Cinebench R10	Source: CINEBENCH

CINEBENCH is a real-world test suite that assesses your computer's performance capabilities. CINEBENCH runs several tests on your computer to measure the performance of the main processor under real world circumstances. The benchmark application makes use of up to 16 CPUs or CPU cores to render a photo-reaslistic image. The scene makes use of various CPU-intensive features such as reflection, ambient occlusion, area lights and procedural shaders. In the first run, the benchmark only uses one CPU (or CPU core), to ascertain a reference value. On computers that have multiple CPUs or CPU cores and on those who simulate multiple CPUs (via HyperThreading or similar technolgies), MAXON CINEBENCH will run a second test using all available CPU power. Higher results are best. Cinebench is multi-threaded.

Cinebench R10 1 CPU (split between cores) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 3066 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3475 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3306 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 2920 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 2565 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 2570 x CPU (full load all cores) Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 12640 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 6732 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 6339 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 10455 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 7064 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 7104

Here the Core 2 Duo E8500 leads in single core performance, and is just behind the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition during the multi-core test. 3D rendering like this scales very well with additional cores.

Bibble 5.0	Source: Bibble Labs

Bibble 5.0 Batch RAW-to-JPEG Conversion: (sec/Image) Seconds/image Ranking Intel Core i7 920 0.261 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 0.585 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 0.61 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 0.377 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 0.6969 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 0.623 Time to Complete 50 Photos: (sec) Seconds Ranking Intel Core i7 920 13 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 29.2 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 30.5 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 17.9 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 20.6969 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 31.2

Bibble is a good indication of what the future will bring us - multi-threaded applications that are good at doing everyday computing tasks like converting and re-sizing photos. While the dual-core Intel processors are able to process individual photos quite quickly, they can't keep up with the likes of quad-core processors. The key number to pay attention to is the batch RAW-to-JPEG conversion time; the Core 2 Duo E8500 does it in 0.585 seconds/image, while the Core i7 920 is faster at just 0.261 seconds/image.

POV-Ray 3.7 Beta 30	Source: POV-RAY

Ray-tracing is a rendering technique that calculates an image of a scene by simulating the way rays of light travel in the real world. In the real world, rays of light are emitted from a light source and illuminate objects. The light reflects off of the objects or passes through transparent objects. This reflected liht hits our eyes or perhaps a camera lens. Because the vast majority of rays never hit an observer, it would take forever to trace a scene. Ray-tracing programs like POV-Ray start with their simulated camera and trace rays backwards out into the scene. The user specifies the location of the camera, light sources, and objects as well as the surface texture properties of objects, their interiors (if transparent) and any atmospheric media such as fog, haze, or fire.

Lower render times are better, however higher Pixel Per Second rendering values are best. Pov-ray is multi-threaded.

Pov-Ray 3.7 BETA 30 Render Time (sec) Seconds Ranking Intel Core i7 920 113.8 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 360.42 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 382.88 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 98.69 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 445.26 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 444.24 Render Average (Pixels Per Sec) Pixels/Second Ranking Intel Core i7 920 2303.61 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 1445.39 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 1357.27 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 2656.37 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 1751.71 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 1753.53

The additional speed of the Core 2 Duo E8500 gives it a +20 second advantage over the Core 2 Duo E8400 in Pov-Ray 3.7. Stepping up to the next level of processing can have some real world advantages. Also note the increase in the number of pixels rendered per second, 1445pps, vs 1357 for the E8400 CPU.

SPECviewPerf 10	Source: POV-RAY

The SPECgpc project group develops and distributes SPECviewperf, which measures the 3D rendering performance of systems running under OpenGL. SPECviewperf measures the 3D rendering performance of systems running under OpenGL. The SPECopcSM project group has worked with independent software vendors (ISVs) to obtain tests, data sets and weights that constitute what is called a viewset. Each viewset represents the graphics rendering portion of an actual application. The ISVs that develop SPECopc viewsets have provided percentage weights for each test for which a performance number is reported. ISVs have defined these percentages to indicate the relative importance of a test within the overall application.

Higher results are better.

SPECviewPerf 10 2core Catia Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 19.19 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 15.43 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 16.47 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 20.47 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 14.91 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 14.41 2core Maya Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 38.57 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 33.21 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 34.3 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 34.08 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 25.04 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 25.87 2core PROe Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 13.85 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 9.75 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 13.03 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 12.75 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 10.34 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 12.94 4core Catia Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 13.54 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 0 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 0 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 15.3 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 15.6969 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 11.4 4core Maya Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 35.4 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 0 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 26.44 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 27.18 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 27.6969 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 21.9 4core PROe Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 11.2 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 7.77 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 8.78 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 10.06 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 10.6969 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 8.13

These tests actually show the reverse, with the E8500 trailing the E8400 by a small margin. This could be due to the switch in motherboards for testing the E8400 and E8500 chips - the MSI X48 Platinum wasn't compatible with the E0 stepping of the Core 2 Duo E8500.