Monday 30 April 2012

Trinity A10-4600m - TurboCore 3.0 = 20% boost!!



TurboCore 3.0




According to this slide, we see that Turbocore 3.0, in the case of the mobile A10-4600m, will increase performance by up to 20% in CPU, and 20% in GPU! We will see just how Trinity Performs in the next few weeks as the release date approaches! (May 15th)


Sneak Peak : AMD FX 8150 @ 4.9 Ghz VS. i7 3770k @ 4.9 Ghz


A Sneak Peak : TechARP x.264 HD 4.0 Benchmark




Team Intel

First Corner :  i7 2600k (stock) @ 3.9 Ghz Turbo
ADDED: i7 2600k @ 5.0 Ghz
Second Corner :  i7 3770k + Asus P8Z77-V @ 4.9 Ghz 


Team AMD

Third Corner : AMD FX 8150 + GA-990FX-UD7 @ 4.9 Ghz



RESULTS:



Single Core Performance : First Pass


i7 2600k @ 3.9 Ghz Turbo
148 FPS


ADDED
i7 2600k @ 5.0 Ghz Turbo
191 FPS

i7 3770k @ 4.9 Ghz 
208 FPS

FX 8150 @ 4.9 Ghz 
158 FPS


In this single core test, a 22nm ivy bridge 3770k @ 4.9 Ghz performs +31.6% better than an FX 8150 at the same 4.9 Ghz clock. For comparison sake, an FX core @ 4.9 Ghz will perform +6.8% better than a 2600k  sandy bridge core @ 3.9 Ghz. In this benchmark, a single 4.9 Ghz FX core will be roughly equivalent to a single 4.1 Ghz Sandy Bridge Core. Of course, scaling is in FX's favour, as we will see.


Multi-threaded Performance : Second Pass



i7 2600k @ 3.9 Ghz Turbo
37 FPS


ADDED
i7 2600k @ 5.0 Ghz Turbo
49.4 FPS

i7 3770k @ 4.9 Ghz
51.8 FPS

FX 8150 @ 4.9 Ghz
50.1 FPS


In this multi-core test, a 22nm ivy bridge 3770k @ 4.9 Ghz only performs +3.3% better than an FX 8150 at the same 4.9 Ghz clock.




ADDED: In this benchmark, my FX 8150 @ 4.9 Ghz manages to beat a 2600k @ 5.0 Ghz when all cores are used.







Stay Tuned for more system specifics, and benchmarks in the days to come! 





Review Ivy Bridge Parts cherry Picked? Retail parts only up to 4.4 Ghz??




This is astounding! According to reports from Fudzilla, retail ivy bridge parts are having trouble pushing higher than 4.4 Ghz without overly expensive cooling methods. This is only a 26% overclock from stock settings.  Plain and simple, this is a big step backwards. For comparison sake the i7 920 @ 2.66 ghz generally clocked to 4.2 Ghz, a whopping 58% overclock.


ADDED : In other news, my rig is now built but benchmarks need to wait until at least May 2nd because of driver issues I am having with Windows 8. I will most likely scrap my windows 8 idea and stick to the more stable windows 7.


Stay tuned! 

Wednesday 25 April 2012

AMD 7970M - Mobile Monster - Better than a GTX 580!! - 31% Better than 680M


3DMark11 Score - Performance : Shocking



These two small GPUs will outperform your desktop GPU no problem



First Corner : New Gen. Mobile Notebook

AMD 7970M

Score: 6125




---


Second Corner : Last Gen. Gaming PC

GTX 580


Score: 6044




This is stunning to say the least! 


AMD 7970M + Mobile CPU in crossfire outperforms GTX 680 OC'd + Desktop CPU. 


---


Comparing Nvidia's Current mobile GPU Flagship Vs. AMD's current mobile GPU flagship.








Check out how the Nvidia 680M performs! The 7970m topples it with ease!!
Its paired with the latest 8 threaded ivy bridge mobile processor @ 3.6 Ghz Turbo





WOW! The 7970 scores a whopping +31% higher than this upcoming Nvidia mobile flagship! This is quite embarassing for Nvidia. 





EDIT: So apparently the 675m costs a whopping $150 MORE than the 7970m, when configuring an Alienware 17xr4. Nvidia is way behind on price to performance with this one. 
















Tom's Hardware : Ivy Bridge "Doesn't Impress"









RESULTS:







Tom's shows clock per clock, a 3.5 Ghz 3770k vs a 3.5 Ghz 2700k performs an average of only ~3.7% better. 




