Articles & Reviews

Articles and Reviews
Sample some recent media reports on AMD products and AMD-powered systems.

Server/Workstation:

"The best news for AMD is that the newly launched 8224SE and 8222 will outperform the current Xeon MP by a significant margin.

...... it might seem like a dual Opteron 2224 needs 80W more, but the reality is different. Intel's Northbridge consumes up to 20W more, and each FB-DIMM needs about 5W more than the DDR modules the AMD platform uses. So the difference is not as big as it might seem at first, something we have shown in a previous article. The AMD CPUs also scale back to 1GHz when running at idle, while the Intel CPUs run at 1.6 or 2GHz when idle. As a result the AMD platforms can consume less power when idle or at lower loads.

AMD's PowerNow! Technology is very efficient: it saves you between 150W and 250W depending on system load and configuration. 250W seems impossible, but the three fans of our Tyan TA26 had to run at much higher speeds to cool the CPUs at 3.2GHz than at 1GHz."

AnandTech
"AMD's Opteron hits 3.2GHz"

“AMD still maintains a formidable technological lead over Intel with the on-chip HyperTransport I/O bus and DDR memory controllers, server scalability up to eight sockets, and dedicated Level 2, massive 64KB Level 1 data, and instruction caches per core. In sum, AMD's advantage over Intel is near-constant parallelization, over which IT has gone nuts, kicking Opteron servers to the top of the food chain, where they will remain.”

InfoWorld
“2007 Technology of the Year” awards, page 6"

“The Opteron 2218 is excellent overall in power efficiency, and I can see why AMD issued its challenge. Yes, we were testing the top speed grade of the Xeon 5100 and 5300 series against the Opteron 2218, but the Opteron ended up drawing much less power at idle than the Xeons—a reality that switching to a lower Xeon speed grade won't remedy, since all of these Xeons share the same 2GHz minimum clock speed via DBS. Thanks in part to their lower idle power draw, the Opterons also fared best in power efficiency when measured over a set span of time in which a task was accomplished—a fair cross-section of a moment in the life of a system. Finally, the Opteron 2218 system was close to the top in terms of efficiency when we measured the energy used to complete a task, whether it was rendering a scene with POV-Ray or doing a search with MyriMatch. This broad strength across multiple measurements of power efficiency, combined with a reasonably good showing in our performance tests, confirms that AMD's Socket F Opterons make a compelling recipe for power-efficient performance.”

Tech Report
"New-look Xeons and Opterons square off"

Mobile (Gaming):

“Armed with an AMD Mobile Turion 64 ML-44 running at 2.4 GHz and 2 GB of memory, the Battalion is ready for anything that comes its way."

“Gamers like systems like these when their need for portability is a must. It is more common to see gaming notebooks at events like LAN parties and even professional tournaments… As we mentioned earlier, the system has dual Nvidia GeForce Go 7800GTX graphics processors connected together via SLI to give the blistering performance for gaming on the road."

“We can unequivocally say that this is the fastest notebook we have ever tested; the frame rates are on par with those of a desktop."

“At $3,500 this is not your ordinary notebook. It is a desktop with a built-in UPS (uninterruptible power supply) and display. It has every feature you could desire in a desktop or mobile system. While it is not the most practical system due to its size, power consumption and weight, it can deliver a great gaming experience on the road or in your office. If you are looking for the extreme mobile system, this should fit the bill.”

Tom’s Hardware Guide
“Can SLI in a Notebook Beat Desktop Graphics?”
(iBuyPower's Battalion-101 SC-650 SLI notebook)

Desktop:

“A pretty river flows past Pleasantview. Its rippling waters reflect clouds and the graceful arches of a bridge. Unless, that is, you're playing Electronic Arts' (ERTS) The Sims 2 video game on an Intel (INTC) computer with underpowered graphics. If so, the water appears as a featureless patch of monochromatic blue, and many other graphic subtleties of the game are lost.”

“Graphics performance has long been a concern for dedicated gamers and for users of advanced professional software, such as computer-assisted design tools. But it may soon become a lot more important to everyone else.”

“In my tests, all the Intel chips had enough heft to display Vista's spiffy graphics features, such as animated icons and transparent windows. But they fell way short of the ATI and NVIDIA (NVDA) systems in games. The Intel chips don't meet minimum requirements for running Linden Lab's Second Life virtual-world software on Vista.”

“For better graphics performance, consider a system using ATI or NVIDIA graphics."

BusinessWeek
"Is Your PC a Graphics Wimp?"

“To determine the greenest CPU, we compared AMD’s 2.4GHz Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Energy Efficient chip… to a comparable Intel part. Intel says all its CPUs are energy efficient, so we chose the closest one in cost to AMD’s proc, the Intel 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo E6300… To narrow the variablels we used micro-ATX boards with integrated graphics from each company: AMD’s new 690 for the Athlon and Intel’s 965G for the Core 2. All other components were identical in all tests.”

