Spring IDF 2006 Conroe Preview: Intel Regains the Performance Crown

No_Style · Mar 7, 2006, 10:27 PM

Intel is very excited about their new Core architecture, especially with Conroe on the desktop. It's not really news to anyone that Intel hasn't had the desktop performance crown for years now; their Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors run hotter and offer competitive or lower performance than their AMD competitors. With Conroe, Intel hopes to change all of that.

Intel setup two identical systems: in one corner, an Athlon 64 FX-60 overclocked to 2.8GHz running on a DFI RD480 motherboard. And in the other corner, a Conroe running at 2.66GHz (1067MHz FSB) on an Intel 975X motherboard.

The AMD system used 1GB of DDR400 running at 2-2-2/1T timings, while the Intel system used 1GB of DDR2-667 running at 4-4-4. Both systems had a pair of Radeon X1900 XTs running in CrossFire and as far as we could tell, the drivers and the rest of the system setup was identical. They had a handful of benchmarks preloaded that we ran ourselves, the results of those benchmarks are on the following pages. Tomorrow we'll be able to go into great depth on the architecture of Conroe, but for now enjoy the benchmarks.

As far as we could tell, there was nothing fishy going on with the benchmarks or the install. Both systems were clean and used the latest versions of all of the drivers (the ATI graphics driver was modified to recognize the Conroe CPU but that driver was loaded on both AMD and Intel systems).

Intel told us to expect an average performance advantage of around 20% across all benchmarks, some will obviously be higher and some will be lower. Honestly it doesn't make sense for Intel to rig anything here since we'll be able to test it ourselves in a handful of months. We won't say it's impossible as anything can happen, but we couldn't find anything suspicious about the setups.
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Read More/Source: AnandTech

No_Style · Mar 7, 2006, 10:29 PM

Holy ridiculous, Batman! I'm very impressed with Conroe!

If those are to be believed and everything else falls into place (Power consumption etc..) Then Intel is right back into it!

So... I guess my X2 rig needs a new home soon, hmm?

Zardon · Mar 8, 2006, 02:15 PM

Good times ahead

Vikingod · Mar 8, 2006, 02:20 PM

Wow, that is impressive. Lets hope AMD's answer is a good one, then everyone wins.

No_Style · Mar 8, 2006, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vikingod

Wow, that is impressive. Lets hope AMD's answer is a good one, then everyone wins.

AM2? Doubtful. K9? Not soon enough. I've seen some interviews about AMD's future and they've consistently been pretty hush hush about it.

Mar 7, 2006, 10:27 PM	#1
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Spring IDF 2006 Conroe Preview: Intel Regains the Performance Crown Intel is very excited about their new Core architecture, especially with Conroe on the desktop. It's not really news to anyone that Intel hasn't had the desktop performance crown for years now; their Pentium 4 and Pentium D processors run hotter and offer competitive or lower performance than their AMD competitors. With Conroe, Intel hopes to change all of that. Intel setup two identical systems: in one corner, an Athlon 64 FX-60 overclocked to 2.8GHz running on a DFI RD480 motherboard. And in the other corner, a Conroe running at 2.66GHz (1067MHz FSB) on an Intel 975X motherboard. The AMD system used 1GB of DDR400 running at 2-2-2/1T timings, while the Intel system used 1GB of DDR2-667 running at 4-4-4. Both systems had a pair of Radeon X1900 XTs running in CrossFire and as far as we could tell, the drivers and the rest of the system setup was identical. They had a handful of benchmarks preloaded that we ran ourselves, the results of those benchmarks are on the following pages. Tomorrow we'll be able to go into great depth on the architecture of Conroe, but for now enjoy the benchmarks. As far as we could tell, there was nothing fishy going on with the benchmarks or the install. Both systems were clean and used the latest versions of all of the drivers (the ATI graphics driver was modified to recognize the Conroe CPU but that driver was loaded on both AMD and Intel systems). Intel told us to expect an average performance advantage of around 20% across all benchmarks, some will obviously be higher and some will be lower. Honestly it doesn't make sense for Intel to rig anything here since we'll be able to test it ourselves in a handful of months. We won't say it's impossible as anything can happen, but we couldn't find anything suspicious about the setups. _______________ Read More/Source: AnandTech __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Mar 7, 2006, 10:29 PM	Thread Starter #2
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Holy ridiculous, Batman! I'm very impressed with Conroe! If those are to be believed and everything else falls into place (Power consumption etc..) Then Intel is right back into it! So... I guess my X2 rig needs a new home soon, hmm? __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Mar 8, 2006, 02:15 PM	#3
Zardon DriverHeaven Founder Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 32,480 Rep Power: 179	Good times ahead

Mar 8, 2006, 02:20 PM	#4
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	Wow, that is impressive. Lets hope AMD's answer is a good one, then everyone wins.