Intel Pentium4 LGA775 processors. Intel Pentium 4 processors

Last year Intel released a new kernel - Prescott- For Pentium 4, the feature of which was 90 -nm technical process, level 2 cache increased to 1 MB, in addition, a set of instructions appeared SSE3. At the same time, it was presented to the public Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3,4 GHz s 2 MB Level 3 cache. The platform was announced in the summer Socket 775, which interested us because the legs from the processor “switched” to the socket. Along with the new connector we also received chipsets i915 And i925, the set of functions of which pleasantly pleased everyone: DDR2 SDRAM, PCI Express for graphics and peripherals, sound HDA, WLAN, Matrix RAID etc. Around the same time, Intel introduced model numbers; before that, it had only dabbled with AMD. And we had to get used to the line Celeron 3xx, Pentium 4 5xx.

However, the new Prescott core had problems with high heat dissipation, which reached 115 W for top models. At the same time, performance compared to the core Northwood practically did not increase. Meanwhile, competitors did not sleep, AMD presented the core Winchester, which was characterized by low heat generation. In addition, the company bribed users with technology Cool"n"Quiet(reduction of frequency and voltage at low loads), NX-bit(prevent code execution for buffer overflow) and x86-64(64-bit extensions).

As a result, Prescott was modified many times and a lot of processor steppings were born. Some time later, Intel engineers presented well-balanced processors with stepping E0. Emerging technology Thermal Monitoring 2 improved protection against overheating - the processor began to reduce frequency and voltage if heat generation reaches a critical limit. This approach is better than throttling, when the processor missed clock pulses in the same situation. However, it still turns on, but in extreme cases. Thermal Monitoring 2 technology can also operate in idle mode to reduce heat dissipation, but this requires installation Service Pack 2. In the new stepping appeared XD-bit, which performs the function of prohibiting the execution of malicious code, SP2 is also required for this. Processors supporting this feature received the suffix J. Appearance 64 -bit extensions EM64T We never saw it in the E0 stepping for the 500 line.

However, let's remember AMD, which by that time introduced processors Athlon 64 4000+ And FX-55. The latter turned out to be the best processor for gamers, delivering extreme gaming performance. Intel responded to this attack by releasing a chipset i925XE And Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.46 GHz with system bus 1066 MHz. Other characteristics of the new P4 EE have not changed: L2 cache 512 KB, L3 - 2 MB (core Gallatin). Alas, at the extreme price of $ 999 the newcomer lost to the FX-55 in most gaming tests.

Here, in brief, is the situation at the beginning of 2005.

The bottom line regarding SpeedStep will be this: for games it is better to turn it off altogether, and for office and other work it is better to turn it on. Then the processor will operate at lower frequencies and generate less heat.

A new page in the life of Pentium 4: 600th models

The most important difference between the new Pentium 6xx- increase L2 cache to 2 MB The entire new series of processors supports XD-bit. Energy management technology has improved further: if the E0 stepping could boast Thermal Monitoring 2, then the new processors have added technology Enhanced SpeedStep, which was previously used only in the company's mobile processors. It allows you to reduce voltage and frequency if the load on the processor is light. The main difference between the two technologies is that the “initiator” of reducing the frequency in the latter case is the operating system, and not the processor.

All Pentium 6xx support 64-bit EM64T extensions (analogous to x86-64 extensions from AMD). However, this feature can only be useful when using Windows XP 64-bit Edition. But even after the official appearance of this OS, the problems for AMD and Intel users will not end: the fact is that you will only get a performance boost if the OS, drivers and programs are 64-bit. But there are big problems with this and it’s even difficult to say when we will be able to take advantage of the fruits of the new technology. On the other hand, if Intel took up this matter, the process will go much faster.

It’s also worth saying that EM64T technology will also be found in some models of the 5xx series (with “ones” at the end of the number), but Enhanced Speed ​​Step will remain an exclusive feature of the 6xx line.

Physically, the die of the Pentium 4 6xx line is significantly larger than that of the 5xx: 169 millions of transistors and 135 mm 2 vs 125 millions and 112 mm 2.

The new P4 Extreme Edition model is quite interesting. Unfortunately, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3,46 GHz, released in November 2004, did not live up to expectations, so it was scrapped. It was replaced by the new P4 Extreme Edition 3,73 GHz, which is a regular 6xx processor, but with a system bus frequency 1066 MHz. The 2nd level cache is the same 2 MB, but we had to say goodbye to the 3rd level cache.

It is worth noting that the 6xx line will be more expensive than the 500 models at equal clock frequencies.

The frequency race is over

Over the years, we have become accustomed to the fact that processor manufacturers regularly pleased us with increased clock speeds - this indicator was at the forefront. By the end of 2004, Intel planned to release the Pentium 4 with a frequency 4 GHz, but it never showed up. The engineers and management of the company realized that happiness is not in gigahertz and it is simply impossible to constantly increase the frequency, especially since its increase does not lead to a proportional increase in system performance.