“The results?... The Athlon 64 EE showed significant savings at idle, and even under load, the CPU consumed almost 18 percent less power while performing 13.1 percent better in Cinebench!”

Maximum PC
“19 Bright Ideas” / “Power-Efficient CPU”, June 2007 issue, page 28

“The newcomer to the party is the AMD 690. Actually designed by ATI before the two companies merged, this chipset comes in two varieties: the AMD 690G, which supports HDMI, DVI, and component-video output; and the lower-cost AMD 690V, which supports only VGA and TV output. One particularly slick feature is SurroundView: Add a dual-output Radeon graphics card to your system, and you can drive up to four displays simultaneously.”

“Like the GeForce 6150, the AMD 690 has excellent 3D capabilities… Unlike PureVideo, which requires the purchase of a separate software package from nVidia, the Avivo software is part of AMD's driver software. Also, the AMD 690 is the only chipset here that supports dual-link DVI, allowing you to run at full 2,560x1,600 resolution on large monitors.”

“The AMD 690 board was the clear performance winner, turning in 32.5fps in Half-Life 2: Lost Coast at 800x600 resolution, and a fairly playable 22.3fps at 1,024x768."

“In our playback-quality tests with DVD video, the AMD 690 board clearly outclassed both the nVidia and Intel entries, offering smoother color gradients and fewer visual artifacts. nVidia's chip is capable of matching the AMD's quality if you purchase the optional PureVideo decoder software.”

Computer Shopper
"The Right GPU for You"

“The desktop graphics tests certainly came out in favor of the Athlon 64 X2 + GeForce 6150 LE platform, as the CINEBENCH 9.5 Cinema 4D and OpenGL benchmarks left absolutely no doubt. It was the same with the HQV benchmarking, as the GeForce 6150 LE proved to be the superior video processor, and didn’t lose a single test to the Intel G965 Express.”

"Game benchmarking was also heavily weighted toward the AMD configuration, as it won five out of the six real-world tests. Intel also failed to provide a playable framerate in its sole gaming victory, making that one a pseudo-stalemate.”

“Compiling this article has provided a great opportunity to evaluate what the entry-level market has to offer. As the top-end hardware gets all the press, it can be difficult to even allocate the less-flashy systems for review, as these aren't likely to be make headlines. But when you realize the majority of systems will be similar to these two AMD and Intel platforms, and that Intel is by far the leader in GPU sales, the importance of this type of coverage is magnified.”

SharkyExtreme
"AMD vs. Intel: Action at the Entry-Level"

“AMD should be pleased that we can confirm their point. The performance of the Intel-based integrated video graphics in the HP Pavilion a1640n is inferior to the nVidia-based integrated video graphics in the HP Pavilion a1630n. The fact that this AMD processor system actually sold for some 10% less is also worthy of note. Neither system is marketed as a gaming PC, so the fact that the a1630n allows an occasional casual game to be enjoyed is a bonus.”

“Most interesting are the power assessments. There's little doubt that the AMD-based system, with its much lower idle power, has a substantial energy efficiency advantage over the Intel-based one… The Athlon 64-X2 4600+ in this system is about the lowest in idle power demand we've seen from any desktop processor thus far.”

“It's surprising that in stock form, the a1630n exceeds the most stringent energy requirements for the soon-to-be effective Energy Star Computer Spec 4.0.”

“The energy savings of the a1630n over the a1640n in real use will probably be at least 20%, and considerably more if the computer is powered on more than four hours a day, the conservative figure used for our calculations. For typical home or office use, as long as the AMD CPU performance remains within 10~20% of Intel's, it's the lower idle power that looks compelling to us. For a corporation running hundreds or thousands of PCs, >30% energy savings is nothing to scoff at in this day of rising energy and environmental costs.”

Silent PC Review
"HP Pavilion a1640n & a1630n: Intel vs. AMD?"

“It's quite apparent to me that if you are planning on doing even intermediate gaming on a PC using one of these platforms, the AMD 690 chipset and the Athlon processors are better solutions than any CPU on the Intel G965.”

PC Perspective
"Asus M2A-VM AMD 690G Motherboard Review"

“The quad-core gaming era is about to begin. In less than a week, the world’s first quad-core enabled game will hit store shelves, Gas Powered Games/THQ’s highly anticipated 3D RTS, Supreme Commander."

“The game will support multi-threading out-of-the-box, with major game threads devoted for aspects such as graphics, physics, and unit movement, and smaller threads for things like sound and networking… We asked Gas Powered what kind of performance impact quad-core CPUs can have on performance and we were told that the game runs about 35% faster on quad-core processors versus dual-core when the game is CPU-bound.”

“If RTS games aren’t your thing and you prefer first-person shooters, you’re still in for a treat. Games such as Unreal Tournament 3 and Valve’s Half-Life 2: Episode Two have been designed with quad-core CPUs in mind. And of course, there’s also the title everyone’s been talking about lately, Crysis. Crytek has confirmed that Crysis will take advantage of quad-core when the game ships later this year.”

