 Hexus piFast |
Source: Hexus |
|
Pifast is a
small program that computes Pi to a set amount of decimal places and also
display's how long it takes. Since it tells you how long it takes this then
gives us a basis for charting the results giving a performance indicator for new
and old technology at a glace. Lower numbers denote faster calculation times (seconds), and hence, better performance.
| Hexus piFast: |
| Processor |
Seconds |
Ranking |
| Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz 925X 200/533) |
64 |
   |
| Pentium D 840 (3.2 GHz 955X 200/533) |
66.31 |
|
| Pentium D 840 (32 bit Software / 64-bit OS) |
66.31 |
|
| Athlon64 4000+ (2.4 GHz NF4 SLI 200/400) |
50.69 |
   |
| Athlon64 X2 4800+ (2.4 GHz NF4 SLI 200/400) |
49.98 |
   |
| Athlon64 X2 4800+ (32 Bit Software / 64 Bit OS) |
49.97 |
|
| Athlon64 X2 4800+ (3.14 GHz NF4 SLI 262/574) |
38.39 |
|
piFast shows off the Athlon64 power quite well and here
both the Athlon64 4000+ and Athlon64 X2 4800+ are neck and neck at stock speeds.
Overclocking allows the Athlon64 X2 4800+ to break the 40 second barrier.
The
Persistence of Vision Ray Tracer (POV-Ray) is an all round excellent package,
but there are two things that particularly make it stand out above the rest of
the crowd. Firstly, it's free, and secondly, the source is distributed so you
can compile it on virtually any platform.
Lower
numbers denote faster calculation times (seconds), and hence, better
performance.
| POVRay |
| Pawns 10x7AA: |
Seconds |
Ranking |
| Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz 925X 200/533) |
205 |
|
| Pentium D 840 (3.2 GHz 955X 200/533) |
200 |
|
| Pentium D 840 (32 bit Software / 64-bit OS) |
205 |
|
| Athlon64 4000+ (2.4 GHz NF4 SLI 200/400) |
120 |
|
| Athlon64 X2 4800+ (2.4 GHz NF4 SLI 200/400) |
126 |
|
| Athlon64 X2 4800+ (32 Bit Software / 64 Bit OS) |
126 |
|
| Athlon64 X2 4800+ (3.14 GHz NF4 SLI 262/574) |
97 |
|
In the POVray tests we see no benefit form the dual core
processor. This underscores the point that if your programs are not written to
support SMP, there is no gain. It's something for users to consider if
contemplating upgrading to dual core-based platform. Using a 64 bit operating
system does not necessarily give any performance boost either unless the
software is 64-bit too.
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