The situation with AMD is similar: it is unlikely that this year we will see a processor that will cross the threshold in 3 GHz. And why is this necessary, if modern Athlon 64 with speeds up to 2,6 GHz frequencies successfully compete with Intel products.

Both companies are now working to improve the efficiency and performance of their processors by using new technologies and expanding their functions. The race for clock speeds is over. Actually, the 6xx series became an excellent example of this.

Conclusion

If we compare the 5xx and 6xx lines, the conclusion will be quite definite: new versions of processors are better, although the doubled cache size does not particularly affect performance. But thanks to the functions EM64T, XD-bit, Thermal Monitoring 2, Enhanced SpeedStep, the new Pentium 4 looks very promising. High performance, an impressive set of additional functions and reasonable power consumption significantly change the picture. Moreover, the new products are fully compatible with already familiar motherboards for Socket 775; the only thing you may need to do is update the BIOS.

Until this point, Intel could be accused of being somewhat slow in introducing new technologies: AMD implemented 64-bit extensions much earlier, although the real advantage from it is still not obvious. AMD owners also saw NX-bit and Cool"n"Quiet quite a long time ago.

However, it remains unclear why Intel announced such a high price for the new processors: they are significantly more expensive than the older versions.

One way or another, in the coming months we should expect much more radical updates to the Pentium 4 line from Intel - dual-core processors, Vanderpool virtualization technology (VT) and much more.

As is known, revolutions in computer
are happening less and less often around the world. And are they really necessary where, in general, “everyone
good", where the capabilities of systems and products more than cover the needs of the majority
modern users. This fully applies to the corporation’s processors.
Intel, industry leader. The company has a full line of high-performance
CPUs of all levels (server, desktop, mobile), clock frequencies have long been
have exceeded the “sky-high” 3 GHz, sales are going “with a bang”.
And probably, if it weren’t for the revived competitors (more precisely, competitor), then that's it
that would be really good.

But the “gigahertz race” does not stop. Let's leave aside consideration of questions like " Who needs it?" And " How in demand is this?"—let's just accept it as a fact: in order to stay afloat, CPU manufacturers are simply forced to spend effort on producing ever faster (or at least faster) high frequency) products.

Intel marked the beginning of February with the presentation of a whole range of new processors. Company
released seven new CPUs at once, including:

• Pentium 4 3.40 GHz ("old" Northwood core);
• Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.40 GHz;
• as many as four representatives of the new line with the Prescott core (by the way, emphasis
  on the first syllable) - 3.40E, 3.20E, 3.0E and 2.80E GHz, manufactured on 90 nm
  technologies and equipped with a 1 MB second level cache.

All these CPUs are designed for an 800 MHz bus and support Hyper-Threading technology. In addition, Intel released the Pentium 4 on the Prescott core with a frequency of 2.8A GHz, also manufactured using the 90 nm process, but designed for an FSB frequency of 533 MHz and not supporting Hyper-Threading. According to Intel, this processor is designed specifically for PC OEMs in response to their requests. Let us add on our own behalf - and to the delight of overclockers, who will certainly appreciate its overclocking capabilities.

With the release of new CPUs, the Pentium 4 family has expanded significantly and now looks as shown in table. 1. Naturally, Intel has no intention of curtailing production of Pentium 4 based on the Northwood core with FSB 533 and 800 MHz. In addition, several models designed for a 400 MHz bus (five processors from 2A to 2.60 GHz) remain in the line.

By developing 90nm technologies that should provide normal
functioning of Prescott class processors, Intel engineers are forced
had to overcome serious obstacles. The nature of these obstacles was
not in insufficient resolution of production equipment, but in problems
physical nature associated with the impossibility of manufacturing such small
transistors using traditional technologies.

The first to appear was charge leakage from the transistor gate through the thinned
a dielectric layer between the gate and channel. At a resolution of 90 nm it “degenerates”
into a barrier of four SiO2 atoms 1.2 nm thick. There is a need
in new insulating materials with a higher dielectric constant
permeability (high-K dielectric). Due to their greater permeability, they allow
build up a thick (up to 3 nm) insulating layer without creating obstacles
for the gate electric field. These are the oxides of hafnium and zirconium.
Unfortunately, they turned out to be incompatible with the currently used polycrystalline
gates, and phonon vibrations arising in the dielectric cause
decrease in electron mobility in the channel.

At the boundary with the gate, another phenomenon is observed, which is expressed in a significant
increasing the threshold voltage level required to change the state
conductivity of the transistor channel. The solution was found in the form of a metal
shutter Last year, the corporation's specialists finally selected two
suitable metals, which made it possible to design new miniature
NMOS and PMOS transistors. What metals did they use?
is still kept secret.

To increase the speed of transistors (it is determined by the speed
transition to open/closed state), Intel resorted to forming
channel from a single crystal of strained silicon. "Voltage"
in this case means deformation of the crystal lattice of the material.
As it turned out, through structurally damaged silicon, both electrons (+10%
for NMOS) and holes (+25% for PMOS) pass through with less resistance.
Improving mobility increases the maximum transistor current when on.
condition.