Tuesday 24 April 2012

3DMark 11 - Trinity A10-4600m : **Updated**






RESULTS: 
performance score




First Corner : 


2C/4T Intel 32nm i5 2450m @ 3.1 Ghz Max Turbo
AMD 7670M


Score: 1177




----

Second Corner :

2M/4T AMD 32nm A10-4600m @ 3.0 Ghz Max Turbo
AMD 7660D IGP 


Score : 1135




2M/4T AMD 32nm A10-4600m @ 3.0 Ghz Max Turbo
AMD 7660D IGP  + 7670M


Score : 2083



----

Third Corner:


4C/8T Intel 22nm i7 3920XM Extreme Edition CPU @ 3.9 ghz Max Turbo
HD 4000 IGP


Score : 615



----

Fourth Corner:

2C/4T Intel 32nm i7 2637m @ 2.8 Ghz Turbo
Nvidia 640M


Score : 1785



----

Fifth Corner

4C/8T Intel 32nm i7 2820QM @ 3.4 ghz Turbo
Nvidia GT 555M


Score : 1439






So when pairing a 7670m with the trinity A10-4600m at a turbo clock of 3.0 Ghz, we see a huge +77% benefit when compared to pairing a 7670m with an i5 sandy bridge part at the higher turbo clock 3.1 Ghz.



ADDED: More Comparisons







Monday 23 April 2012

From Korea: Trinity A10-4600m






A10-4600m 2.3 ghz / 3.0 Ghz turbo


This has yet to be confirmed

GPU over Llano 156%
CPU over Llano 129%
Power vs Llano 90%


May 15th! 


i7 3770k - the hottest chip ever?





Not only is the 3770k a worse overckocker than the 2600k/2700k, this chip is one of the hottest I have ever seen. Check this out!






65C degrees for the 2600k @ 4.9 Ghz
103C degrees for the 3770k @ 4.9 Ghz

All that for only a +2.6% gain in performance in Cinebench 11.5!?

The numbers dont lie.. This Chip is a larger failure than the FX 8150.


EDIT: Its interesting to see how most if not all review sites fail to show just how hot this chip is while overclocked


NOTE:  HD 4000 graphics still around 20% behind Llano offerings. Intel's statement that they would be even is a blatant lie. 






Intel i7 3770k @ 4.7 Ghz vs i7 2600k @ 4.9 Ghz - a Dead TIE



Here I have tabulated overclocked performance from Overclockers Club. We see here that the much hotter 22nm i7 3770k @ 4.7 ghz is in a dead even tie with intel's older and much cooler 32nm 2600k @ 4.9 Ghz.

DATA






FINAL RESULT

EDIT: 3770k*


IPC looks like an average of ~5-7% better with ivy bridge. This isn't very impressive at all in my opinion, and I am absolutely confident AMD's next generation Vishera processor will be a larger jump from current FX processors, than this Tick-'Minus' bump from intel. 

Not only do these chips generally overclock less, and run hotter than current sandy bridge offerings, The performance does not justify an upgrade from current Z68/2600k/2700k systems.

If you were thinking about upgrading from your current 2600k/2700k, and overclocking to the max, this chip is simply a big fat side-grade. 


Saturday 21 April 2012

FX Benchmarks Continue April 28th









New Gear:


Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Maingear EPIC T1000 Thermal Interface 
Gigabyte GA-990FX-UD7
Team Xtreem 8 Gb 2400 Mhz Cl9


---


Waiting on these


---

Benchmarks starting April 24th 28th and on..


Winrar 4.11
7-Zip 9.20
Winzip 16.5 
Flight Simulator X
Diablo 3 Beta

and much more!


Stay Tuned..

Thursday 19 April 2012

Ivy Bridge i7-3610QM 4C/8T @ 3.3 Ghz HD 4000 - 3DMark 11 Fail!


Intel HD 4000 - 3DMark 11 Performance
EDIT: Battery Life Included





So Ivy Bridge seems to do alright in the DX10 3DMark Vantage, but how about a more modern application? Lets see if its graphics cores are really capable of pushing a DX11 benchmark smoothly. We will see how close my educated guess for Trinity really is when the numbers come out. (Estimate: ~56% higher score than A8-3500m taken from Vantage scaling)


RESULTS:


First Corner:

AMD A8-3500m 4C/4T @ 2.6 Ghz Turbo
AMD 6620G

Performance Score: 820

Source


Battery Life: ~8 hours


---


Second Corner: (Hypothetical)

AMD A10-4600m 2M/4T @ 3.2 Ghz Turbo
AMD 7660G

Performance Score: ~1279



Battery Life: ~12.3 Hours


---



Third Corner: 

Intel i5 2410 2C/4T @ 2.9 Ghz Turbo
Nvidia GT 550m

Performance Score: 1097

Source


Battery Life: 3.8 hours


---



Fourth Corner: 

Intel i7 3610QM 4C/8T @ 3.3 Ghz Turbo
Intel HD 4000

Performance Score: 697

Source


Battery Life: ~6 hrs


Here we see just how poorly intel's next mobile flagship performs in a true DX11 graphical test. The older Lllano A8-3500m (not even AMD's current flagship) still performs a whopping ~17.6% better in 3DMark 11 than the yet to be released $1000+ ivy bridge cpu from intel. DX11 is where AMD will shine, and where intel is just begining to tread water.

