Any requests?

by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 19, 2005 4:27 PM EST
As I sit here working on the next speed-bump CPU review, trying to somehow make it interesting for you all, I figured I'd just pop in and ask.

Are there any requests in particular for benchmarks you guys would like to see in a not-so-big upcoming CPU review? It won't be a dual core piece, and I've already beaten to death the idea that single core CPUs aren't so hot at multitasking so I don't see much of a need for more there. I was thinking about doing a few lighter multitasking loads to see what the difference in performance would be between a fast single core and a slower dual core with more moderate multitasking involved. Other than that, there's not too much else I've been able to come up with that may be interesting (outside of stuff I can't really talk about yet :)...).

I am also working on updating our benchmark suite (yes, with a new version of Premier as well) but that's not done just yet. So chime in with your thoughts and requests - I can't guarantee that I'll be able to address them all, but I'll do my best.
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  • drpepper128 - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    I'd like to see more Photoshop benchmarks as that is what I am interested in. Also Photoshop is interesting as some things in it are single threaded and some are multithreaded.
  • ViRGE - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    Here's an idea(and it may just be sleepiness talking): create a suite of common, low-impact applications that would represent typical computer usage(say something similar to PC WorldBench), but instead of measuring time as a way to see raw performance, use it as a chance to measure other system attributes. For example, if I'm just surfing the web while listening to music and writing a term paper, what kind of power draw, noise, CPU usage, and heat output be? A lot of tests you do are all about performance at full speed, but when I'm fumbling around with only minor CPU usage, would a dual CPU system be quieter? A faster CPU(lower percentage of CPU time needed to do the task) versus a slower CPU(doesn't need to be tuned for high-clock, high-power usage applications)? I'm sort of envisioning something similar to previous Cool & Quiet / EIST tests, but with a focus on only partial CPU usage, instead of full/idle testing.
  • Anonymous - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    I'd like to see more video encoding/decoding tests as well with the Nero Digital [H264] codec.
  • Xboxer - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    hmmm...NDAs expire on Thursday... Gnomedex starts Thursday...any connection? any announcements coming at Gnomedex, technology wise. I have heard though that Microsoft plans to announce some big things at the conference but I thought that was RSS related...

    anyway...let's see!

    (maybe they'll announce that the Xbox will have a PPU now :) )
    or AMD has switched to Unified Shaders...or ATI has given up Unified Shaders...:)
  • Anonymous - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    Amen to DivX 6 benchmarks and a SATA II article. I'd like to know if they really did fix the connector-breaking issue with the standard revision.
  • Anonymous - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    Review the Foxconn NFPIK8AA-8EKRS motherboard.
  • wbwither - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    I know you already run compiling benchmarks with Visual Studio, but I'd like to see a benchmark aimed at web developers -- something in PHP or ASP.NET, using MySQL or MS-SQL. Many small web development shops use their own personal machines for development work, and then once something is done and tested they upload it to the server. So the benchmark could be something simple like an ASP.NET script that makes a bunch of calls to a database, with both IIS or Apache and the database running on the same machine where the web browser is loading the page.... and just see how long it takes to run. Of course, it might end up that the disk or something other than the CPU is the limiting factor, but it'd be interesting to find out. Obviously you're not testing concurrency like you would for a server test, but you're still putting a pseudo-server load on a desktop machine.
  • Creathir - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    I agree with Demo,
    Battlefield 2 (demo or the real deal, depending on the scheduled release of your article) benchmarks would be terrific. It would be really great, especially if you throw in some SLI comparisons or even some memory speed comparisons. This game is one of the more demanding games on my system that I have played, and will certainly prove to be a great benchmarking standard for many reviews well into the future. Those are my two cents.
    - Creathir
  • Stephen - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    Anand -- Call up shuttle and get the SN26P!@

    We all want to see an SLI SFF!
  • Ciber - Monday, June 20, 2005 - link

    Here's another vote for H.264 encoding/decoding benchmarks. :)

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