AMD Benchmarks Zacate APU, 2x Faster GPU Performance than Core i5

[eyefinity]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3920/amd-benchmarks-zacate-apu-2x-faster-gpu-performance-than-core-i5

Now it's getting interesting.

 

[eyefinity]

This isn't interesting?

 

[Shadow703793]

Interesting, but I'll wait until 3rd party reviews come out... remember what happened with the original Phenoms?

 

[Timop]

And this was supposed to compete with the Atom?

*cross fingers*

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

If things all arent just tilted towards AMD looking at its best, and its this good across a wide spectrum of apps/uses, Atom will be split

 

[Shadow703793]

^ Agreed. Imo, I think Intel will shift Atom toward being aimed directly at ARM in MIDs/smart phones. Only thing Intel really has to do is reduce power consumption to ARM level imo. Having x86 gives them a huge heads up in terms of software,etc. I'd love to run any x86 program on my smart phone. Then I would truly have a true PC...

WTH who am I kidding.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Intel isnt likely to jump in at this level, as being the only one for awhile, they saw Atom encroaching on their other sales
This may make Intel a lil gun shy, and maybe will leave this market as is
Just like AMD/ATI will feel the pinch from bottom up abilities with their new IGPs, both Intel and AMD, I think Intel has a been there done that attitude and wont make another approach unless margins increase

 

[Timop]

If things all arent just tilted towards AMD looking at its best, and its this good across a wide spectrum of apps/uses, Atom will be split

I guess then Intel should just market them as "Proton" for Nettops, "Electron" for Netbooks and "Neutron" for MIDs.

@shadow, doesn't Moorestown do exactly what you just said? It runs WIn7 fine with with the Oak Trail platform, on the mobile side MeeGo is also supported (obviously).

 

[jimmysmitty]

^ Agreed. Imo, I think Intel will shift Atom toward being aimed directly at ARM in MIDs/smart phones. Only thing Intel really has to do is reduce power consumption to ARM level imo. Having x86 gives them a huge heads up in terms of software,etc. I'd love to run any x86 program on my smart phone. Then I would truly have a true PC...

WTH who am I kidding.

Atom has never been set for anything more than UMIDs meaning smart phones, tablets and of course the netbook market they created all while being very simple and having an extremley low power design.

I mean the first Atom alone was quite amazing only using 8w of power.

As for Zecate, I am waiting to see actual thrid party power consumption results.

A HD5450 which is the current 80 SP unit from ATI at the 40nm process consumes 6.5w idle alone and 19.1w under load according to AMD. That doesn't show very much promise for ultra low power netbooks but it does for low power notebooks. If they optimized it to take around the same power as Atom, I can see it competing but if it uses too much more, it probably wont be able to compete.

If those power results stay the same it will compete with SB more than anything and as far as we know, SB is able to give the same 2x Core i5 performance in the graphics market.

 

[yannifb]

Atom will be split

PUN!!!!

Anyway, how much of an IPC increase do you think the 32nm Phenom II cores have over the 45nm ones?

And if Zacate is this powerful, and is meant for tablets and netbooks, then i think Llano will definitely trounce Sandy Bridge's igp.

 

[jimmysmitty]

^I have yet to hear of a 32nm Phenom II core. I thought 32nm was going for Bulldozer only. Maybe they changed thier minds.

I would hope a 400 SP unit CPU + GPU would kill SBs graphics. But then again 400 SP units would take quite a bit of power and create a lot of heat even on 40nm compared to a 80 SP unit or even SBs HD graphics.

 

[yannifb]

^I have yet to hear of a 32nm Phenom II core. I thought 32nm was going for Bulldozer only. Maybe they changed thier minds.

I would hope a 400 SP unit CPU + GPU would kill SBs graphics. But then again 400 SP units would take quite a bit of power and create a lot of heat even on 40nm compared to a 80 SP unit or even SBs HD graphics.

The article said that it would use a 32nm Phenom II core

Edit: Oh wait thats Llano

 

[jimmysmitty]

^Bobcat was supposed to be a 40nm Deneb based core.

If Llano is 32nm then it probably wont be out until BD is whcih means Intel will have Ivy Bridge on the 22nm process that they can probably use to increase IPC on the CPU and GPU.

 

[BadTrip]

The first set of numbers where fudged.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3933/amds-zacate-apu-performance-update

 

[Shadow703793]

I guess then Intel should just market them as "Proton" for Nettops, "Electron" for Netbooks and "Neutron" for MIDs.

@shadow, doesn't Moorestown do exactly what you just said? It runs WIn7 fine with with the Oak Trail platform, on the mobile side MeeGo is also supported (obviously).

Yup. Moorstown does exactly that.