For NMOS and PMOS transistors, the voltage state is achieved in different ways.
methods. In the first case, everything is very simple: usually the transistor is on top
“covered” with a layer of silicon nitride, which serves as a protective
masks, and to create voltage in the channel, the thickness of the nitride layer is increased
doubled. This leads to the creation of additional load on the source areas
and drain and, accordingly, stretches and deforms the channel.

PMOS transistors are “volted” according to a different circuit. Zones first
The source and drain are etched, and then a SiGe layer is grown in them. Atoms
germanium exceeds silicon atoms in size and therefore germanium layers
have always been used to create voltage in silicon. However, the peculiarity
Intel technology is that in this case the compression of silicon
the channel occurs in a longitudinal section.

The new technological process also made it possible to increase the number of layers
metallization from six to seven (copper connections). It is curious that at the production
lines “shoulder to shoulder” work like lithographic machines
new generation with a wavelength of 193 nm, and their predecessors with a wavelength
waves 248 nm. In general, the percentage of reused equipment reached 75,
which made it possible to reduce the cost of modernizing factories.

Prescott Features

In discussions leading up to the release of the Prescott core processor, it was jokingly referred to as “Pentium 5”. In fact, this was exactly the typical answer from a computer pro to the question “What is Prescott?” Of course, Intel did not change the trademark, and there were no sufficient reasons for this. Let's remember the practice of software release - where the version number is changed only when the product is radically redesigned, while less significant changes are indicated by fractional version numbers. Fractional numbers are not yet accepted in the processor industry, and the fact that Prescott continued the Pentium 4 line is precisely a reflection of the fact that the changes are not so radical.

Processors based on the Prescott core, although they contain many innovations and modifications compared
with Northwood, but are based on the same NetBurst architecture, have the same packaging,
as the previous Pentium 4, are installed in the same Socket 478 connector and, in principle,
should work on most motherboards that support 800 MHz FSB and
providing the proper supply voltages (of course, an update will be required
BIOS).

We will leave a detailed study of practical issues related to Prescott for a separate material. In the meantime, let's try to look at what changes have appeared in Prescott, and understand how this processor differs from its predecessor and what can be expected as a result.

The main innovations implemented in the Prescott core are the following:

• Transfer of crystal production to the 90 nm process technology.
• Increased conveyor length (from 20 to 31 stages).
• Doubled L1 caches (data cache - from 8 to 16 KB) and L2 (from 512 KB to
  1 MB).
• Architecture changes:
  -modified transition prediction block;
  -improved L1 cache logic (improved prefetching
  data);
  -the appearance of new blocks in the processor;
  -increased volume of some buffers.
• Advanced Hyper-Threading Technology.
• Added support for the new set of SIMD instructions SSE3 (13 new commands).

The main differences between the three processor cores used in the Pentium 4 are summarized in table. 2. The number of transistors in Prescott has more than doubled - by 70 million. Of these, according to rough estimates, about 30 million can be attributed to the doubling of the L2 cache (an additional 512 KB, 6 transistors per cell). Moreover, there is still quite a significant number left, and even from this value alone one can indirectly judge the scale of the changes that have occurred in the kernel. Note that, despite such an increase in the number of elements, the core area not only did not increase, but even decreased compared to Northwood.

WITH 90nm process technology everything is, in general, understandable (of course, at a simplified, “user” level). The smaller size of transistors will reduce the processor supply voltage and reduce the power it dissipates, and consequently, heating. This will open the way for a further increase in clock frequencies, which, although it will be accompanied by an increase in heat dissipation, the “start of reference” for this increase will be different, somewhat lower. Note that, taking into account the larger number of transistors in Prescott compared to Northwood, it would be more correct to talk not about a reduction, but about preservation or lower magnification dissipated power.

Extended Conveyor. As can be seen from table. 2, Prescott's pipeline length (31 stages) is more than half that of Northwood. What lies behind this is quite clear: this is not the first time that Intel has increased the length of the pipeline, aiming to increase clock frequencies - it is known that the longer the pipeline, the better the processor core is “overclocked”. In principle, it is difficult to say unequivocally whether such an “extension” is really necessary at the current stage, at frequencies in the region of 3.5 GHz - enthusiastic overclockers overclocked the Pentium 4 (Northwood) to higher values. But sooner or later, an increase in the number of stages would be inevitable - so why not combine this event with the release of a new kernel?

Increased cache and buffer sizes. In principle, this point is directly related to the previous one. To ensure that a long pipeline works at high frequencies, it is desirable to have a larger “handy warehouse” in the form of a cache to reduce the number of idle times during which the processor waits for the required data to be loaded from memory. In addition, it is well known that, all other things being equal, of two processors with different pipeline lengths, the one with this parameter less will be more productive. When branch prediction errors occur, the processor is forced to “reset” its pipeline and load it with work in a new way. And the greater the number of stages it contains, the more painful such mistakes are. Of course, they cannot be completely excluded, and at the same frequencies Northwood and Prescott would have been less productive... if it had not had a larger L2 cache, which largely compensated for the lag. Naturally, everything here depends on the specifics of specific applications, which we will try to check in the practical part.

