AMD's Kabini-Based Prototype And Our Benchmarks
Prototypes generally don't emphasize industrial design. However, our Kabini-based ultra-thin notebook with an A4-5000 in it is surprisingly svelte.
Although we used a number of different notebooks for our benchmarks, we used the same hard drive and memory in all of them to keep our comparisons as valid as possible. We want to zero in on platform performance after all, and not the difference between a mechanical disk and SSD.
AMD suggests that Kabini's prime adversary will be low-priced Pentium laptops. To that end, we secured a Pentium B960-equipped notebook for testing as the most inexpensive platform we could find with Intel's CPU inside. It sells for $350 on Newegg.
At the other end of the spectrum, Core i3-3217U is another good match-up. This processor sports a similar power envelope and is available in notebooks starting around $400.
| Laptop Comparison Test Settings | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Platform | Kabini Prototype Laptop | Acer Aspire V3 | HP Pavillion Sleekbook 15 |
| Processor | A4-5000: 1.5 GHz Base Clock Rate, 2 MB Shared L2 Cache, 15 W (Kabini) | Pentium B960: 2.2 GHz Base Clock Rate, 2 MB Shared L3 Cache, 35 W (Sandy Bridge) | Core i3-3217U: 1.8 GHz Base Clock Rate, 3 MB Shared L3 Cache, 17 W (Ivy Bridge) |
| Memory | Hynix 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR3-667 @ CAS 9-9-9-24-1T | ||
| Graphics | Radeon HD 8330 128 ALUs, 500 MHz core | Intel HD Graphics, 6 EUs, 350 to 1,100 MHz core | Intel HD 4000 Graphics, 16 EUs, 350 to 1,350 MHz core |
| Hard Drive | Toshiba MQ01ABD100H 1 TB, 5,400 RPM | ||
| Graphics Driver | AMD Catalyst13.101_Beta3 | Intel HD Graphics Driver 15.28.15.64.3062 | Intel HD Graphics Driver 15.31.3.64.3071 |
And here are the benchmark details:
| Benchmark Configuration | |
|---|---|
| 3D Games | |
| Metro: Last Light | Version 1.0.0.0, DirectX 10, Built-in Benchmark |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | Version 1.6.89.06, Version 1.5.26.05, 25-Sec. Fraps |
| Tomb Raider | Version 1.04, Built-in Benchmark |
| F1 2012 | Version 1.2, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark |
| Audio/Video Encoding | |
| HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.98, Video: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 frames) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds, Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000 Hz, Two-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile) |
| iTunes | Version 10.4.1.10 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format |
| Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
| TotalCode Studio 2.5 | Version: 2.5.0.10677, MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio:MPEG2 (44.1 kHz, Two-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
| Productivity | |
| ABBYY FineReader | Version 10.0.102.82: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages |
| Adobe Photoshop CS6 | Version 13 x64: Filter 15.7 MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates |
| Autodesk 3ds Max 2012 | Version 14.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080 |
| 7-Zip | Version 9.28, LZMA2, Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 |
| WinRAR | Version 4.2, RAR, Syntax "winrar a -r -m3" Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 |
| WinZip | Version 17.0 Pro, Best Method, ZIPX Benchmark: THG-Workload-2012 |
| Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
| 3DMark 11 | Version: 1.0.1, Entry, Performance, Extreme Suite |
| PCMark 7 | Version: 1.0.4, System, Productivity, Hard Disk Drive benchmarks |
| SiSoftware Sandra 2012 | Version: 2012 SP5c-1872, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / MultiMedia, Memory Test = Bandwidth Benchmark |