amd vs intel floating-point

[cgreene]

In Tom's latest reviews he does not indicate which benchmark tests focus most on floating-point performance.
I use statistical programiing software with small data-sets (smaller than 1Mb), but the programs are long, often running for days without accessing HD or producing output to screen.
In comparing amd to intel, which benchmark tests should I look at? Is there a clear difference between amd and intel, or are they neck and neck?
Opinions?

 

[FatBurger]

Typically, statistical programs would be mostly integer, not floating point. For that, the P4 rules.
If it is floating point, the Athlon may be better. I say "may", because it is basically impossible that it is ALL floating point.

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[eden]

Dude in FPU the Athlon is king anytime. It rivals even 2.5GHZ!
It has more FPU units anyway than P4, and it is much more developped. So any FPU app will be better on AXP.

--
For the first time, Hookers are hooked on Phonics!!

 

[cgreene]

OK,
But which of the benchmark tests should I be looking at?

 

[Intel_inside]

generally, amd has faster floating point.. however intel produces the most stable motherboards, which you will want if you will be leaving the computer on for days

<i>My life wasn't complete untill I tried sse-2 optimized pong</i>

 

[FatBurger]

For integer work, look at compression tests like Lame MP3 encoding, Divx encoding, WinAce archiving, etc.
For floating point, mainly check out gaming and 3D rendering benchmarks.

You might also stop by the distributed computing forum (or see if UD or Seti has member stats) and find out what results people are getting from different processors. It seems like your software might be very similar.

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[lhgpoobaa]

how about the program Pi?
i believe that uses floatin point alot

Overclocked athlon 1200C @ 8.5 x 166FSB + PC2700 = GOOD!

 

[eden]

Wow Intel_inside actually gave a + to AMD!
Bravo!
Well I dunno about your more stable mobo but nice to see you off the trolling!

--
For the first time, Hookers are hooked on Phonics!!

 

[FatBurger]

I would think so, but I'm not familiar with it.

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[Schmide]

Typically, statistical programs would be mostly integer, not floating point.

Dude, Statistics is all floating point. I guess you could use integers to accumulate data, but why would you? You wouldn’t want to <font color=purple>regress</font color=purple> into fixed point. I mean doubles are almost free on a modern processor and they hold 52 bits of precision.

 

[juin]

Sisoft dont tell the same thing that you.

http://service.madonion.com/servlet/Index?pageid=/orb/projectcompare&projectType=6&projectId=2310900

 

[TheAntipop]

however intel produces the most stable motherboards, which you will want if you will be leaving the computer on for days

In an attempt to put an end to this lingering rumor I will release the following statement. While Intel chipsets may be slightly more stable for high end usage (i.e. small servers, but AMD has certified motherboards now so this rumor should also be dieing out), AMD boards and chipsets hold a high degree of reliability. I have an Athlon system that runs SETI 24/7 with uptimes measured in months. I have only once in the year and a half I've had this motherboard had the computer restart unintentionally. Once in a year and a half. If that isnt stable, I guess I just don't know what stability is.

The holder of <i>this</i> pass is <b>exempt</b> from all forms of <font color=red>flaming</font color=red>.

 

[sandain]

I have an Athlon system that runs SETI 24/7 with uptimes measured in months.

I have the same results with my Athlon running XP, most stable system I have ever had.

~Sandain

 

[lhgpoobaa]

ditto...
havnt had an actual crash in over a month.

win2k hibernate all the time, and reboots when i install new stuff. thats it.

u see pleanty of people on here with problem computers which have AMD chips, i admit that,
but 99% of the problems can be traced back to other things, most often defective/low quality components.


Overclocked athlon 1200C @ 8.5 x 166FSB + PC2700 = GOOD!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

i had a look and the program "Pi" is heavily floating point.

so if you want superior floating point in an x86 architecture you should go for an XP processor... unless there is SSE2 optimisations involved, where i would probably then reccomend a P4.

Overclocked athlon 1200C @ 8.5 x 166FSB + PC2700 = GOOD!

 

[FatBurger]

I could easily be wrong, I'm no programmer.

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