hi all.
<b>Thoroughbred 2200+ versus P4 2.4B</b>
extract from the <A HREF="http://www.hexus.co.uk/review.php?review=376&page=1" target="_new">Hexus review</A> provided by The Inquirer :
I like to champion buying intelligently when it comes to your processor and system rather than generalise too much. If Athlon XP suits the work you'll be doing for the majority of your time using the PC, you buy it. If games are your thing, XP2200+ wont disappoint. Heavy FPU work is where this CPU excels and it has a decent turn of speed in media work too if you like to dabble.
AMD had the opportunity to give the processor a welcome boost in performance with a jump in front side bus speed but they declined. As mentioned earlier, they are somewhat crippling the CPU at 133MHz FSB as the multiplier gets bigger and it seems that only overclockers and tweakers with the ability to drop the multiplier and up the FSB will get the real benefits from the increase in CPU clock speed over XP2100+.
The test processor was multiplier unlocked with all L1 bridges intact however it's not clear until they become generally available if that will be the case on all XP2200+'s.
The move to 0.13u shouldn't be forgotten either with the drop in operating voltage and therefore power consumption and running temperature all being highly welcome. The other big advantage to a process drop is the extra headroom in overclocking.
Many people are keen to see what kind of extra ceiling room these new CPU's have. It wouldn't be right to overlook the overclocking performance so while this wont be in depth, a quick WCPUID shot of what was obtainable with air cooling and 1.7V (up from 1.65V stock) should give you some idea of what they can do. It's best to err on the side of caution when predicting overclocking performance since often the manufacturer will send you a nicer sample than most.
So the cooling used was a Swiftech MCX762 and an 80mm Panaflo L1A low noise fan running at 7V. Underpowering the fan on a powerful heatsink (my only Socket A sink available during testing) lets you see what average air cooling will do with XP2200+.
xp2200+@1970@146FSB
That speed was stable running everything bar Prime95 for extended periods of time. While not 100% stable, it was 95% of the way there on mediocre air cooling. Top temperature recorded at 1970MHz was 52c at 100% load from the Gigabyte socket thermistor. The overclockers will have fun with these
Overall, it's a testbed for AMD at 0.13u and a highly capable processor to boot. Excellent performance in all areas and only the front side bus speed to really hold it back.
Cost is your final worry. These CPU's wont be cheap, expect to pay over £250 for one in the UK. Anything under that will be a big bonus. Our thanks to AMD for the sample and the opportunity to look at their first 0.13u product, one that signifies that AMD are on track for their other 0.13u offerings later in the year.
I wont generalise and say if it's 'better' than P4 2.4B or 2.53B, look at the benchmarks and decide for yourself!
<b>Performance Conclusion</b>
So having looked at performance using game based benchmarks, media based work and apps that are heavy on FPU and memory bandwidth performance, what can we draw in terms of conclusions?
It's obvious from looking at the game based benchmarks that in the general case, both CPU's are massively competent game performers. Neither CPU has any problem with any of the game tests and you'd be hard pushed to find a game that would run poorly on either processor, given a good system behind it. Some games run better on P4, some on Athlon XP. In general, all games run extremely well and debating which is better is probably fruitless and best left to a forum near you!
One of the areas of personal computing that is really taking off, with the rise and rise of MP3 and other audio formats, the advent of affordable video editing out of the box on PC's and Mac's, firewire and USB 2.0 enabling use of such technology and the increase in CPU performance, is media work.
Both in encoding and decoding audio and video, strong CPU performance and system bandwidth are all crucial in a good experience working with media on your computer that comes from brisk performance. The Tech Report will no doubt take a look at voice recognition performance, another aspect where current CPU's shine.
XP2200+ in our sole media test with LAME takes the game to Intel's media champion, the P4. Reliant only on MMX, present on both processors, XP2200+ shows 2.4B hows its done in unoptimised software.
P4 however really shines in media work where the applications have been optimised for SSE2. Despite the strong performance here, P4 at the high end with optimised applications is more suited to media work than Athlon XP.
The argument that the P4 needs optimised applications to out perform Athlon XP is moot. So what? We've known since before P4 was ever available that Intel were relying on software developers optimising their applications for the new technology on the P4. It's trivial to obtain optimised applications for media work so why not use them? The software developers have done so, use the tools.
The Athlon XP's real strengths in its current configuration are applications that really stress the FPU on the core. It has the strongest consumer floating point unit so if the majority of your work on the PC calls for such strong FPU performance, AXP is what you buy and you wont be losing out.
Pifast especially shows that despite a lack of memory bandwidth compared to P4, it can still more than hold its own in FPU heavy work. Bearing this in mind, onto the final conclusion.
<b>Pro's</b>
<b>Massively fast FPU and overall performance</b>
Drop in voltage, power consumption and temperature
Compatible with the latest motherboards, just swap it in
<b>Con's</b>
<b>Desperate for more memory bandwidth!</b> If you get XP2200+ and you're a tweaker or clocker, be kind and feed it!
i like toasted cpus but not AMD-inside.
