Prelude to Benchmarks

Over the following page we'll be running AMD's 3.0GHz Athlon II X2 250 processor though PCSTATS standard set of gaming, productivity, and multi-threaded processor benchmarks. There are a wide variety of gaming and synthetic benchmarks here to illustrate what kind of performance boost users can expect from the latest quad-core socket AM3 AMD processor. Please take a moment to look over PCSTATS test system configurations before moving on to the individual benchmark results on the next several pages.

PCSTATS Test System Configurations

test system reference system #1 reference system #2 reference system #3 processor: amd athlon ii x2 250 (45nm) amd phenom ii x2 550 black edition (45nm) amd Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition (45nm) AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (45nm) Intel Core i7 920 (45nm) Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 (45nm) Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 (45nm) Socket: Socket AM3/AM2+ Socket AM3/AM2+ Socket LGA1366 Socket LGA775 Clock Speed: 16 x 200 MHz = 3.2 GHz 14 x 200 MHz = 2.8 GHz 20 x 133 MHz = 2.67 GHz 9 x 333 MHz = 3.0 GHz Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-MA790FXT-UD5P (AMD 790FX) ASUS M4A78T-E (AMD 790GX)* ASUS M3A78-T (AMD 790GX) MSI X58 Platinum (X58 Express) MSI X48 Platinum (X48 Express) Videocard: ASUS ENGTS250 DK (Geforce GTS250) MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E (Geforce 8800GTS) ASUS ENGTS250 DK (Geforce GTS 250) MSI NX8800GTS-T2D320E (Geforce 8800GTS) Memory: 2x2GB Corsair XMS3-1600C9 DDR3 2x1GB Patriot PDC32G1600LLK DDR3* 2x1GB Corsair Twin2X-8888C4D DDR2 3x2GB Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D DDR3 2x1GB Patriot PDC32G1600LLK DDR3 Hard Drive: 74GB Western Digital Raptor WD740 Optical Drive: ASUS BC-1205PT-BD Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 750W Heatsink: Athlon64 K8 Reference Heatsink Intel Reference 1366 Heatsink Intel Reference 775 Heatsink Software Setup: Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate AMD Catalyst 9.4 nVIDIA Forceware 182.08 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate AMD Catalyst 9.1 nVIDIA Forceware 169.25 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Intel INF 9.1.0.1012 nVIDIA Forceware 182.08 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Intel INF 9.0.0.1008 nVIDIA Forceware 169.25 Benchmarks: System Benchmarks: SYSmark 2007 PCMark Vantage SiSoft Sandra 2009 Calculation B/M: Super Pi 1.5 wPrime 2.0 ScienceMark 2.3 WinRAR 3.8 Bibble 5 Rendering B/M: Cinebench R10 POV-Ray 3.7 SPECviewPerf 10 Gaming B/M: 3DMark06 3DMark Vantage Cyrsis FEAR

BAPco SYSmark 2007 1.05	Source: Bapco

SYSmark 2007 is an application-based benchmark that reflects usage patterns of business users in the areas of Video creation, E-learning, 3D Modeling and Office Productivity. This new release includes a robust and refreshed set of applications. The new release also incorporates numerous new features and enhancements such as an improved GUI allowing streamlined start-up and run along with a heads-up-display (HUD) and automated error reporting. Higher results are better.

SYSMark 2007 Preview 1.05 Overall: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 167 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 159 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 146 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 144 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 138 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 135 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 145 AMD Athlon II X2 250 127 E-Learning: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 167 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 174 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 175 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 155 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 144 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 147 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 157 AMD Athlon II X2 250 133 Videocreation: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 166 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 149 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 117 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 113 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 128 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 106 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 138 AMD Athlon II X2 250 137 Productivity: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 148 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 139 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 135 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 141 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 132 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 138 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 139 AMD Athlon II X2 250 103 3D: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 191 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 178 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 163 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 175 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 152 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 151 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 148 AMD Athlon II X2 250 140

The AMD Athlon II X2 250 system rings out the bottom run in Sysmark 2007 in most tests. Videocreation shows good results, likely due to the AMD 790GX based Gigabyte motherboard. In any case, the Athlon II X2 250 is fast enough to support desktop productivity applications.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0	Source: FutureMark

PCMark Vantage is the first objective hardware performance benchmark for PCs running 32 and 64 bit versions of Windows Vista. PCMark Vantage is perfectly suited for benchmarking any type of Windows Vista PC from multi media home entertainment systems and laptops to dedicated workstations and hi-end gaming rigs. Regardless of whether the benchmarker is an artist or an IT Professional, PCMark Vantage shows the user where their system soars or falls flat, and how to get the most performance possible out of their hardware. PCMark Vantage is easy enough for even the most casual enthusiast to use yet supports in-depth, professional industry grade testing. Higher scores are best.

Futuremark PCMark Vantage 1.0.0.0 Overall: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 6173 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 4849 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4641 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 6153 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 5150 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 5146 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4740 AMD Athlon II X2 250 4658 Memory: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 4432 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 4581 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4131 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 4915 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 3848 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 3833 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4188 AMD Athlon II X2 250 3981 TV and Movies: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 4412 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3617 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3488 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 4329 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 3394 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 3521 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 3323 AMD Athlon II X2 250 3227 Gaming: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 7056 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 5305 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 5192 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 6094 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 5170 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 5195 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4867 AMD Athlon II X2 250 4675 Music: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 5286 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 4996 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4923 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 5743 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 5043 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 5122 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4797 AMD Athlon II X2 250 4632 Communications: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 5080 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 4442 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4618 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 5158 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 4567 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 4559 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4141 AMD Athlon II X2 250 4002 Productivity: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 5282 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 4441 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4441 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 5792 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 5261 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 5296 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4413 AMD Athlon II X2 250 4131 HDD: Points Ranking Intel Core i7 920 4154 Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 4280 Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 4273 AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition 4162 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR2) 4030 AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition (DDR3) 3896 AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition 4101 AMD Athlon II X2 250 3997

Despite the larger cache of the Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition, the Athlon II X2 250 processor is only a tiny step behind it in most of PCMark Vantage's tests. Both processors rank a little faster than the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 but not quite as fast as the Core 2 Duo E8500.