Intel vs AMD - integrated graphics part3

Intel vs AMD - integrated graphics part3

Next we installed Windows Vista Ultimate Edition. This was Release Candidate 2 build 5742 as we don’t have the RTM build 6000, and we have to confess that the Aero interface and Flip looked lovely and smooth on the GeForce 6100.

The Prestige R scored 3.0 on the Windows Experience Index - the scale runs from 1 to 5.9 - which is exactly on the lower limit of what is required to run Aero.

Moving on to the Intel-based Prestige R Plus, we ran the same benchmarks and games on the default 6.14.10.4642 drivers which give support for DirectX 9.0b. Evesham supplied this PC with the BIOS set to dynamically allocate 128MB of memory to the graphics. This is the sensible approach but it confuses benchmarks so we changed it to the maximum setting of 256MB fixed, which is the same as the Nvidia PC.

The Intel graphics gave higher frame rates in Lego and Sims 2 because we simply weren't presented with the option of enabling the eye candy as the games detected the graphics as fairly low spec, which is a safe bet with most Intel silicon.

We then updated the drivers to the latest 6.14.10.4704 version from Intel’s website, although this is something we wouldn’t expect the typical customer of a £549 PC to do. This unlocked full support for Shader Model 3.0 and DirectX 9.0c but the games still refused to allow us to use high quality settings. You’ll note that Sims 2 jumped from 24fps to 35fps.

The Intel G965 graphics impressed us, however we could see a slight shimmering effect on the Windows XP desktop that looked a little fuzzy and imprecise.

It was time to install Windows Vista RC2 on the Intel PC, and initially it looked dreadful scoring 1.0 on the Windows Experience Index. This was on the RC2 Microsoft driver 6.0.5472.5 so we downloaded and installed Intel driver 7.14.10.111 which made things much better. We were now able to raise the monitor refresh from 60Hz to 85Hz and the Windows Experience Index score shot up to 3.4, yet there is clearly more to come as this driver doesn’t have support for Shader Model 3.0, even though we know the hardware is capable of it.


Once the driver was updated the Aero interface was enabled and the Intel system looked as good as the Nvidia machine. We were unable to tell them apart visually.


It may sound as though we fudged those figures but we ran Windows Vista on our high-end Core 2 Quad test system with a GeForce 7950 GT graphics card and it too scored 1.0 on the Windows Experience Index. We updated the driver to version 96.85 and the score leapt to 5.0, which is pretty darn impressive.

Verdict

There's not much to choose between the test systems when it comes to games. The Intel box's scores were higher, but then it didn't offer the choice to show off its graphics muscles at the price of a lower frame-rate the way the AMD/Nvidia machine did. We'd rather have the ability to turn off some of the eye candy to balance frame rate how we want, not the way the driver thinks we should have it. But will occasional gamers care? Probably not. And most of their time will be spent, surely, in apps that don't tax the GPU.

That will change with Vista, when the OS is going to want some graphics chip time too. But the upshot of our tests is that AMD is whistling if it thinks that Intel can't run Windows Vista in all of its Aero glory on G965 graphics. It can, and it looks great and it is our opinion that Intel is fully ready for 2007. ®

......................................................................

Penryn processors

Penryn processors

More details are emerging on Intel's next-gen Penryn processors, said to benefit greatly in terms of processing power and energy consumption by mixing the Core microarchitecture with the 45nm Hi-k and hafnium metal gate designs.

This article in Enterprise Networks and Servers, authored by Intel, offers the latest scoop on the six new Penryn designs, plus two new Xeon quads. The company looks like it's throwing everything but the kitchen sink into these designs, leveraging advanced power management and dynamic acceleration and throwing in streaming video and enhanced instruction set architectures. NewsFactorNetwork reports that Penryn will jam twice as many transistors in 25 percent less space than comparable systems.

Details on the Nehelem chips, due out in 2008, are included at Enterprise Networks and Servers. Get ready for dynamic management of the cores, threads, cache and interface, as well as simultaneous multi-threading and new SSE4 and ATA instruction set additions.

.........................................................................