<b>Thoroughbred 2200+ versus P4 2.4B</b>
extract from the <A HREF="http://www.hexus.co.uk/review.php?review=376&page=1" target="_new">Hexus review</A> provided by The Inquirer :
I like to champion buying intelligently when it comes to your processor and system rather than generalise too much. If Athlon XP suits the work you'll be doing for the majority of your time using the PC, you buy it. If games are your thing, XP2200+ wont disappoint. Heavy FPU work is where this CPU excels and it has a decent turn of speed in media work too if you like to dabble.
AMD had the opportunity to give the processor a welcome boost in performance with a jump in front side bus speed but they declined. As mentioned earlier, they are somewhat crippling the CPU at 133MHz FSB as the multiplier gets bigger and it seems that only overclockers and tweakers with the ability to drop the multiplier and up the FSB will get the real benefits from the increase in CPU clock speed over XP2100+.
The test processor was multiplier unlocked with all L1 bridges intact however it's not clear until they become generally available if that will be the case on all XP2200+'s.
The move to 0.13u shouldn't be forgotten either with the drop in operating voltage and therefore power consumption and running temperature all being highly welcome. The other big advantage to a process drop is the extra headroom in overclocking.
Many people are keen to see what kind of extra ceiling room these new CPU's have. It wouldn't be right to overlook the overclocking performance so while this wont be in depth, a quick WCPUID shot of what was obtainable with air cooling and 1.7V (up from 1.65V stock) should give you some idea of what they can do. It's best to err on the side of caution when predicting overclocking performance since often the manufacturer will send you a nicer sample than most.
So the cooling used was a Swiftech MCX762 and an 80mm Panaflo L1A low noise fan running at 7V. Underpowering the fan on a powerful heatsink (my only Socket A sink available during testing) lets you see what average air cooling will do with XP2200+.
xp2200+@1970@146FSB
That speed was stable running everything bar Prime95 for extended periods of time. While not 100% stable, it was 95% of the way there on mediocre air cooling. Top temperature recorded at 1970MHz was 52c at 100% load from the Gigabyte socket thermistor. The overclockers will have fun with these
Overall, it's a testbed for AMD at 0.13u and a highly capable processor to boot. Excellent performance in all areas and only the front side bus speed to really hold it back.
Cost is your final worry. These CPU's wont be cheap, expect to pay over £250 for one in the UK. Anything under that will be a big bonus. Our thanks to AMD for the sample and the opportunity to look at their first 0.13u product, one that signifies that AMD are on track for their other 0.13u offerings later in the year.
I wont generalise and say if it's 'better' than P4 2.4B or 2.53B, look at the benchmarks and decide for yourself!
<b>Performance Conclusion</b>
So having looked at performance using game based benchmarks, media based work and apps that are heavy on FPU and memory bandwidth performance, what can we draw in terms of conclusions?
It's obvious from looking at the game based benchmarks that in the general case, both CPU's are massively competent game performers. Neither CPU has any problem with any of the game tests and you'd be hard pushed to find a game that would run poorly on either processor, given a good system behind it. Some games run better on P4, some on Athlon XP. In general, all games run extremely well and debating which is better is probably fruitless and best left to a forum near you!
One of the areas of personal computing that is really taking off, with the rise and rise of MP3 and other audio formats, the advent of affordable video editing out of the box on PC's and Mac's, firewire and USB 2.0 enabling use of such technology and the increase in CPU performance, is media work.
Both in encoding and decoding audio and video, strong CPU performance and system bandwidth are all crucial in a good experience working with media on your computer that comes from brisk performance. The Tech Report will no doubt take a look at voice recognition performance, another aspect where current CPU's shine.
XP2200+ in our sole media test with LAME takes the game to Intel's media champion, the P4. Reliant only on MMX, present on both processors, XP2200+ shows 2.4B hows its done in unoptimised software.
P4 however really shines in media work where the applications have been optimised for SSE2. Despite the strong performance here, P4 at the high end with optimised applications is more suited to media work than Athlon XP.
The argument that the P4 needs optimised applications to out perform Athlon XP is moot. So what? We've known since before P4 was ever available that Intel were relying on software developers optimising their applications for the new technology on the P4. It's trivial to obtain optimised applications for media work so why not use them? The software developers have done so, use the tools.
The Athlon XP's real strengths in its current configuration are applications that really stress the FPU on the core. It has the strongest consumer floating point unit so if the majority of your work on the PC calls for such strong FPU performance, AXP is what you buy and you wont be losing out.
Pifast especially shows that despite a lack of memory bandwidth compared to P4, it can still more than hold its own in FPU heavy work. Bearing this in mind, onto the final conclusion.
<b>Pro's</b>
<b>Massively fast FPU and overall performance</b>
Drop in voltage, power consumption and temperature
Compatible with the latest motherboards, just swap it in
<b>Con's</b>
<b>Desperate for more memory bandwidth!</b> If you get XP2200+ and you're a tweaker or clocker, be kind and feed it!
i like toasted cpus but not AMD-inside. 
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