Does Intel's Dual-Core Atom Improve Efficiency?

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Test Setup

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System Hardware
Atom CPUIntel Atom 230 (45 nm, single core, 1.6 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache) Intel Atom 330 (45 nm, dual core, 1.6 GHz, 2x 512 KB L2 Cache)
Core 2 CPUIntel Core 2 Duo E8500 (45 nm, 3.16 GHz, 6 MB L2 Cache)
Intel Atom Chipset : 945GCECS 945GCT-D, Rev. 1.0 for Atom 230 / Jetway NC92-330-LF for Atom 330Intel 945GC Chipset, ECS BIOS 080013, Jetway BIOS A02
Intel Core 2 Chipset : G31Foxconn G31MG-S, Rev. 1.0Intel G31 Chipset, BIOS : April 29, 2008
RAM1x 2 GB DDR2-1066 Crucial CT25664AA1067 operated at DDR2-800 (Core 2) and DDR2-533 (Atom)
HDDSeagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500 GB7,200 RPM, SATA/300, 32 MB cache
Blu-Ray DriveLG GGW-H20L
Graphicsintegrated 945GC and G31 graphics
Power SuppliesFortron FSP220-60LE, 220 W

Since the Atom desktop series (230/330) supports Hyper-Threading, we decided to run the dual core with and without this feature enabled. The Atom 230 was tested with Hyper-Threading switched on at all times.

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System Software&Drivers
Operating System  Microsoft Windows XP SP2
DirectX 9 Version : April 2007
Intel Chipset INF : 9.0.0.1008
Java Runtime Environment 6.0 Update 1
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Application Benchmark and Settings
BenchmarksDetails
Winrar 3.80Version 3.70 BETA 8, WinZIP Commandline Version 2.3, Compression = Best, Dictionary = 4096 KB, Benchmark : THG-Workload
Winzip 11Version 11.2, Compression = Best, Benchmark : THG-Workload
Maxon Cinema 4DVersion : 10.008, Rendering from a scene, (Water drop at a Rose), Resolution : 1280x1024 – 8-Bit (50 frames)
Sysmark 2004 SEVersion 1.04, Office Productivity
PCMark05Version : 1.20 PCMark Benchmark Memories Benchmark CPU Benchmark Graphics Benchmark Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646