Linux Shootout: Opteron 150 vs. Xeon 3.6 Nocona
by Kristopher Kubicki on August 12, 2004 2:35 PM EST- Posted in
- Linux
Our preliminary look at Intel's 64-bit Xeon 3.6GHz Nocona (which happens to be identical to the Intel 3.6F Pentium 4) stirred up a bit of controversy. The largest two concerns were:
- We tested Intel's Xeon server processor against an Athlon desktop CPU.
- We chose poor benchmarks to illustrate the capabilities of those processors.
Fortunately, with the help of the other editors at AnandTech, we managed to reproduce an entire retest of the Nocona platform and an Opteron 150 CPU. We also managed to find an internet connection stable enough for this editor to redraft en entire performance analysis on his vacation.
| Performance Test Configuration | |
| Processor(s): | AMD Opteron
150 (130nm, 2.4GHz, 1MB L2 Cache) Intel Xeon 3.6GHz (90nm, 1MB L2 Cache) |
| RAM: | 2 x 512MB PC-3200 CL2 (400MHz) Registered 2 x 512MB PC2-3200 CL3 (400MHz) Registered |
| Memory Timings: | Default |
| Operating System(s): | SuSE 9.1 Professional (64 bit) Linux 2.6.4-52-default Linux 2.6.4-52-smp |
| Compiler: | linux:~ # gcc -v Reading specs from /usr/lib64/gcc-lib/x86_64-suse-linux/3.3.3/specs Configured with: ../configure --enable-threads=posix --prefix=/usr --with-local-prefix=/usr/local --infodir=/usr/share/info --mandir=/usr/share/man --enable-languages=c,c++,f77,objc,java,ada --disable-checking --libdir=/usr/lib64 --enable-libgcj --with-gxx-include-dir=/usr/include/g++ --with-slibdir=/lib64 --with-system-zlib --enable-shared --enable-__cxa_atexit x86_64-suse-linux Thread model: posix gcc version 3.3.3 (SuSE Linux) |
| Libraries: | linux:~ # /lib/libc.so.6
GNU C Library stable release version 2.3.3
(20040405), by Roland McGrath et al.
Copyright (C) 2004 Free Software Foundation,
Inc.
This is free software; see the source for
copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY
or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Configured for i686-suse-linux.
Compiled by GNU CC version 3.3.3 (SuSE
Linux).
Compiled on a Linux 2.6.4 system on 2004-04-05.
Available extensions:
GNU libio by Per Bothner
crypt add-on version 2.1 by Michael
Glad and others
linuxthreads-0.10 by Xavier Leroy
GNU Libidn by Simon Josefsson
NoVersion patch for broken glibc
2.0 binaries
BIND-8.2.3-T5B
libthread_db work sponsored by
Alpha Processor Inc
NIS(YP)/NIS+ NSS modules 0.19 by
Thorsten Kukuk
Thread-local storage support included.
Report bugs using the `glibcbug' script
to |
The Intel Xeon 3.6GHz has HyperThreading enabled by default, so we use that
with the SMP kernel during the review. The entire review uses 64-bit binaries
either compiled from scratch or as installed from RPM. We only used a 32-bit
benchmark during the synthetic analysis, but still on SuSE 9.1 Pro (x86-64).
As one reader has pointed out, the GCC 3.3.3 used in this review has a few back ported optimizations from GCC 3.4.1 care of the SuSE development team. Thus, architecture specific optimizations for nocona are included.
Special thanks to Super Micro for getting us additional Intel components
for testing on such short notice!
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JGunther - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
Yeah... this reivew (to me) proves that Kris is a good, well-intentioned guy, as he put aside his own personal time to re-do these benchmarks. But the results within also prove how utterly inaccurate the first review was, thus justifying (some of) the criticism he recieved.I can see that you did learn at least one lesson, Kris; there are no claims in the conclusion of the Opteron "trouncing" the Xeon this time (even though such a remark may be justified now). :)
thatsright - Thursday, August 12, 2004 - link
Now will all of you A-Holes get off KrizK's & AT editorial staff's back!!