More Mobile Trinity Benchmarks! 3DMark Vantage


3DMark Vantage Performance : Mobile Trinity







RESULTS:



First Corner


intel i5 2410 @ 2.9 Ghz Turbo (Max)
Nvidia 550m Discrete GPU

Score : 4465





---



Second Corner


intel i7 ivy bridge 4C/8T @ 2.6 Ghz Turbo
Intel HD 4000 

Score : 3321





---



Third Corner


AMD Llano A8-3500m
AMD 6620G 

Score : 2788





---


Fourth Corner



AMD A10-4600m @ 3.2 Ghz Turbo
AMD 7660G

Score: 4352





AMD's new mobile flagship beats the intel ivy bridge part with HD 4000 graphics by ~31%, and the older llano A8-3500m by a whopping ~56%. On top of that, it only falls behind the i5 paired with a discrete Nvidia 550m GPU  by a mere ~2%. 

More benchmarks to come!


Monday 16 April 2012

Ivy Bridge is HOT!



3DMark11 CPU Temperatures




 NOTE:  Prime95/Linpack/IntelBurn Test etc. will generally run these CPUs much hotter. 




First Corner


Intel i7 2600k @ 5.38 Ghz

H100 Dual radiator with 2 Fans
Core voltage : 1.50V



Results: 









---



Second Corner


intel i7 3960x @ 5.06 Ghz

H100 Dual radiator with 2 Fans
Core Voltage: 1.57V



Results:










---


Third Corner


intel i7 3770k @ 4.72 Ghz

H100 Dual radiator with 2 Fans
Core Voltage: 1.30V



Results:








---



Not only does the older sandy bridge 2600k overclock ~14% higher than the soon to come out ivy bridge 3770k, the 3707k runs at a voltage ~13.3% less than sandy, and more disturbingly runs at a temperature ~21% higher (on the hottest core). Even a 12 threaded 3960x @ 5.06 Ghz with a whopping 1.57V runs ~25.6% Cooler than the 3770k. 

Is it just me or is 98C on the CPU a bit hot for a 3dmark11 run? My AMD FX 8150 @ 4.8 Ghz  (1.42V) doesnt hit above 65C on the same test. It is still nice to see lower idle temps despite all this. We will see if retail stepping fixes this embarrassing issue. 

Mobile Trinity Blind Test - AMD the Clear Winner!



A Blind Test : Trinity vs Sandy Bridge







Test Systems



Looks like a mistake on the dell system, that "1" should be infront of the 28 Gb



---


Results





Here we see in a blind test, that the majority of people preferred the A10-4600m over the i5 2410m  for these CPU intensive tests (GPU not even being used here). This is impressive to say the least! Check the source for more details! It seems like AMD is really pushing the CPU performance of their new chips! 






EDIT : From SA forums here





AMD Trinity Benchmark : Geekbench



Mobile Trinity GeekBench Benchmark Results








First Corner : AMD Llano

A8-3500m @ 2.4 Ghz Turbo







---



Second Corner : Intel Sandy Bridge

i5 2410m @ 2.9 Ghz Turbo






---


Third Corner : AMD Trinity

A10-4600m @ 3.2 Ghz Turbo








Here we see the A10-4600m @ 3.2 Ghz performing +89% better than the K10.5 based llano part A8-3500m @ 2.4 Ghz,  and +2.7% better than the i5 2410m @ 2.9 Ghz. It should be noted that this benchmark is generally intel favoured (The i7 3960x tripling the FX 8150 in score). 


More Leaked benchmarks to come! 

Friday 13 April 2012

Intel vs. AMD - 2C/4T vs 2M/4T Next Gen Mobile battle








Intel Corner: 


Best 4 threaded sandy bridge mobile CPU

i7 2640M @ 3.5 Ghz Turbo - 2 Core / 4 Thread

Passmark Score : 4076






---






AMD Corner:


 Best 4 threaded Trinity mobile CPU

A10-4600m @ 3.2 Ghz Turbo - 2 Module / 4 Thread

Passmark Score: 5390







WINNER: AMD 

The A10 wins in this CPU benchmark by over +32.2% 

This is astonishing to say the least! Only Intel's 4 core 8 threaded CPUs will pull ahead! Thread per Thread, AMD looks like a clear winner here. Just Wait for the cooler less power hungry 4M/8T Vishera FX-8350 @4.2stock/4.5 Ghz turbo, which will be up against the hotter 4C/8T i7 3770k @ 3.9 Ghz Turbo.


