Intel Yonah Performance Preview - Part I: The Exclusive First Look at Yonah
by Anand Lal Shimpi on November 30, 2005 2:50 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
The Test
Our test configuration is identical to what we used in our Athlon 64 X2 3800+ review, however we can’t disclose the motherboard used for the Yonah platform. We can say that it used the Intel 945G chipset and was outfitted with 2 x 512MB DDR2-533 DIMMs; the rest of the configuration remained the same as the AMD and Intel systems.
Once again, keep in mind that the platform and processor are pre-release samples, and performance could change by the time the parts head to retail. This is nothing more than a preview, so treat it as such.
Business Winstone 2004
Business Winstone 2004 tests the following applications in various usage scenarios:
. Microsoft Access 2002
. Microsoft Excel 2002
. Microsoft FrontPage 2002
. Microsoft Outlook 2002
. Microsoft PowerPoint 2002
. Microsoft Project 2002
. Microsoft Word 2002
. Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003
. WinZip 8.1
Just as we saw in the Dothan vs. Yonah tests, Yonah loses some of its competitive edge in the Business Winstone benchmark. Although in this case, it's not very far off the Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
Office Productivity SYSMark 2004
SYSMark's Office Productivity suite consists of three tests, the first of which is the Communication test. The Communication test consists of the following:
"The user receives an email in Outlook 2002 that contains a collection of documents in a zip file. The user reviews his email and updates his calendar while VirusScan 7.0 scans the system. The corporate web site is viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0. Finally, Internet Explorer is used to look at samples of the web pages and documents created during the scenario."
Yonah manages to be quite competitive in the SYSMark tests, slightly outpacing the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ here.
The next test is Document Creation performance, which shows very little difference in drive performance between the contenders:
"The user edits the document using Word 2002. He transcribes an audio file into a document using Dragon NaturallySpeaking 6. Once the document has all the necessary pieces in place, the user changes it into a portable format for easy and secure distribution using Acrobat 5.0.5. The user creates a marketing presentation in PowerPoint 2002 and adds elements to a slide show template."
Here we see that at 2.0GHz, Intel's Yonah is right in the middle of AMD's Athlon 64 X2 4200+ and the X2 3800+. Given that the CPU has no on-die memory controller, yet performs comparably to an identically clocked Athlon 64 X2, it's not a bad position to be in for Yonah.
The final test in our Office Productivity suite is Data Analysis, which BAPCo describes as:
"The user opens a database using Access 2002 and runs some queries. A collection of documents are archived using WinZip 8.1. The queries' results are imported into a spreadsheet using Excel 2002 and are used to generate graphical charts."
The Data Analysis test is dominated by the Pentium D, but even the Athlon 64 X2 3800+ holds a slight advantage over the 2.0GHz Yonah.
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Furen - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Silicon on Insulator helps with current leakage, though. The problem for AMD, as I see it, is the delay of its 65nm process.forPPP - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Interpolating results shown in this article, I think we won't see Turion Dual Core with more than 2.0GHz or maybe even 1.8GHz for now, because it will consume much more power. That's why Turion will be behind it till AMD gets to 65 nm. But then Intel will have new architecture.Cygni - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Heres a quick summary of my thoughts:Best mobile proccessor option ever produced. Would be silly not to get one with your next laptop. But it doesnt have the muscle for the desktop. Nuff said.
Miggle - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
gaming wise, its looks good. Altho it would be more fair to compare a 2ghz yonah to a 2ghz Athlon X2 /w 2MB L2, being within 5% of 3800+ is very good already, considering that its a notebook cpu. the desktop version may even surpass Athlon64. I sure hope AMD also has something up their sleeves. Exciting match!defter - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
"Altho it would be more fair to compare a 2ghz yonah to a 2ghz Athlon X2 /w 2MB L2"Actually current comparison is fair, since Turion has only single channel memory controller. 2*512KB + dual-channel memory controller Athlon64 achieves about the same performance as 2*1MB + single-channel memory controller.
Furen - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Dual-core Turions will (supposedly) be socket S1, which will have dual-DDR2 channels.michaelpatrick33 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
How is it good to be within 5% of a 3800? The 3800+ has only 1024L2 cache total. Additionally, this is their 65nm product compared to a 90nm product and it still doesn't match it in performance? I was expecting more from Yonah than this. AMD already has dualcore notebook Turions coming in Q1 '06 so Intel does indeed look further behind.Additionally, I am not too fond of Sysmark as a performance indicator either way, but still I don't think AMD needs to run around panicing at this point.
Furen - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
If the FX-60 is a 2.6GHz dual-core then AMD will have something that will more than match any Yonah thrown at it (a 2.7GHz or so Yonah could conceivably beat it, I suppose). Yonah really does make things a lot more exciting though, since at least Intel is within striking distance.anandtechrocks - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
You are comparing the most powerful AMD FX processor with a mid-range mobile chip? What does this prove?tfranzese - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Considering the single core Dothan at 2.0 GHz runs about $300 I don't see how you could say that a dual-core Yonah of the same clock is 'mid-range' especially for a notebook. I highly doubt the chip previewed today will launch at or below that price point, and probably much higher.