As mentioned above, Prescott has increased not only the overall L2 cache, but also the L1 data cache, the size of which has grown from 8 to 16 KB. Its organization and part of the logic of work have also changed - for example, a mechanism has been introduced forced promotion (force forwarding), which reduces latency in cases where a dependent operation to load data from the cache cannot be speculatively completed before the previous operation to place that data into the cache completes.

In addition to the volume of caches, the capacity of two schedulers responsible for storing micro-operations ( uops), which are used in x87/SSE/SSE2/SSE3 instructions. This, in particular, made it possible to more effectively find parallelism in multimedia algorithms and execute them with better performance.

Actually, we have already touched on some of the innovations in the Pentium 4 architecture implemented in Prescott, since they are “scattered” across the processor core and affect many of its blocks. The next important change is...

Modified branch prediction block. As is known, accuracy
The operation of this unit is critical to ensure high performance
modern processor. "Looking through" the program code following
currently running, the processor can in advance perform parts
of this code is a well-known speculative execution. If
The program encounters a branch as a result of a conditional jump ( if-then-else),
then the question arises about which of the two branches is “better” to carry out in advance.
Northwood's algorithms were relatively simple: transitions back were supposed
happening, forward- No. This worked for the most part for loops,
but not for other types of transitions. Prescott uses the concept length
transition: Research has shown that if the crossing distance exceeds
a certain limit, then the transition with a high degree of probability will not occur
(Accordingly, there is no need to speculatively execute this part of the code). Also in Prescott
a more thorough analysis of the transition conditions themselves has been introduced, on the basis of which
decisions about the probability of making a transition. In addition to static prediction algorithms,
dynamic algorithms also underwent changes (by the way, new ideas were partially
borrowed from the mobile Pentium M).

The appearance of new blocks in the processor. Two new blocks in Prescott are block of bit shifts and cyclic shifts(shifter/rotator) and dedicated integer multiplication block. The first allows you to perform the most typical shift operations on one of two fast ALUs operating at double the CPU core frequency (in previous modifications of the Pentium 4, these operations were performed as integer ones and took several clock cycles). To carry out integer multiplication, FPU resources were previously used, which took quite a long time - it was necessary to transfer data to the FPU, perform a relatively slow multiplication there and transfer the result back. To speed up these operations, Prescott has added a new block responsible for such multiplication operations.

Improved Hyper-Threading. Of course, all the innovations listed above were introduced into Prescott for a reason. According to Intel specialists, most of the modifications in the logic of caches, command queues, etc. are in one way or another related to the performance of the processor when using Hyper-Threading, i.e., when several program threads are running simultaneously. At the same time, these innovations have only a minor impact on the performance of single-threaded applications. Prescott also increased the set of instructions that are “allowed” to be executed in parallel on the processor (for example, a page table operation and a memory operation that splits a cache line). Again, for single-threaded applications, the inability to combine such operations had virtually no impact on performance, whereas when running two threads, such a limitation often became a bottleneck. Another example is that if Northwood had a cache miss and needed to read data from RAM, the next cache lookup operation would be delayed until that action was completed. As a result, one application that frequently missed the cache could significantly slow down the work of other threads. In Prescott, this conflict is easily overcome; operations can be performed in parallel. Also in Prescott, the logic of arbitration and resource sharing between threads was redesigned in order to increase overall performance.

SSE3 instructions. As we remember, the last time the expansion of the SIMD instruction set
Intel carried out by releasing the first Pentium 4 (Willamette) and implementing SSE2 in it.
The next extension, called SSE3 and containing 13 new instructions,
carried out at Prescott. All of them, with the exception of three, use SSE registers
and are designed to improve performance in the following areas:

• fast conversion of a real number to an integer ( fisttp);
• complex arithmetic calculations ( addsubps, addsubpd, movsldup, movshdup,
  movddup);
• video encoding ( lddqu);
• graphics processing ( haddps, hsubps, haddpd, hsubpd);
• thread synchronization ( monitor, mwait).

Naturally, a detailed discussion of all new instructions is beyond the scope of this material; this information is provided in the corresponding programmer manual. Instructions in the first four categories serve both to speed up the execution of the operations themselves and to make them more “economical” in the sense of using processor resources (and, therefore, optimizing the operation of Hyper-Threading and the speculative execution mechanism). The program code is also significantly reduced and, importantly, simplified. For example, the instruction to quickly convert a real number to an integer fisttp replaces seven (!) commands of traditional code. Even compared to SSE2 instructions (which themselves also speed up code execution and reduce code size), SSE3 instructions provide significant savings in many cases. Two instructions of the last group - monitor And mwait— allow the application (more precisely flow) inform the processor that it is not currently doing useful work and is in a standby mode (for example, writing to a specific memory location, causing an interrupt or exception). In this case, the processor can be switched to a low-power mode or, when using Hyper-Threading, give all resources to another thread. In general, with SSE3 new opportunities for code optimization open up for programmers. The problem here, as always in such cases, is one: until the new set of instructions becomes a generally accepted standard, software developers will have to maintain two code branches (with and without SSE3) for applications to work on everyone processors...