EDIT: This mobile CPU smokes the first gen 2M/4T desktop bulldozer FX 4170 @ 4.3 Ghz Turbo  by over +18.2% !!! And the FX 4170 has a HUGE 1100Mhz Advantage!!! This is absolutley impressive.

More Ivy Bridge woes - TDP changed from 77W to 95W - Only OCs to ~4.6 Ghz



FAIL



So apparently the ivy bridge  i7 3770k will now be branded as a 95W TDP product instead of the originally stated 77W  , and will only OC to around 4.6 Ghz (while sandy bridges are seen to clock typically to 4.8 Ghz, and as high as 5.2 Ghz on air). Idle power usage is higher, and so is temperatures under load when compared to Sandy bridge.




Lets say you purchase a 2600k and it overclocks to 4.9 Ghz on a decent air cooler, swapping this out for a 3770k which has ~10% increase in IPC, but only overclocks to 4.6 Ghz on the same cooler. The 3770k will not only run hotter, be more expensive, but only offer a ~3% overall performance advantage in this situation. (Which is significantly less than the overall overclocked performance benefit the AMD FX 8150 offers over the AMD Phenom II X6 1100t)

These issues are simply due  Intel's s immature 22nm process, and only time will tell if things get better for intel with newer revisions.

Source

A10-4600m : More promising Trinity benchmark leaks!







Check out this comparison between the older K10.5 A8-3500m against the newer trinity A10-4600m.





We see a whopping 265% increase in performance!! I suspect this could be faked due to suspicious numbers comparing to my own results here , but only time will tell for sure! This looks extremely promising! 

EDIT: Here we see an official AMD slide mentioning a 50% gain in computing performance (on average) moving from the A8-3500m (K10.5) to the A10-5600m (Piledriver) with 12.5 hours idle , and over 7.25 hours of battery life with use!! This is simply amazing! 





More Proof the AMD 7970 is clock per clock king



So a Pro Nvidia review site likes the 7970 after all 


Check this review out at Hardware Canucks. an MSI lightning 7970 @ 1070 Mhz, which is generally clocked lower than a max turbo'd reference GTX 680, will in hardware canucks's own words, "match or beat a reference GTX 680 in nearly every benchmark".

See for yourself!

Link

EDIT: Price drop incoming Monday, the 7970 reference GPU will cost only 489 USD. 

Thursday 12 April 2012

GTX 685 - GK110 - 25% more performance than GK104




Finally a REAL flagship from Nvidia. However, changed from my previously mentioned performance advantage  €€€€, new reports show the GTX 685 (GK110) performing only 25% better than the GTX 680 @ 1110 Mhz Turbo (GK104). A highly clocked 7970 @ 1335 Mhz here (clocked 45% higher than current reference 7970s @ 925 Mhz) will not back down from the fight! But apparently, AMD will already have the 8970 on its way shortly after the release ofthe GK110 in Q3 2012. It doesnt look like Nvidia can easily claim the GPU crown with this product, because its too little too late.


Source

Source


EDIT: So apparently AMD is prepping a variety of price cuts for their GPUs up to $60 USD off of current pricing for the 7970!! Which will finally make the 7970 cheaper than the gtx 680, and a better buy!


Source

Wednesday 11 April 2012

More Trinity Benchmarks



Trinity die shot



Here are some more Trinity Benchmarks. It looks like IPC increases by +10-20% for these tests when compared to the FX 8150, but it appears in these tests, IPC still does not catch up with the older K10.5 architecture.





In single core / threaded performance, the 2 module / 4 thread AMD A10-5800k @ 4.2 Ghz stock compared to a four core i5 2500k @ 3.7 Ghz is ~10.9% slower in FPUperformance test, and ~13.3% slower in the Integer performance test.

EDIT: Assuming the above ratio's are correct, and a scaling benefit of 10% (taken from cinebench 11.5) from the FX 8150, a 5.0 Ghz FX 8350 Will perform roughly 57% better in Int. Math, and 60% in FPU than an i5 2500k @ 5.0 Ghz when all threads can be used.

