Single Core + New Memory Dividers

Next, we move on to the single core Athlon 64 FX-57 running at 2.8GHz. The FX-57’s high clock speed should increase its dependency on a faster memory bus, but by how much?

The DFI board only offers support for 215MHz DDR430 and 233MHz DDR466 at 2.8GHz; given the lackluster improvement that we’ve seen from ~DDR433, we decided to only focus on DDR466 performance.

Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2004

Memory Speed MMCC Winstone 2004 % Improvement over DDR400
DDR400 39.8 N/A
DDR466 39.8 0%

3D Rendering

Memory Speed 3dsmax 6 - SPECapc Rendering Composite % Improvement over DDR400
DDR400 1.79 N/A
DDR466 1.8 1%

Memory Speed Cinebench 2003 % Improvement over DDR400
DDR400 395 N/A
DDR466 396 0%

Video Encoding

Memory Speed DivX 6 + AutoGK % Improvement over DDR400
DDR400 40.6 N/A
DDR466 41.7 3%

Memory Speed Windows Media Encoder 9 (fps) % Improvement over DDR400
DDR400 2.61 N/A
DDR466 2.63 1%

Gaming

Memory Speed Doom 3 (1024 x 768 fps) % Improvement over DDR400
DDR400 137.5 N/A
DDR466 141.9 3%

Despite the high clock speed, the FX-57 doesn’t benefit any more from DDR466 than the dual core chips had seen with DDR480/488.

Low End Dual Core + New Memory Dividers Final Words
Comments Locked

37 Comments

View All Comments

  • wien - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    #15: It's not like they will stop making s939 CPUs the instant they launch M2. You'll be fine for a couple of years for sure.
  • PrinceGaz - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    #13- Lots of mobos support 3.3V RAM voltage. Only problem is they take PC66/100/133 modules rather tahn DDR :)
  • AnnihilatorX - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    Well in the end AMD still planned to move to DDR2
    To me they said S939 would last long
    But they are moving to socket M2 and DDR2 next year

    It would have been much better if they stick to s939 and wait for DDR3 instead

    #12 I think it's next year
  • Viditor - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    "According to [H] it is the San Diego core which has the improved (fixed) memory controller (see quote below). So do you have to be careful to get San Diego or is Venice ok?"

    San Diego, Venice, DC Opterons, and the X2 all have the improved memory controllers...
  • elecrzy - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    #11: how many mobo's do you know support 3.3V+ RAM voltage and how many RAM sticks to you know support DDR500 with 2225 timing?
  • bupkus - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    When does AMD's roadmap start using DDR2?
  • JustAnAverageGuy - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    A64s aren't bandwidth starved. We knew that much already :)

    When you crank up the HT\FSB speeds you're normalyl trying to get the CPU clock speed up. Dividers just help if the memory can't keep up. :)
    What's with all the OCZ+DFI love going on around here anyway? :)
  • GTMan - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    According to [H] it is the San Diego core which has the improved (fixed) memory controller (see quote below). So do you have to be careful to get San Diego or is Venice ok?

    "The San Diego core brings with it some very important things. Primarily, it has what AMD terms as a “more flexible memory controller.” We at HardOCP would prefer to call it a “fixed memory controller.” “Fixed” as in the older one was broken."

    http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=Nzg3
  • creathir - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    Well, I for one am just GLAD Anand is not dead... was begining to wonder... Maybe you got invited up to Redmond for a little chat due to you article that got pulled? At least you're alive and the M$ob did not get ya...
    Great work on the article. I suppose as long as I do not play BF2 on one screen while rendering a scene in 3DStudioMax on another, I should be fine.
    - Creathir
  • Joepublic2 - Monday, July 11, 2005 - link

    "i remember when ddr400 wasn't official..."

    I do too, DDR333 was intended to be the last speed grade of DDR. Samsung and other memory makers had good yields of DDR400, and were having big problems with DDR2. Those have been fixed, and DDR2 is ready to go, having recently become even less expensive that DDR.

    http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/memory/display/200507...

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now