Where are you coming?..

In general, the volume of innovations implemented in the Prescott core can be called
significant. And although it falls short of the “real Pentium 5”, it is
“four and a half” may well come close. Transition from Northwood Core
to Prescott - in principle, an evolutionary process that fits well into the general
Intel strategy. Gradual changes in the Pentium 4 architecture are clearly visible in
scheme: the architecture is modified and updated with new features - there is a consistent
CPU optimization for a specific set of software.

What can you expect from Prescott? Perhaps, first of all (although this may seem somewhat strange) - new frequencies. Intel itself admits that at equal frequencies the performance of Prescott and Northwood will differ little. The positive impact of Prescott's large L2 cache and other innovations is largely offset by its significantly longer pipeline, which is sensitive to branch prediction errors. And even taking into account the fact that the block of this very transition predictor has been improved, it still cannot be ideal. The main advantage of Prescott is different: the new core will allow you to further increase the frequency - to values ​​previously unattainable with Northwood. According to Intel's plans, the Prescott core is designed to last for two years until it is replaced by the next core, manufactured using 65 nm (0.065 micron) technology.

Therefore, the currently released processor on the new Prescott core does not directly claim the laurels of a performance champion right from the start and should show itself in all its glory in the future. Another confirmation of this is the positioning of the processor: the Pentium 4 on the Prescott core is designed for mainstream systems, while the top CPU was and remains the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition. By the way, although the frequency bar for Intel processors has nominally risen to 3.4 GHz with the release of Prescott, the appearance of the first OEM systems based on the Pentium 4 3.4 GHz on the new core will occur somewhat later this quarter (and commercial deliveries of Prescott have already begun in the fourth quarter of 2003).

Another area where Prescott can (and most likely will) shine is in running software optimized for SSE3. The optimization process has already begun, and today there are at least five applications that support the new instruction set: MainConcept (MPEG-2/4), xMPEG, Ligos (MPEG-2/4), Real (RV9), On2 (VP5/VP6) . During 2004, support for SSE3 should appear in such packages as Adobe Premiere, Pinnacle MPEG Encoder, Sony DVD Source Creator, Ulead MediaStudio and VideoStudio, various audio and video codecs, etc. Recalling the optimization process for SSE/SSE2, you can understand that we will see the results of SSE3, but not immediately - again, this is, in a certain sense, a “startup for the future.”

Well, what about “on the other side of the front line”? Intel's main competitor is still going its own way, moving further and further away from the "general line." AMD continues to increase its “bare performance”, making do with significantly lower frequencies for now. The memory controller, which in the Athlon 64 migrated from the northbridge to the processor, added fuel to the fire, providing unprecedented speed of access to RAM. And recently a processor with a rating of 3400+ was released (no, no one is talking about full compliance with the competitors’ product in terms of frequency...).

However, Intel and AMD are now in approximately equal situations - their top processors are awaiting the release of appropriate optimized software in order to show their full potential. Intel is increasingly “moving into multimedia”: the Pentium 4’s performance is more than enough for office software, and for Prescott to realize its potential, it needs optimized multimedia applications (and/or high clock speeds, the ability to achieve which there is no doubt). It is worth noting the fact that reworking codecs for SSE3 is perhaps not the most difficult operation, and the effect of this will immediately be felt by all applications that use such codecs (and reworking the applications themselves is not at all necessary).

On the other hand, in mid-2004 a 64-bit version of Windows will be released for the AMD64 platform, on which the capabilities of the Athlon 64 should manifest themselves. Of course, here the usual question will arise about the set of applications for the new OS, without which the system remains practically useless. But remember that at least the same codecs already exist, compiled for 64-bit Athlon. So there is a possibility that in the near future the AMD platform will have a place to show itself. In general, it seems that while the titans are simply pumping up their muscles, building defensive structures and preparing their rear for the main thing... no, rather, next battle...

Introduction

Before the summer holiday season, both leading processor manufacturers, AMD and Intel, released the latest processors in their modern CPU lines aimed at high-performance PCs. First, AMD took the last step before the upcoming qualitative leap and, about a month ago, introduced the Athlon XP 3200+, which is expected to become the fastest representative of the Athlon XP family. AMD's further plans in this market sector are already associated with the next generation processor with x86-64 architecture, Athlon 64, which should appear in September this year. Intel waited a short pause and presented the last of the Penlium 4 on the 0.13-micron Northwood core only today. As a result, the final model in this family was the Pentium 4 with a frequency of 3.2 GHz. The pause before the release of the next desktop processor based on the new Prescott core will last until the fourth quarter, when Intel will once again raise the bar for the performance of its desktop processors with higher clock speeds and improved architecture.

