CPU performance

[Paul Goyette <paul%whooppee.com@localhost>]

Well, after a long absence, I rejoined the distributed.net RC5-72 
contest today, installed their client software, and ran some quick 
benchmarks.  The results were rather surprising to me...

First, here's the cpu information for each machine...

Machine #1 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core processor
cpu0 at mainbus0 apid 0: AMD 686-class, 2812MHz, id 0x40f33
cpu1 at mainbus0 apid 1: AMD 686-class, 2812MHz, id 0x40f33

Machine #2 - AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core processor
cpu0 at mainbus0 apid 0: AMD 686-class, 2412MHz, id 0x40fb2
cpu0: AMD PowerNow! Technology 2400 MHz
cpu0: available frequencies (Mhz): 1000 1800 2000 2200 2400
cpu1 at mainbus0 apid 1: AMD 686-class, 2412MHz, id 0x40fb2

Machine #3 - AMD Phenom processor
cpu0 at mainbus0 apid 0: AMD 686-class, 2310MHz, id 0x100f22
cpu0: erratum 298 present
cpu0: erratum 298 present
cpu0: erratum 309 present
cpu0: WARNING: errata present, BIOS upgrade may be
cpu0: WARNING: necessary to ensure reliable operation
cpu1 at mainbus0 apid 1: AMD 686-class, 2310MHz, id 0x100f22
cpu2 at mainbus0 apid 2: AMD 686-class, 2310MHz, id 0x100f22
cpu3 at mainbus0 apid 3: AMD 686-class, 2310MHz, id 0x100f22

Machine #4 - Intel Core 2/Xeon
cpu0 at mainbus0 apid 0: Intel 686-class, 2400MHz, id 0x6fb
cpu1 at mainbus0 apid 3: Intel 686-class, 2400MHz, id 0x6fb
cpu2 at mainbus0 apid 2: Intel 686-class, 2400MHz, id 0x6fb
cpu3 at mainbus0 apid 1: Intel 686-class, 2400MHz, id 0x6fb


Test results.  There are 5 different "benchmark" tests in the software, 
and all provide similar results.

        Test #     Machine 1    Machine 2    Machine 3    Machine 4
           0         10.62         9.07         4.37         7.77
           1         11.21         9.57         4.61         8.04
           2          2.75         2.34         1.12         2.20
           3          2.80         2.39         1.13         2.19
           4          2.78         2.36         1.12         2.18

The numbers in the above table are "Millions of keys processed per 
second", so a larger value is better.  And the numbers are all on a 
single core.

The first surprise:  the 2.3GHz Phenom (#3) was less than half as 
capable as either 2.8GHz or the 2.4GHz Athlon 64 machines #1 and #2.

The second surprise: the Intel Core 2 at 2.4GHz is about 20% slower than 
the Athlon running at the same 2.4GHz speed.

Are these numbers surprising to anyone else?



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|   Paul Goyette   | PGP DSS Key fingerprint: |  E-mail addresses:      |
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| Kernel Developer |                          | pgoyette at netbsd.org  |
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