Here is an Atom SoC announcement @ IDF: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3929/intel-announces-tunnel-creek-atom-e600-system-on-chip

What I'm really looking forward as a robotics hobbyist is the so called Stellarton. For the complex robotics project (think College level competitions and above) that would make Stellarton one sweet platform assuming there are no major trade offs (ie power, latency,etc).

 

[Shadow703793]

The first set of numbers where fudged.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3933/amds-zacate-apu-performance-update

lol. Nice work by Anand. THIS is how tech reporting should be done.

 

[fazers_on_stun]

The trouble with comparing Zacate to Atom is that Zacate is aimed at the notebook market, as stated in the AT review:

. Zacate is AMD’s 18W APU aimed at the mainstream notebook market (~$500 notebooks). The APU features a pair of Bobcat cores and a Cedar-class AMD DX11 GPU. Spending some time with the physical Zacate package, it seems to have a single 64-bit DDR3 memory interface ala Atom. Unlike Atom however, both the Bobcat cores and the DX11 GPU should be relatively high performance.

As such, AMD chose to bench it against a Core i5 notebook with GMA graphics and an old driver. I didn't see any CPU-type benchmarks either - suspect Zacate would fall seriously short in that dept.

At any rate, since Zacate is supposed to be out early Q1 next year, it'll be going up against Sandy Bridge notebooks with the much better GPU:

I saw performance in the 27 - 34 fps range on Zacate. At almost 2x the performance of Intel's HD Graphics, Zacate seems to provide the same performance boost that we saw with Sandy Bridge in our preview. Granted this isn't in a benchmark we've tried on Sandy Bridge, but the initial performance advantage is promising.

So my guess is that the benchies will show about parity on the GPU end, and SB way ahead on the CPU end. Which will mean AMD will be competing on price once again, not performance.

For netbooks, it is the 9 watt Ontario that will be competing with Atom, and IIRC the newest dual-Atom Moorestown SoC uses up to 10X less idle & active power as the previous generation of Atoms, and the Oaktrail SoC (for Windows) also significantly reduces the power consumption. Haven't seen any power benches for Moorestown, other than an AT article mentioning 1.1W during HD video playback. As for performance, check out the AT article http://www.anandtech.com/show/3921/moorestown-preview-openpeak-tablet-7-benchmarked-and-impressions.

 

[yannifb]

Didn't you read the update? Zacate still pretty much demolished that i5 system. And thats a netbook vs notebook. And there are zacate notebooks, but its repeatedly stated they are mainly for netbooks, both by AMD and at they end of the article.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

To me nothings changed really, just that hallucination et al is a borked benchmark

 

[eyefinity]

The updated benchmarks were even better for the bobcat? LOL.

 

[eyefinity]

Does intel have a response against bobcat or zacate?

 

[fazers_on_stun]

Didn't you read the update? Zacate still pretty much demolished that i5 system. And thats a netbook vs notebook. And there are zacate notebooks, but its repeatedly stated they are mainly for netbooks, both by AMD and at they end of the article.

*Sigh*...

First of all, so what if Zacate showed 45% average framerate improvement over Intel's last-gen IGP? Zacate will be going up against the improved SB GPU which IIRC is about 2x the perfomance compared to the same last-gen IGP.

Second, which part of "Zacate is AMD’s 18W APU aimed at the mainstream notebook market (~$500 notebooks)" did you not understand?? Both the update (quoted above) and the first article stated as such. The i5 system was a notebook, SB will be for notebooks, and the Zacate system was identified as a "test platform". Where did you get "netbook" out of 'test platform'??

At 18 watts, I seriously doubt any OEM is gonna stick a Zacate system into a netbook like an iPad. Ontario (9 watts) maybe, but not Zacate. And 9 watts is kinda high too for something with a real skinny battery.

In contrast, many notebooks are designed around 25-35 watts, but they only get maybe 2-3 hours typical use (not just idle) out of a typical 65+ watt-hour battery. So Zacate will greatly improve battery life. I expect SB will too.

Ya know, after publicly embarrassing yourself in a couple recent threads, I would have thought you'd take some extra time and read the links (and posts) more carefully before whacking away at your keyboard again, but then maybe not ...

 

[Timop]

Didn't you read the update? Zacate still pretty much demolished that i5 system. And thats a netbook vs notebook. And there are zacate notebooks, but its repeatedly stated they are mainly for netbooks, both by AMD and at they end of the article.

Isnt Ontario pitted directly against Atom, Zacate against Atom duos and lower-end CULV, then Llano for LV and mainstream?

 

[fazers_on_stun]

The updated benchmarks were even better for the bobcat? LOL.

No. With updated drivers the Zacate test system only averaged 45% better than Intel's IGP.

In contrast, the first bench showed Zacate as 900% faster than Intel's IGP in one test.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Others have also tested OCeed i7s with dual gfx, highend gfx etc, and have all come within the same numbers, that bench is borked