It should be noted that during the confrontation between the Athlon and Pentium 4 architectures, the architecture from Intel proved to be more scalable. Over the period of existence of Pentium 4, produced using various technological processes, their frequency has already more than doubled and without problems reached 3.2 GHz using a conventional 0.13-micron technological process. AMD, which stuck with its Athlon XP at 2.2 GHz, cannot currently boast of such high frequencies for its processors. And although at the same frequencies the Athlon XP is significantly superior in performance to the Pentium 4, the ever-increasing gap in clock frequencies has taken its toll: the Athlon XP 3200+ with a frequency of 2.2 GHz can be called a full-fledged competitor to the Penium 4 3.2 GHz only with significant reservations.

In the graph below we decided to show how the frequencies of processors of the Pentium 4 and Athlon families have grown over the past three years:

As you can see, the 2.2 GHz frequency is an insurmountable barrier for AMD, which will be conquered, at best, only in the second half of next year, when AMD transfers its production facilities to the use of 90-nanometer technology. Until then, even the next generation Athlon 64 processors will continue to have such low frequencies. It’s hard to say whether they will be able to compete with Prescott. However, it looks like AMD is in for some serious trouble. Prescott, with its larger L1 and L2 cache, improved Hyper-Threading technology and rising frequencies, can become a much more attractive proposition than the Athlon 64.

As for Pentium 4 processors, one can only envy their scalability. Pentium 4 frequencies have been gradually increasing since the release of these processors. The slight pause observed in the summer-autumn of this year is explained by the need to introduce a new technological process, but it should not affect the balance of power in the processor market. By enabling Hyper-Threading technology and switching its processors to use an 800-MHz bus, Intel has achieved a noticeable superiority of its older CPU models over competitor processors and now can not worry about anything, at least until the mass distribution of the Athlon 64 begins.

Also in the graph above we showed the immediate plans of AMD and Intel to release new CPUs. It looks like AMD shouldn't have any illusions about its position in the market anytime soon. The fight with Intel on equal terms ends for it, the company returns to its usual role of catching up. However, it’s too early to make long-term forecasts; let’s see what the release of the Athlon 64 will bring to AMD. However, judging by the restrained reaction of software developers to AMD64 technology, no revolution will happen with the release of the next generation of processors from AMD.

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz

The new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, which Intel announced today, June 23, is nothing special from a technological point of view. This is the same Northwood, operating at a bus frequency of 800 MHz and supporting Hyper-Threading technology. That is, in fact, the processor is completely identical (except for the clock frequency) Pentium 4 3.0, which was announced by Intel in April.

The Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, like its predecessors, uses the D1 stepping core

The only fact that should be noted in connection with the release of the next Pentium 4 processor based on the Northwood core is the newly increased heat generation. Now the typical heat dissipation of the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is about 85 W, and the maximum significantly exceeds 100 W. That is why the use of well-designed cases is one of the necessary requirements when operating systems based on Pentium 4 3.2 GHz. One fan in the case is now clearly not enough; in addition, it is necessary to ensure that the air in the area where the processor is placed is well ventilated. Intel also says that the temperature of the air surrounding the processor heatsink should not exceed 42 degrees.

Well, let us remind you once again that the presented Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is the latest CPU from Intel for high-performance desktop systems, based on 0.13-micron technology. The next processor for such systems will use the new Prescott core, manufactured using 90-nanometer technology. Accordingly, the heat dissipation of future desktop processors will be less. Consequently, the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz will remain the record holder for heat dissipation.

The official price for the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is $637, which means that this processor is the most expensive CPU for desktop computers today. Moreover, Intel recommends using the new product with expensive motherboards based on the i875P chipset. However, as we know, this requirement can be neglected: many cheaper motherboards based on i865PE provide a similar level of performance thanks to the activation of PAT technology by manufacturers in the i865PE logic set.

How we tested

The purpose of this testing was to determine the level of performance that the new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz can provide compared to its predecessors and older models of the competing Athlon XP line. Thus, in addition to the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, Petnium 4 3.0 GHz, Athlon XP 3200+ and Athlon XP 3000+ took part in testing. As a platform for Pentium 4 tests, we chose a motherboard based on the i875P chipset (Canterwood) with dual-channel DDR400 memory, and Athlon XP tests were carried out using a motherboard based on the most powerful NVIDIA nForce 400 Ultra chipset.

The composition of the test systems is given below:

Notes:

• In all cases, the memory was operated in synchronous mode with the FSB in a dual-channel configuration. The most aggressive timings used were 2-2-2-5.
• Testing was performed on the Windows XP SP1 operating system with DirectX 9.0a installed.

Productivity in office and content creation applications

First of all, according to established tradition, we measured the speed of processors in office applications and applications that work with digital content. To do this, we used test packages from the Winstone family.

In Business Winstone 2002, which includes typical office business applications, the processors of the Athlon XP family are at their best, the performance of which significantly exceeds the speed of processors of the competing family. This situation is quite common for this test and is determined both by the features of the Athlon XP architecture and by the large amount of cache memory in the Barton core, the total capacity of which, thanks to the exclusivity of L2, reaches 640 KB.