The mobile variant for trinity the quad-core AMD A8-4500m @ 2.2 Ghz (EDIT: 2.6 ghz TurboCore 3.0)when compared to the quad-core intel i7 2920xm @ 3.5 Ghz is only a mear ~20.0% slower in the FPU test, and ~31% slower in the integer math test. But remember the intel i7 has a huge (EDIT: 34.6%) clock advantage!!) Just look at the FP / Int per Ghz on the i7 2920xm compared to the A8-4500m.

If you think thats impressive, just wait for the mobile A10-4600m @ 3.2 Ghz TurboCore 3.0! ^^  I suspect if these clocks are correct, that the A10 will be a serious mobile ivy bridge competitor.

ADDED: Following this trend, we see a 2M/4T Trinity 17w ultrathin platform part @ 1.8 Ghz Turbo will perform significantly better than current i5 or i7 ULV processors.

Not only will AMD offer superior GPU horsepower with these new chips, but early CPU benchmarks impy Piledriver really is what Bulldozer should have been to really be the intel killer CPU people hyped it to be. The IPC difference between K10.5 and piledriver is ~5%, which will vastly outweighed by the higher clocks, especially for mobile parts.

Source

Monday 9 April 2012

Fail-bridge? Ivy Bridge worse than Sandy Bridge?






Apparently if you are looking to overclock, ivy bridge retail stepping is a much hotter chip. What this means is that you will not hit as high overclocks upgrading from a sandy bridge 2700k to the 3770k. The difference in overclockability outweighs the IPC increase, and therefore these two chips are nearly equivalent at maximum overclock.

The bottom line is, unless your planning on running stock, or to overclock with L2N, these chips are a BIG side-grade from sandy bridge. What makes this worse is the price of the new ivybridge chips will be in the 350+ USD dollar range, which for only a few more dollars will get you a significantly more powerful and overclockable i7 3930k by then.

Remember how the i7 2600k smoked the 980x in many tests? Dont expect this with ivy bridge against current E series processors. Ivy bridge will be a worse jump from sandy bridge, than any intel CPU jump in history.

In Pro-Intel OBR's own words, "Ivy Bridge E1 are total shit! Do not buy them! "


In other news, Vishera looks on track and will be released mid third quarter. (September) This is AMD's chance to prove themselves. If power consumption and heat are significantly reduced, expect drastic increases in overclockability, which is AMD's speciality.

Link

Friday 6 April 2012

Mobile Trinity coming May 15th - Early Benchmarks Out!




So apparently the release date for mobile trinity is May 15th, and early benchmarks show performance increases being drastic when compared to llano.

Look here for example. The CPU tests performed are folding test. We see FPU performance increasing by around +5.47%, and Integer Performance increasing by around +38.67%, with graphics performance estimated to be around 60% better than llano.





The rumoured clock for this chip is 1.6 Ghz stock / 2.2 ghz turbo here, which shows that IPC performance of Piledriver cores to actually be much higher than K10.5. Which is very good news! For comparison the A8-3500M clock is 1.6 ghz stock / 2.4 Ghz turbo which actually clocks higher than the trinity part.

The awesome thing about all this is that AMD will also be releasing a much more powerful A10 mobile variant as well, which will be their flagship. This A8-4500M is more like a new generation A6 mobile processor. 

AMD's flagship A10-4600M mobile variant will have a maximum clock of 3.2 Ghz here.

This is much more drastic than what we have seen being offered with ivy bridge, which shows only 5-10% increase in integer performance, and graphical performance still trailing llano.

I expect the A8-4500M to perform roughly equivalent to a mobile sandy bridge i5 part in CPU performance, while leaving ivy Birdge's HD 4000 graphics in the dust.

Thursday 5 April 2012

Sapphire 7970 Toxic Edition - 1150 Mhz / 6 Gb - AMD ready to take the crown back?






Team Nvidia : Staying Strong




So it looks like that Nvidia is stepping up their game with the release of the 2 Gb Zotax GTX 680 extreme which comes at a stock clock / turbo of 1200 Mhz here, and is reported to overclock to around 1400 mhz stable enough to run 3DMark11 here

Note this Card's maximum clock is only a mear 8.2% higher than the maximum clock of a stock GTX 680.

3DMark 11 Score:







Team AMD : New King





Soon Sapphire will laucnh their flagship card, the 6 Gb 7970 Toxic Edition. This card will come stock at 1150/1500 Mhz, and has already been overclocked to 1300/1900 Mhz seen here. This is a great deal higher than most 7970s so its interesting to see how Sapphire's fine tuning really paid off.


Note this Card's maximum clock is only a 24.3% higher than the maximum clock of a stock 7970.



3DMark 11 Score:





Both these cards will come at a whopping price of 599 USD.