Intel Board Scores Two New Directors

Intel Board Scores Two New Directors

We've got two tidbits from Intel to close out the work week, and being that each is relatively minor, we figured we'd cover 'em both simultaneously. First off, the chip maker has bucked the growing trend of bucking dividends entirely by declaring a 14 cents per share quarterly dividend on the company's common stock. The news comes on the heels of Intel's pledge to spend $7 billion on research and new chip plants, but in the same breath, it follows grim news that the CPU sector will have a tough time making any headway at all throughout 1H 2009. At any rate, the dividend will be payable on June 1, 2009 to stockholders of record on May 7, 2009, and we're certainly taking this as a gesture that Intel's pretty bullish on its future quarters.

In related news, the company has also announced that John J. Donahoe (pictured), president and CEO of eBay Inc., and Frank D. Yeary, vice chancellor of the University of California Berkeley, have been elected to serve on Intel's board of directors. This follows the departure of Carol A. Bartz, CEO of Yahoo! Inc., from Intel's board. President and CEO Paul Otellini stated that he was "very pleased to have John Donahoe and Frank Yeary join the Intel board," and he noted that both of them bring "a wealth of strategic business and financial experience that will assist us now and going forward." He also proclaimed that he was sad to see Carol leave, but he did take the opportunity to thank her for her service and wish her the best at her new role at.

..................................................................................

AMD Phenom II X4 810 and X3 720 BE Processors

AMD Phenom II X4 810 and X3 720 BE Processors

Last month, AMD launched the Phenom II X4 processor line-up, and with it ushered in the first desktop processors built using the company's 45nm process node. While the first two Phenom II processors to arrive, the 3.0GHz X4 940 and 2.8GHz 920, were clearly superior to previous Phenoms in terms of performance and power efficiency, and they remain the two most powerful processors in AMD's product stack today, they did not exploit all of the capabilities offered by their newly tweaked, and redesigned cores.


You see, the AMD Phenom II X4 940 and X4 920 were designed for the socket AM2+ platform, and as such, they supported only DDR2 memory. The latest additions to the Phenom II line-up, the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition and X4 810, however, are designed for the AM3 platform. That means these new chips can work not only in existing AM2+ motherboards with DDR2 memory, but in new AM3-based motherboards with DDR3 memory as well. The flexibility of these new socket AM3 based Phenom II processors should appeal to existing AMD system owners who may be thinking about a CPU upgrade, or potential new AMD-based system buyers who want the freedom to choose from a wide array of motherboards and memory type at multiple price points.

We've taken the new triple-core Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition and quad-core X4 810 for a spin in our lab using both socket AM2+ and socket AM3 based motherboard platforms, to give you all an idea as to how each configuration performs. Take a look at the specs below for some particulars, and then read on for the full scoop...

AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition & Phenom II X4 810

Although the Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition and X4 810 are new additions to AMD's processor line-up, they are part of what AMD has labeled the "Dragon Platform". We have talked about the individual elements of the Dragon platform in a few previous articles here on HotHardware before, so we won't do the same again here. We will, however, recommend taking a look at a few recent articles to get familiar with some of the underlying technologies and components that partially comprise the Dragon platform.

.........................................................

Intel P45 / G45 Express Launch and Technology

Intel P45 / G45 Express Launch and Technology

Today at Computex, Intel has officially launched their updated lineup of x45-series chipsets, which will likely be the last major mainstream chipset launch from Intel on the Core 2 platform as we know it today. The names and specifications of these products have been rumored and reported on for the past few months, although today everything is set in stone and products are beginning to hit the market. The products which are launching today will make up the lion’s share of Intel’s chipset lineup until their next generation high-end X58 chipset launches with the Core 2’s successor, codenamed Nehalem.


While all of these new chipset products which are being launched today are based on the same core architecture, Intel has segmented this one architecture into four individual products. Those four products are the G45 Express, G43 Express, P45 Express, and the P43 Express. As implied by this naming schema, these four products are very close in terms of features, capabilities, and performance. The P45 and P43 products are the “high-end” and “low-end” models which do not have integrated graphics support, while the G45 Express and G43 Express are the “high-end” and “low-end” models which do have Intel’s new integrated graphics engine, the X4500 / X4500HD.