In the comprehensive test Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2003, which measures the speed of test platforms in applications for working with digital content, the picture is somewhat different. Pentium 4 processors with NetBurst architecture and a high-speed bus with a bandwidth of 6.4 GB per second leave older Athlon XP models far behind.

Performance when processing streaming data

Most applications that work with data streams are known to run faster on Pentium 4 processors. This is where all the advantages of the NetBurst architecture are revealed. Therefore, the result we obtained in WinRAR 3.2 should not surprise anyone. The older Pentium 4 significantly outperforms the top-end Athlon XP in terms of information compression speed.

A similar situation is observed when encoding sound files into mp3 format using the LAME 3.93 codec. By the way, this codec supports multi-threading, so the high results of the Pentium 4 here can also be attributed to the support of Hyper-Threading technology by these CPUs. As a result, the Pentium 4 3.2 outperforms the older Athlon XP with a rating of 3200+ by almost 20%.

In this testing, we included the results obtained by measuring the encoding speed of an AVI video into the MPEG-2 format using one of the best encoders, Canopus Procoder 1.5. Surprisingly, the Athlon XP in this case shows slightly higher performance. However, this should most likely be attributed to the high-performance floating point unit present in the Athlon XP. SSE2 instructions of Pentium 4 processors in this case, as we see, cannot be as strong an alternative. However, it should be noted that the gap in speed between the older Athlon XP and Pentium 4 models is quite small.

MPEG-4 video encoding is another example of a task where Pentium 4 processors with Hyper-Threading technology and an 800-MHz bus show their strengths. The Pentium 4 3.2's superiority over the Athlon XP 3200+ in this test is almost 20%.

A similar situation is observed when encoding video using Windows Media Encoder 9: this application is optimized for the SSE2 command set and is perfectly suited for NetBurst architecture. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the top part of the chart is again occupied by processors from Intel.

Gaming Performance

After the release of the patched version 3Dmark03, the Pentium 4's results relative to the Athlon XP in this test became slightly higher. However, this did not change the balance of power: Pentium 4 was the leader in this benchmark before.

Pentium 4 confirms its leadership in the overall standings in 3Dmark03. True, the gap here is small: this is due to the fact that 3Dmark03 is, first of all, a test of the video subsystem.

After the Pentium 4 switched to using an 800 MHz bus, the Pentium 4 began to outperform the Athlon XP in the older version 3Dmark2001. Moreover, the gap between the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz and the Athlon XP 3200+ is already quite significant and amounts to 6%.

In Quake3, the Pentium 4 traditionally outperforms the Athlon XP, so the result is not surprising.

A similar picture is observed in the game Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This makes perfect sense since this game uses the same Quake3 engine.

One of the few applications where the older Athlon XP model manages to retain the lead is Unreal Tournament 2003. I would like to note that all modern games do not support Hyper-Threading technology, so the potential of the new Pentium 4 is not yet fully revealed in games.

But in Serious Sam 2 the Athlon XP 3200+ is no longer the leader. With the release of the new processor from Intel, the palm in this game goes to the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz.

The new Splinter Cell game, although based on the same engine as Unreal Tournament 2003, runs faster on Intel processors.

In general, it remains to be admitted that the fastest processor for modern 3D games at the moment is the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, beating the Athlon XP 3200+ in most game tests. The situation is changing rapidly. Just recently, the older Athlon XPs were in no way inferior to Intel processors in gaming tests.

3D rendering performance

Since 3ds max 5.1, which we used in this testing, is well optimized for multi-threading, the Pentium 4, which can execute two threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading technology, is the leader by a wide margin. Even the older Athlon XP 3200+ cannot compete with it.

Absolutely the same can be said about the rendering speed in Lightwave 7.5. However, in some scenes, for example when rendering Sunset, older Athlon XP models do not look so bad, but such cases are rare.

It's difficult to compete with the Pentium 4, which runs two threads simultaneously, in rendering tasks for the Athlon XP. Unfortunately, AMD has no plans to introduce technologies like Hyper-Threading even in future Athlon 64 processors.

An absolutely similar situation is observed in POV-Ray 3.5.

Scientific Performance

To test the speed of new CPUs from AMD in scientific calculations, the ScienceMark 2.0 package was used. Details about this test can be found at http://www.sciencemark.org. This benchmark supports multi-threading, as well as all SIMD instruction sets, including MMX, 3DNow!, SSE and SSE2.

It has long been known that Athlon XP family processors perform best in mathematical modeling or cryptography tasks. Here we see another confirmation of this fact. Although, I must say, the Athlon XP is beginning to lose its former advantage. For example, in the Molecular Dynamics test the new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz comes out on top.

In addition to the ScienceMark test in this section, we decided to test the speed of the new processors in the client of the Russian distributed computing project MD@home, dedicated to calculating the dynamic properties of oligopeptides (protein fragments). Calculation of the properties of oligopeptides may be able to help study the fundamental properties of proteins, thereby making a contribution to the development of science.

