CPU Performance Tests

Now that we are done with the gaming analysis, we are going to look at general CPU performance.  Instead of selectively testing CPUs with benchmarks, we are going to closely analyze the architectural performance scaling of the Phenom II in comparison to the scaling of the Intel Xeon x3360.  By manipulating the clocks of the x3360, we can emulate the performance of lower end chips like the Q9450, which should be fairly comparable to the 940's direct competitor, the Q9400.  Our AMD test bench is listed in the Overclocking section of this review; the Intel test bench is listed below:

For all of our testing, we are going to look at a both the X4 940 and the x3360 at several different clock speeds.  Here is what we are going to analyze:

• X4 940 @ 3.0GHz to analyze stock performance.

• X4 940 @ 3.5GHz to analyze performance at the fastest overclock on air.

• X4 940 @ 3.7GHz to analyze performance at the fastest overclock on water.

• x3360 @ 2.66GHz to analyze "price-for-price" performance for a stock X4 940 and a stock Q9450.

• x3360 @ 3.0GHz to analyze "clock-for-clock" performance for the Phenom II and Yorkfield architectures.

• x3360 @ 3.7GHz to analyze "clock-for-clock" performance for both architectures at Phenom II's maximum overclock.

• x3360 @ 4.0GHz to analyze Yorkfield's performance at it's maximum overclock.

Because of the difference in platforms, there are some caveats that have to be made.  While the Phenom II can be overclocked with the multiplier, leaving memory speeds the same, we have to overclock the x3360 with FSB and use memory dividers, meaning we will not always get exactly 1066 memory speeds.  So for each test, here are our memory speeds for the x3360:

• x3360 @ 2.66GHz is achieved with 333x8, RAM speed at 1066.

• x3360 @ 3.0GHz is achieved with 375x8, RAM speed at 1125.

• x3360 @ 3.7GHz is achieved with 435x8.5, RAM speed at 1044.

• x3360 @ 4.0GHz is achieved with 471x8.5, RAM speed at 942. 

All tests use 5-5-5-15 timings.

Intro & Features Specs Overclocking Gaming Performance CPU Performance Testing SuperPi & wPrime 3DMark Tests Rendering & Encoding Memory Bandwidth Conclusion