While it’s always exciting to see new chipset products launched from Intel, it’s important to keep in mind that this newly launched family of products is aimed at the mid-range market, replacing the Intel P35/G35 products which are out today. Intel is still keeping the X48 Express chipset as their high-end product of choice, whereas the G45/P45 series products will fall one notch below, bringing almost all of the features of this high-end product to a much broader audience. These newly launched chips will be the big-sellers which will be seen in most Intel systems throughout the next year. Feel free to take a quick glance at how the specifications of these new chipset products line-up.

The chipset which most HotHardware readers will be interested in will likely be the P45 Express, which replaces the P35 Express, a common enthusiast favorite over the last year. The P35 Express chipset delivered excellent performance for the dollar, along with impressive thermals, low power consumption, and excellent overclockability.

The P45 Express and the P35 Express share much in common, although the most important attribute is that the P45 Express is fabricated on a 65nm manufacturing process, as opposed to the P35/X38/X48 chipset lineup which is manufactured on a 90nm process. The 65nm process will not only decrease the size of the Northbridge die, but will also allow for even lower power consumption, lower heat production, and (hopefully) improved overclockability. Architecturally, the two products are very close, but the manufacturing aspect alone could make the P45 Express much more attractive to some enthusiasts.

The P45 Express supports Socket-775 Core 2 Duo/Quad processors at up to 1333 MHz, which means “official” 1600 MHz FSB support is still out of the mix. Currently, Intel only recommends the X48 chipset for front side bus speeds over 1333 MHz. However, considering even older generation P35 boards could easily hit 1800 MHz FSB speeds with little work, there is no doubt in our mind that P45 Express boards will easily hit 1900-2000 MHz+ FSB speeds given the proper BIOS controls.

The P45 supports both dual-channel DDR2 (800 MHz - up to 16 GB capacity) and dual-channel DDR3 (1066 MHz - up to 8 GB capacity), and it will be up to motherboard manufacturers to decide which standard to support. We’re expecting most major motherboard companies to release multiple products on the P45 to support both standards, as DDR2 still commands significant demand due to its excellent price/performance ratio.

New with the P45 is support for PCI Express 2.0, a feature which was only available on the X38/X48 chipsets on the Intel side until now. The P45 supports two PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots and can support AMD/ATI Radeon cards in a CrossFire configuration. However, these are not true x16 slots, as when in multi-GPU mode, these slots will automatically drop down to PCI Express 2.0 x8 speeds. Even on ATI’s fastest Radeons, we doubt this will be a performance degrading feature, although it’s somewhat disappointing that Intel still doesn’t have dedicated PCI Express x16 lanes across the board, as rival Nvidia chipsets have had this for several generations. The P45 Express supports Intel’s ICH10 or ICH10R (w/ RAID) Southbridge controllers, which is largely feature identical to ICH9/ICH9R. ICH10 supports up to 6 x Serial ATA-II/300 storage ports, along with support for RAID 0/1/5/10 on the –R versions of the chipsets. ICH10 supports Intel Turbo Memory technology, up to 12 USB 2.0 ports, HD audio, an integrated Gigabit Ethernet controller, and Intel’s ASF 2.0 management technologies.Intel is largely playing down the ICH10 in this release, as for most users, it does not bring anything of value to the table.

Snagging yet another feature from the high-end X38/X48 series chipsets is support for Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility. ETU is a software-level performance tweaking suite which allows end users to overclock their systems through Windows. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in other incarnations, but it’s still good to see Intel supporting enthusiasts this time around.
The low-end version of the P45 Express chipset is the P43 Express. Feature wise, it is identical to the P45 Express, but has been slightly neutered in some ways to make it more cost efficient. The P43 Express chipset only supports a single PCI Express 2.0 slot (as opposed to 2x on the P45), but beyond that is absolutely identical. If you don’t need multi-GPU support, you will be able to save a few bucks and go for a P43 Express board. P43 Express boards will likely be targeted at the budget market and will have trimmed down feature sets from the motherboard manufactures.

.........................................................