CORE Or Boost? AMD's And Intel's Turbo Features Dissected
Features
published
Intel arms its Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs with Turbo Boost. AMD's hexa-core Phenom II X6 chips sport Turbo CORE. Both technologies dynamically increase performance based on perceived workloads and available thermal headroom. Which one does the better job?
Test Setup And Benchmarks
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System Hardware | |
---|---|
Hardware | Details |
Performance Benchmarks | |
Motherboard (Socket AMD3) | Asus Crosshair IV Formula (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: AMD 890FX, BIOS: 0505 (04/02/2010 |
Motherboard (Socket LGA 1366) | Intel DX58SO (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel X58, BIOS: 5000 (02/16/2010) |
CPU AMD I | AMD Phenom II X6 1090T (45 nm, 3.2 GHz, 6 x 512 KB L2 and 6 MB L3 Cache, TDP 125 W, Rev. C3) |
CPU Intel II | Intel Core i7-980X Extreme (32 nm, 3.33 GHz, 6 x 256 KB L2 and 12 MB L3 Cache, TDP 130 W) |
RAM DDR3 (dual) | 2 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 (OCZ3G2000LV4GK 8-8-8-24) |
RAM DDR3 (triple) | 3 x 2 GB DDR3-1600 (Corsair TR3X6G-1600C8D 8-8-8-24) |
Graphics | Sapphire Radeon HD 5850, GPU: Cypress (725 MHz), Graphics RAM: 1024 MB GDDR5 (2000 MHz), Stream Processors: 1440 |
Hard Drive | Western Digital VelociRaptor, 300 GB (WD3000HLFS), 10 000 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 16 MB Cache |
Power Supply | PC Power & Cooling, Silencer 750EPS12V 750W |
System Software & Drivers | |
Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit Edition Updated on 2010-03-03 |
Drivers and Settings | |
Intel Chipset Drivers | Chipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.1.1025 |
Intel Storage Drivers | Matrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.9.0.1023 |
Asus Crosshair IV Formula: 890FX chipset and Socket AM3 for AMD’s Phenom II X6.
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Audio Benchmarks and Settings | |
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Benchmark | Details |
iTunes | Version: 9.0.3.15 Audio CD ("Terminator II" SE), 53 min. Convert to AAC audio format |
Lame MP3 | Version 3.98.3 Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min. convert WAV to MP3 audio format Command: -b 160 --nores (160 Kb/s) |
Video Benchmarks and Settings | |
Benchmarks | Details |
HandBrake CLI | Version: 0.94 Video: Big Buck Bunny (720x480, 23.972 frames) 5 min. Audio: Dolby Digital, 48000 Hz, 6-Channel, English to Video: AVC1 Audio1: AC3 Audio2: AAC (High Profile) |
MainConcept Reference v2 | Version: 2.0.0.1555 MPEG-2 to H.264 MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec 28 sec. HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2) Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1 kHz, 2-Channel, 16-Bit, 224 Kb/s) Codec: H.264 Pro Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS) Profile: H.264 BD HDMV |
Application Benchmarks and Settings | |
Benchmark | Details |
7-Zip | Version 9.1 beta LZMA2 Syntax "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
WinRAR | Version 3.92 RAR Syntax "winrar a -r -m3" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
WinZip 14 | Version 14.0 Pro (8652) WinZip Commandline Version 3 ZIPX Syntax "-a -ez -p -r" Benchmark: 2010-THG-Workload |
Autodesk 3ds Max 2010 | Version: 10 x64 Rendering Space Flyby Mentalray (SPECapc_3dsmax9) Frame: 248 Resolution: 1440 x 1080 |
Cinebench 11.5 | Version 11.5 Build CB25720DEMO CPU Test single- and multi-threaded |
Adobe Photoshop CS4 (64-Bit) | Version: 11 Filtering a 16 MB TIF (15000x7266) Filters: Radial Blur (Amount: 10; Method: zoom; Quality: good) Shape Blur (Radius: 46 px; custom shape: Trademark symbol) Median (Radius: 1 px) Polar Coordinates (Rectangular to Polar) |
Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional | Version: 9.0.0 (Extended) == Printing Preferenced Menu == Default Settings: Standard == Adobe PDF Security - Edit Menu == Encrypt all documents (128 bit RC4) Open Password: 123 Permissions Password: 321 |
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 | Version: 2007 SP2 PPT to PDF PowerPoint Document (115 Pages) Adobe PDF-Printer |
Fritz | Fritz Chess Benchmark Version 4.3.2 |
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
Benchmark | Details |
3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.02 Patch 1901, Options: Performance, Graphics Test 1, Graphics Test 2, CPU Test 1, CPU Test 2 |
PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.0.2.0 Patch 1901 PCMark Benchmark Memories Benchmark |
SiSoftware Sandra 2010 | Version: 2010.1.16.10 Processor Arithmetic, Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth |
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