AMD Phenom II X4 940 - first AMD Phenom 45nm CPU, Deneb Core

Written by Dimitar Dinchev a.k.a. Veseliq

Thursday, 08 January 2009

 

Page 5 - Test configurations and testing methods

For the purpose of the review we choose components that adequately match the platform we're testing. We included tests of AMD Phenom II X4 940 at the default frequency of 3GHz with 2x1GB 800MHz 5-5-5-18 DDR2 memory, thus comparing it to Intel Q9550 Quad Core + 2x1GB DDR3 1333MHz @ 333x8.5, Core i7 965 XE (3.2GHz) and had also separately tested Intel Dual Core E8400 (9x333 = 3GHz) with DDR2 800MHz memory. Of course we also included an older Phenom 9850 X4, in order to see how does the changes in the architecture affect the performance of the newer one compared to the older.

Tests are a bit unfair, mostly towards Q9550, that uses faster memory, but these are results already available to us from the Intel Core i7 review that took place a month ago. By the time of this current review of AMD Phenom II X4 we also had no NVIDIA GeForce 280GTX within our reach (the type od card we tested Intel Q9550 and Intel Core i7 965). Now we had "only" 2xHD4870X2. So, sadly, there will be no direct comparison between AMD Phenom II X4 and the above mentioned Intel quad-core processors in game tests.

Common components

• Hard drive 1: Western Digital Velocity Raptor 10 000rpm 150GB
• Hard drive 2: Seagate Barracuda 9 7200rpm 300GB
• Optical drive: ASUS DVD+/-RW 24x Ligthscribe SATA
• PSU: Raptoxx 1200W
• CPU cooler: ZALMAN 9700 LED
• Case: NOX Coolbay HX with 2x140mm fans and one big 200mm fan on the side cover blowing on the whole motherboard
• Monitor: Belinea o.display 4_24" LCD 1920x1200

Configuration 1: AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 45nm @ default 200x15 (3GHz) and overclocked to 202x17.5 (3535MHz); DDR2 2x1GB 800MHz 5-5-5-18

• Video card: Sapphire HD4870X2 2GB and 2 x Sapphire HD4870X2 2GB in Crossfire mode
• Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 Deneb 45nm
• Memory: 2x2GB Corsair Dominator 800MHz (5-5-5-18)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790GP DS4H (AMD 790GX Chipset)

Configuration 2: AMD Phenom 9850 X4 Deneb 65nm @ default 200x12.5 (2.5GHz); DDR2 2x1GB 800MHz 5-5-5-18

• Video card: Sapphire HD4870X2 2GB
• Processor: AMD Phenom 9850 X4 65nm
• Memory: 2x2GB Corsair Dominator 800MHz (5-5-5-18)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790GP DS4H (AMD 790GX Chipset)

Configuration 3: Core i7 965 XE @ default (133x25 = 3.2GHz, 3x1 GB DDR3 1600MHz памет)

• Video card: MSI N280GTX 1GB for Intel Q9550 and Intel Core i7 965
• Processor: Intel Core i7 Nehalem 965 XE [default 3.2GHz (133x25)]; >>>> [3.84GHz (160x24)]
• Memory: 3x1GB A-DATA Extreme Edition DDR3 1600MHz (9-9-9-24)
• Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe (Intel X58 Chipset)

Configuration 4: Intel Q9550 @ default 333x8.5 (2.83GHz) with DDR3 3x1GB 1333MHz memory

• Video card: MSI N280GTX 1GB за Intel Q9550 и Intel Core i7 965
• Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q9550 default 2.83GHz (333x8.5)
• Memory: 2x1GB A-DATA DDR3 Extreme Edition 1600@1333MHz
• Motherboard: ASUS P5K3 Deluxe (Intel P35 Chipset)

Configuration 5: Intel E8400 @ default 333x9 (3GHz) with DDR2 2x1GB 800MHz 5-5-5-18

• Video card: Sapphire HD4870X2 2GB
• Processor: Intel Core2Duo E8500 3200MHz (400x8)
• memory: 2x1GB Corsair Dominator 800MHz (5-5-5-18)
• Motherboard: ASUS P5K-E WiFi (Intel P35 Chipset)

Tests were conducted under Windows Vista x64, since this is the only modern OS capable of handling all the capabilities of the platform and running 4 or more GB of memory with no problem.

Here is the list of tests:

• Cinebench 10
• WPrime (32MB & 1024MB)
• SuperPI (32MB)
• Everest Ultimate (memory copy, read, write & latency)
• SiSoft Sandra Lite XII.SP2c (memory bandwidth & memory latency)
• DivX & x264 video encoding
• Paint.NET image operations
• WinRAR & 7-zip
• 3DMark Vantage
• Crysis
• Crysis Warhead
• Far Cry 2
• Enemy Territory Quake Wars
• World in Conflict
• Unreal Tournament 3

The tests included in the review are of various types - from purely synthetic, single & multi thread, to fully functional as compression of video files, image processing, WinRAR & 7-Zip compression and even a wide array of games - after all the processor is not intended for the mass of common users. No, it is aiming for the hearts of the hardcore gamers and hardware enthusiasts. Well, time to see the results.