Synthetic Benchmarks

Our Nocona server was setup in a remote location with little access, so we had limited time to run as many real world benchmarks as we are typically accustomed to. Fortunately, there are multitudes of synthetic benchmarks that we can use to deduce information quickly and constructively.

Sieve of Atkin (primegen)

Primegen is an older, but still useful library for generating prime numbers in order using the Sieve of Atkin. We compiled the Bernstein implementation by simply running "make". We ran the program as so:

# time ./primes 1 100000000000 > /dev/null

primegen 0.97

We found the benchmark to be extremely reliable and we replicated our figures continually with less than 1% difference.

Super Pi

We ran the Linux compilation of Super Pi 2.0, which is a closed source application. We are not aware of which optimizations are compiled with the program and we are prohibited from redistributing the binaries. Please download the latest binaries from ftp://pi.super-computing.org/Linux. We ran the command:

# ./super_pi 20

Below is the program's output of calculation time in number of seconds.

Super Pi 2.0

After re-running the program several times, our benchmarks never deviated outside of 1%. In a mathematical operation-only situation, the Intel processor has outpaced the AMD offering twice now.

Content Creation Synthetic Benchmarks (continued)
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  • Zebo - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link

    could acehardware have a worse forum tech? that's like 1995 BBS.
  • JGunther - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link

    Don't mean to be a pest, but every moment that botched review is online is depressing. I'm looking forward to the new review as well. So where is this thing?
  • tfranzese - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link

    About the Opteron vs. Xeon talk: Opteron scales better in SMP. Opteron is 8-way capable. And, I'd be willing to bet you Opteron will really stretch it's legs in 64-bit/64-bit once it's primetime, contrary to what I believe the Xeon will do - improve, but marginally.
  • Aileur - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

  • Tabajara - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

    I think that to call the reasoning of the author of this atticle as "nonsense" would actually be a compliment. Just take a look at the conclusion that someone thinking straight would get, using tha same info that is on the article:

    "In spite of the fact that this Xeon processor retails for $850 and the Athlon 3500+ retails for about $500 less, that this Xeon does not even exist in retail channels yet, that the AMD processor is clocked 1400MHz slower than the 3.6GHz Xeon and has 512 less kb of cache, IT STILL WINS MOST OF THE REAL WORLD TESTS!"

    Another important factor: the price and performance difference of the mobos used for each processor probably gives the P4 an edge. To use a NVIDIA NForce3 250 Reference Board against a SuperMicro Tumwater X6DA8-G2 is just not fair.

    Other caractheristic that makes this review resemble the ones done at the POS THG is that the synthetic benchmarcks seem to have been picked to benefit a CPU that has a higher clock and that excels at handling branching instructions (as chess based bechmarks, that have to calculate lots of possible moves). In other words, tests that show the best qualities of the P4.
  • Viditor - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

    KK - "yeah the review is done just pushing it live as soon as i can"

    You da man Kris! Now may I suggest you turn off the damn computer and go enjoy what's left of your vacation!!!!

    Cheers,
    Charles
  • snorre - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

    Kristopher: Read this:
    http://www.aceshardware.com/forum?read=115094123

    You should also test Crafty.
  • KristopherKubicki - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

    Not really sure what the fuss is about the remote server? Its at Jason's place, SuperMicro gave it to him. You can email him about it if you like.

    Anyways, yeah the review is done just pushing it live as soon as i can. I think you will enjoy these benches much better.

    -MySQL
    -Postgress
    -MentalRay
    -Povray
    -TSCP
    -gzip
    -mencoder
    -lame
    -JTR again but a different source - the AMD and Intel optimizations are highlighted as we compiled the code
    -One synthetic benchmark
    -Anything else i can think of in the next 20 min that is quick to test.


    anything we compiled was done using -o2 and unroll-loops.
  • snorre - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

    Time's Up!
  • snorre - Wednesday, August 11, 2004 - link

    Correction, still about 20 minutes to go :P

    Prepare to be scrutinized, so this new review better be flawless ;-)

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