Intel Yonah Performance Preview - Part I: The Exclusive First Look at Yonah
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 30, 2005 2:50 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Test
Our test configuration is identical to what we used in our Athlon 64 X2 3800+ review, however we can’t disclose the motherboard used for the Yonah platform. We can say that it used the Intel 945G chipset and was outfitted with 2 x 512MB DDR2-533 DIMMs; the rest of the configuration remained the same as the AMD and Intel systems.
Once again, keep in mind that the platform and processor are pre-release samples, and performance could change by the time the parts head to retail. This is nothing more than a preview, so treat it as such.
Business Winstone 2004
Business Winstone 2004 tests the following applications in various usage scenarios:
. Microsoft Access 2002
. Microsoft Excel 2002
. Microsoft FrontPage 2002
. Microsoft Outlook 2002
. Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
. Microsoft Project 2002
. Microsoft Word 2002
. Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003
. WinZip 8.1
Just as we saw in the Dothan vs. Yonah tests, Yonah loses some of its competitive edge in the Business Winstone benchmark. Although in this case, it's not very far off the Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
Office Productivity SYSMark 2004
SYSMark's Office Productivity suite consists of three tests, the first of which is the Communication test. The Communication test consists of the following:
"The user receives an email in Outlook 2002 that contains a collection of documents in a zip file. The user reviews his email and updates his calendar while VirusScan 7.0 scans the system. The corporate web site is viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0. Finally, Internet Explorer is used to look at samples of the web pages and documents created during the scenario."
Yonah manages to be quite competitive in the SYSMark tests, slightly outpacing the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ here.
The next test is Document Creation performance, which shows very little difference in drive performance between the contenders:
"The user edits the document using Word 2002. He transcribes an audio file into a document using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6. Once the document has all the necessary pieces in place, the user changes it into a portable format for easy and secure distribution using Acrobat 5.0.5. The user creates a marketing presentation in PowerPoint 2002 and adds elements to a slide show template."
Here we see that at 2.0GHz, Intel's Yonah is right in the middle of AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and the X2 3800+. Given that the CPU has no on-die memory controller, yet performs comparably to an identically clocked Athlon 64 X2, it's not a bad position to be in for Yonah.
The final test in our Office Productivity suite is Data Analysis, which BAPCo describes as:
"The user opens a database using Access 2002 and runs some queries. A collection of documents are archived using WinZip 8.1. The queries' results are imported into a spreadsheet using Excel 2002 and are used to generate graphical charts."
The Data Analysis test is dominated by the Pentium D, but even the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ holds a slight advantage over the 2.0GHz Yonah.
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Furen - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
It's not supposed to compete against the 3800+ (But it would have been nice if it could match X2s clock-for-clock, at least, since X2s will hit 2.6GHz soon enough) and it does very considering its power consumption.I must say that it looks like 90nm dual-core Turions will be a very good match for these though (which I still dont think they'll hit 35W max power draw), since Yonah on a mobile chipset only uses 25% less power than a "high-voltage" X2 on a desktop chipset.
fitten - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
18% less power at idle and 33% less power under load supposedly with the same video card, HDD, and all of that (they didn't actually reiterate the test system configurations, just said they were the same and were the same as configured in a different article).Remember... the board tested with Yonah was a desktop version board, not a laptop configuration AND both the Yonah and the board it was on were pre-production test boards. It used the 945G chipset but that doesn't mean that the board was designed in any way like a laptop board. Of course, all of the numbers (performance and power) are subject to change (can be up or down) when Yonah and boards are in production.
I wish the Yonah would have been faster, too. It does well in some areas (nearly equaling the X2 4200 which is 200MHz faster clocked) but others it seems to fall down. It looks like the FPUs weren't beefed up enough and it still isn't up to par main memory wise as the Athlon64s.
Carfax - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Please post some overclocked scores!bigtoe36 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
AnandPlease lower the multiplier, run 200fsb with the ddr2 in 1:1 mode and give us a true apples to apples comparison against X2.
EIST should work with clockgen in windows if the bios is poor on your board.
Thanks
Beenthere - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
As other PC industry folks have already stated, Yonah, aka YAWNER, is too little, too late and not worth even bothering with. When Conroe and friends arrive, AMD will have already released faster, cheaper X2 CPUs so Intel is still 2 years behind and loosing ground. Why would anyone buy an obsolete, under-performing CPU that requires a new Mobo? Makes no sense.Calin - Friday, December 2, 2005 - link
No, they are fine. They are as fast as the X2 3800+ processors in almost everything (except heavy non-SSE floating point), and they consume less. Everything depends on the price Intel will ask for them.And I would certainly prefer that Yonah over a Pentium D 830. Why there was no power comparison to the D 830 line too?
DrZoidberg - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Yonah looks ok for notebooks. I mean its slower than AMD X2 but as a mobile processor, its real competitors are AMD Turion and Sempron and Pentium Centrino not X2.I do hope Intel wont price gorge dual core notebook processors, hopefully they only be slightly more expensive than Dothan.
Viditor - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Actually, it's real competitor is the dual core Turion...I suspect we shall see AMD extend their lead into the mobile sector this next year.
I must say that I had one dissapointment with this preview...
While Anand finished with power numbers, he didn't tell us how or what they measured. For example, was it the whole system or just the CPU? Did it include the Northbridge numbers for Yonah (since these are alreeady included in the X2)? How does this compare to the numbers from the Turion?
tayhimself - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Well you suspect wrong, which I suspect, in your case, is quite often. First, there are no dual core Turions on the horizon. Second, AMD is not having much success in that sector because intel's platform strategy is useful for laptop builders. Third, Turion power consumption isnt quite on the same level as Dothan. They will need to move to 65nm before building Turion laptops.
Viditor - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Sigh...have you ever heard of Google before? It's a wonderful little search engine that would have shown you inumerable articles on the Dual Core Turion being released in early 2006...
Gee...then increasing their marketshare by 75% from Q2 to Q3 was unsuccessful, eh?
If someone could translate this for me, I'd be happy to respond...