Intel Dual Core Performance Preview Part I: First Encounter
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 4, 2005 2:44 PM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
Multitasking Scenario 2: File Compression
For our next test, we simulated what would happen if we performed two disk intensive tasks at the same time: zipping a file while importing a 260MB PST file into Outlook 2003.
We ran the same Firefox and iTunes tasks from the last test again, and then did the following:
1) Open Outlook.
2) Start importing 260MB PST.
3) Start WinRAR.
4) Archive 130MB test file.
WinRAR remained the application in focus during this test.
Here, we looked at two metrics: how long it took WinRAR to compress our test file, and how many emails were imported into Outlook during the time WinRAR was archiving. Let's have a look at the results:
Here, we see that all of the CPUs performed relatively similar to one another, but now let's talk about how many emails were imported. The non-HT Pentium 4 imported around 500 emails, while the HT P4 EE imported around 1700 emails by the time WinRAR was done. Neither of those are even close to the performance of the dual core chips, which each imported over 3000 emails in the same 40 seconds. The single core Athlon 64 FX-55 also only imported around 400 emails.
Our second test shows us that the performance of a dual core solution comes in all shapes and sizes. In this case, our foreground task took the same amount of time in almost all cases, but what was done in the background varied significantly.
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Pandaren - Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - link
Drat. Double Post. Where's the gaming benchmarks? And are those multitasking scenarios realistic? I don't think I would ever do all that at once.Pandaren - Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - link
sideshow23bob - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
Additionally, what about throwing in Nero,DC++, azureus, bitcomet, and/or Power DVD. Just progs. that alot of typical college-aged users use(i can verify at least). Great article. Loved the multitasking analysis especially.sideshow23bob - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
ravedave - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
Anand, what about DVDDecrypt and DVDShrink at the same time (as in decrypting one movie, shrinking another)? Dual core could really make ripping faster if you could do both of those at once...ViRGE - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
#44, SETI is a really good idea, not just because of heat but because it'll push the memory/FSB at the same time. If Intel's chips are getting choked, SETI should scream pretty loudly by tanking in performance.nigham - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
Thanks, this was a real nice review and its got me all excited. One thing I'd really like to know, though, how does Linux handle dual-core? Does it show the same kind of multi-tasking performance boost that we see on Windows XP? I mostly use Linux for my work and I do a ton of multitasking. Windows I use only for gaming, which as you point out are mostly single threaded applications.gregwjones - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
Dual-core benchmarks I'd like to see:Two instances of Seti@Home, BOINC version, run on a Pentium D 3.2GHz( dual-core, but no HT )
compared to Pentium 4 3.2GHz single core with HT.
Then run four instances of SETI@Home on the Pentium EE ( dual-core with HT ).
This should generate a lot of heat and put everything at max load.
I have a Pentium 4 Northwood with HT enabled and run two instances of BOINC Seti@Home while using the system to do everyday tasks.Like web browsing, DVD Decrypt, DVD Shrink. Everything is very responsive because BOINC runs at a very low priority.
dragonballgtz - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
Great article! It's a good thing you did not do a review like all of the other sites. With just some benchmarks and a few games.As always I can't wait to read more reviews form you Anand. :thumbsup;
shabby - Monday, April 4, 2005 - link
The multi-tasking numbers are definetly intresting, but any sane person will wait and see what amd has up its sleeve.