“With so many quad-core ready games shipping this year, gamers planning to upgrade for these games have been clamoring for cheaper hardware. The least expensive quad-core processor right now is AMD’s Athlon 64 FX-70… you can pick up AMD’s Quad FX platform for just under $1,000 at $960 total.”

“By going the AMD route, you’d also get the benefit of upgrading to eight processing cores later this year when AMD’s native quad-core “Barcelona” processors debut. Intel’s competitor to Barcelona codenamed “Wolfdale” should also appear before the end of the year, but it’s unknown at this time if today’s Core 2 motherboards will be compatible with Wolfdale.”

“Without a doubt, the Quad FX CPU we’re most enthusiastic about right now is AMD’s Athlon 64 FX-70… The FX-70 really shines though when it’s overclocked. We pushed our FX-70s to 3.12GHz and feel that we probably could have gone a little further if we’d had a little more voltage. At 3.12GHz though the FX-70 really impressed us, outperforming both the FX-74 and Intel’s Core 2 Quad Q6600 in some cases, both of which cost significantly more than the FX-70.”

“Now all we’re waiting for is the quad-core games to ship.”

Firing Squad
"AMD Athlon 64 FX-70 Overclocking"

“Looking at the [HQV] scores above, we clearly see that the AMD platform is able to produce a higher quality image in this visual benchmark than the Intel platform.”

“Based upon the two nearly identical HP systems we've evaluated, we would have to give AMD's LIVE! platform and edge in terms of overall performance and functionality. Given the superior video quality, competitive gaming performance, game compatibility, and lower overall cost, the HP a1630n based upon the AMD LIVE! platform is a better solution than the HP a1640n.”

“Overall, we would have to give AMD's LIVE! platform the nod as the better overall multimedia initiative for its more complete and in-depth specifications and better overall performance at the lower price points… based on the two machines we've evaluated here, the AMD LIVE! solution is currently the better option for those looking for a pre-built multimedia or home theater PC on a budget.”

Hot Hardware
"Intel VIIV vs. AMD Live!"

“Onboard GeForce 6150 graphics consume so little power that the Northbridge can be passively and silently cooled, even at a high enough performance level for viewing MPEG2 and MPEG4 video at common 720p and 1080i resolutions. Buyers looking for more audio or fewer video connections can certainly find these in the wider selection of Socket AM2 motherboards available from several manufacturers."

“Moving up to a Core 2 Duo Mobile processor limits onboard graphics power to less capable Intel solutions, which could result in a system that can transcode video files more quickly but at lower viewing resolutions."

Tom’s Hardware
"Building a Low-Power Home Theater PC System"

“AMD users can skip this section [the right dual-core support] because, well, the company seems to be able to deliver better than Intel. All AM2 motherboards support dual-core and all the company’s CPU. Intel, on the other hand, has completely fracked it up…”

Maximum PC
“Hardware Buying Guide: Mobo”, Special Issue: Hardware Guide, Winter 2007, page 16

“Generally speaking, all new 65 nm Athlon 64 X2 processors require less energy. Our test results show that the energy savings between a system with a Windsor processor and a Brisbane-equipped machine at 2.6 GHz is 2% in idle mode with Cool'n'Quiet enabled (Brisbane offers the Enhanced Halt Mode C1E), 5% in idle without Cool'n'Quiet, and as much as 11% under full load. The last number especially makes clear the huge difference that the new processor makes in energy consumption!.."

“Whether you run a 90 nm Windsor core or the 65 nm Brisbane newcomer only makes a difference on your energy bill: under load, the new processor is capable of reducing the power requirements of the overall system by up to 11%. This is a tremendous improvement given that the rest of the system remains unchanged, and the performance is very much the same as well.”

Tom’s Hardware
"Can AMD'S 65 nm Core Fight Back?"

"most CPUs - at least in the case of AMD - are running way below TDP even under maximum load that can be achieved in any desktop situation."

“In both idle and full power scenarios, the Brisbane-based 4800+ running at 2.5 GHz sets essentially new standards. If the core frequency was factored in, the Brisbane would beat out even the 3800+ ADD (ultra low power) in idle and under full load it would also be among the top contenders.”

Lost Circuits
"AMD's Brisbane Core - the Transition to 65 nm"

“The reason for its quick success is largely due to how well the Sempron matches up against Intel’s Celeron. Well perhaps "matches up" is not the correct word to use, AMD's Sempron processor runs circles around the wheezy little Celeron D!"

“It's okay if you're not familiar with the Sempron name, there's been little news about the line even though it wipes the floor with its Celeron competition."

“...the AMD Sempron 3600+ is an absolute steal.”

PC Stats
Sempron 3600+ (socket AM2) review
(Winner of “BEST VALUE” award)