Synthetic Benchmarks

Our Nocona server was setup in a remote location with little access, so we had limited time to run as many real world benchmarks as we are typically accustomed to. Fortunately, there are multitudes of synthetic benchmarks that we can use to deduce information quickly and constructively.

Sieve of Atkin (primegen)

Primegen is an older, but still useful library for generating prime numbers in order using the Sieve of Atkin. We compiled the Bernstein implementation by simply running "make". We ran the program as so:

# time ./primes 1 100000000000 > /dev/null

primegen 0.97

We found the benchmark to be extremely reliable and we replicated our figures continually with less than 1% difference.

Super Pi

We ran the Linux compilation of Super Pi 2.0, which is a closed source application. We are not aware of which optimizations are compiled with the program and we are prohibited from redistributing the binaries. Please download the latest binaries from ftp://pi.super-computing.org/Linux. We ran the command:

# ./super_pi 20

Below is the program's output of calculation time in number of seconds.

Super Pi 2.0

After re-running the program several times, our benchmarks never deviated outside of 1%. In a mathematical operation-only situation, the Intel processor has outpaced the AMD offering twice now.

Content Creation Synthetic Benchmarks (continued)
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  • Jeff7181 - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link

    Ooops... I really wish it was possible to edit these. =) What I meant to say was...

    "... especially since 2/3 of those benchmarks..."
  • Jeff7181 - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link

    I would like to see some Pentium 4 3.6 GHz numbers in there too so we can see the effect of Intel's x86-64 support. With the data available, it's impossible to decide whether Intel has integrated it properly and gets a performance boost, or if a 3.6 GHz Xeon is just naturally that much faster than an Athlon-64 3500+... especially since 92/3 of those benchmarks are not benchmarks I've ever seen you run before so I have no idea how ANY other processor compares.

    Sorry Kristopher, but this was a BAD article. There's not nearly enough information to draw any useful conclusions.
  • gimp0 - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link

    this was probably the worst comparison ever. At least give us some game benchmarks like UT2004 64bit and let us see some real numbers.

    Server CPU against a mianstream chip in a database environment will surely favor the xeon.

    whatever though
  • the5thgeek - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link

    what is the reason for comparing the new intel processor against the slowest socket 939 processor? why not a FX53 or 3800?
  • DrMrLordX - Monday, August 9, 2004 - link

    What the hell made you run a 3.6 ghz Nocona vs the 3500+?!? Try running it against an Opteron 150! For crying out loud . . .

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