4800+, 4600+ 4400+, and 4200+ are priced at $1001, $803, $581, and $537 respectively.

Q:Which OEMs will offer AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors?
A:Systems based on the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor are now available from leading OEMs including Acer, Alienware, HP and Lenovo, as well as over 40 system builders.

Q:Will the AMD Athlon 64 FX processor continue to be AMD’s performance leader?
A:We expect that the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor will be the world’s best performing processor for multitasking, multi-threaded and digital media applications. The AMD Athlon 64 FX processor will continue to be the best performing processor in the world for single-threaded 3D games.

Q:What types of future end-user capabilities will we see enabled by dual-core technology?
A:General consumers should realize an immediate benefit from AMD multi-core processors with the capability to run multimedia and security applications with increased performance. AMD multi-core processors can deliver advanced multi-tasking capabilities and exceptional multimedia performance as multi-threaded applications spread from the enterprise server market to the client and consumer markets. Examples include:

• Background Productivity, such as burning a CD or running firewall software in the background while working from home, banking online, or delivering video in the foreground.
• Digital Content Creation, such as photo editing, video editing or audio mixing.
• Programming
• Commercial convergence applications, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) supporting audio, video and data collaboration.

Q:What does AMD foresee as the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor benefits to consumers? How do these differ from 64-bit computing benefits?
A:With the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors, AMD expects to see performance increases in multi-tasking environments, as well as multi-threaded applications. AMD multi-core processors are designed to deliver superior multimedia performance as multi-threaded applications spread from the enterprise server market to the client and consumer markets.

For example, as media-centric PCs move into the mainstream, AMD’s innovative multi-core processors can serve as the foundation for the Digital Home. Combined with exciting new applications designed for consumer environments, AMD multi-core processor-based media center PCs will be capable of simultaneously serving different media sources to multiple rooms in the home.

The AMD Athlon 64 processor family allows pervasive adoption of the AMD64 platform for desktop and notebook personal computers. Current models of the processors offer world-class performance on 32-bit applications today. In addition, end users have the ability to seamlessly migrate to 64-bit PC applications in the future. The AMD Athlon 64 processor offers leading-edge performance and, on current applications, outperforms competing PC processors on industry-standard benchmarks.

Q:What are AMD’s plans for dual core in the mobile space?
A:We currently plan to make the desktop core code named “Toledo” available to our mobile customers for high-performance desktop replacement notebooks. We expect to disclose additional information about dual-core mobile solutions at the appropriate time.

Q:Does the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor design have two AMD Athlon 64 processors on a single die?
A:Yes. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processor design is true dual core - with two CPU cores on one die. AMD’s dual-core architecture relies on advanced Direct Connect Architecture to supply each core with the memory and I/O bandwidth needed to maintain high performance per core. AMD’s on-chip integrated memory controller ensures that both cores have optimal access to the integrated memory controller and integrated HyperTransport™ links, so that performance scales well with the number of cores.

Our competitor’s dual-core processor, as illustrated in press coverage, relies on outdated front-side bus architecture to relay both memory and I/O traffic from the cores to the memory controller that resides outside the processor chip.

Q:What do AMD Athlon 64 processor models represent?
A:Since frequency alone is not an accurate measure of performance, AMD model numbers are a simple, accurate representation of relative AMD processor performance based on industry-standard software benchmarks. The higher the model number, the better the overall software performance running on the processor. The “+” at the end of each model number indicates the added performance benefits delivered the innovative AMD64 architecture, such as an integrated memory controller and HyperTransport technology. These two factors alone account for a significant improvement in performance.