As you can see, the new Pentium 4 solves molecular dynamics problems faster than the Athlon XP. Pentium 4 achieves such a high result thanks to its Hyper-Threading technology. The MD@home client itself, unfortunately, does not support multithreading, but running two client programs in parallel on systems with processors with Hyper-Threading technology allows you to speed up the calculation process by more than 40%.

conclusions

The testing clearly shows that at the next stage of the competition, Intel managed to defeat AMD. The latest processor based on the Northwood core outperforms the older and latest Athlon XP models in most tests. Recently, Intel has been able to significantly increase the frequencies of its CPUs, increase the frequency of their bus, and also introduce clever Hyper-Threading technology, which gives an additional increase in speed in a number of tasks. AMD, not being able to increase the clock speeds of its processors due to technological and architectural difficulties, was unable to adequately strengthen its CPUs. Even the appearance of the new Barton core did not improve the situation: the latest Pentium 4 models are clearly stronger than the older Athlon XP. As a result, the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz can be considered the most powerful CPU for desktop systems at present. This situation will last at least until September, when AMD will finally have to announce its new Athlon 64 family processors.

It should also be noted that the rating system currently used by AMD to label its processors can no longer be the criterion by which the Athlon XP can be compared with the Pentium 4. Improvements that have occurred with the Pentium 4, including the translation these CPUs on an 800-MHz bus and the introduction of Hyper-Threading technology have led to the fact that the Pentium 4, with a frequency equal to the rating of the corresponding Athlon XP, is clearly faster.

In general, we will look forward to the fall, when both AMD and Intel will present their new developments, Prescott and Athlon 64, which may be able to intensify the competition between long-time rivals in the processor market. Now AMD is being pushed aside by Intel into the sector of low-cost processors where, however, this company feels excellent: Celeron is a frankly weak competitor compared to Athlon XP.

Family Pentium 4 processors produced by Intel has long been, without exaggeration, the most popular in the world of desktop computers. Even the word “Pentium” in the mouths of people who are not very computer savvy meant the speed and power of their computer. Among the advantages Pentium 4- low price, high performance and relatively low power consumption (depending on the operating clock frequency of the processor). Pentium 4 installed in the socket Socket 478 or LGA755

Pentium 4 processors are based on the Intel NetBurst microarchitecture, which provides support for a number of features such as HyperThreading technology (we'll talk about it a little later), FSB with a frequency of 400/533/800 MHz, SSE2 streaming instructions, advanced dynamic execution functions and optimized cache data transfer. In addition, Pentium 4 processors, built using 0.09-micron technology, support SSE3 streaming instructions.

The SSE, SSE2 and SSE3 instructions are an extension of MMX technology and contain a number of commands for working with graphics and sound, floating point and integer calculations, and cache memory management. These instructions allow you to more efficiently work with 3D graphics, streaming audio and video data (for example, when playing DVDs), and decode MPEG2 and MPEG3 (MP3) files. However, the best results from using SSE are achieved if SSE support is implemented at the application level.

Currently, there are a wide variety of Pentium 4 processors on the market, and it’s easy to get confused in the variety of them. There are two main families Pentium 4 - 5xx and 6xx, where x is the processor type number.

The 5xx family includes processors 570, 560, 550, 540, 530 and 520, with support for HT technology and 1 MB L2 cache. In turn, the 6xx family includes processors 672, 662, 660, 650, 640, which also support HT technology and are equipped with a 2 MB L2 cache memory, as well as providing support for Intel Enhanced SpeedStep, EM64T and Execute Disable Bit (NX) technologies bit).

Intel Pentium 4 technologies

Enhanced SpeedStep Technology allows you to reduce system power consumption by automatically reducing the processor clock speed for work applications. Thanks to this technology, the problems of energy saving and cooling of modern desktop computers are solved. Intel Enhanced SpeedStep technology is supported by the Pentium 4 bxx and Pentium D processor family.

All Pentium 4 processors are 32-bit. However, thanks EM64T technology, available in the new Pentium 4 bxx processor family, these processors provide support for 64-bit applications. You can learn about the differences between 32- and 64-bit applications in the “Athlon 64” section. Main advantage EM64T technology- this is the ability to install RAM on a computer, the total amount of which will be more than 4 GB (since 4 GB is the maximum amount of RAM that can be addressed in a 32-bit operating system).

Execute Disable Bit Technology (NX-bit) allows you to prohibit the execution of program code that is located in memory areas intended for storing data. Many viruses, regular and Trojan, can cause a software error known as a buffer overflow in and disguise destructive program code as data that can be used by the operating system. To prevent such a scenario, you need NX bit, which enhances system protection and reduces the likelihood of successful virus introduction. Similar technology exists for the Athlon 64; it's called Enhanced Virus Protection.

The table below contains the characteristics of the main Pentium 4 processors. It should be noted that in the table. Only some Pentium 4 models are presented. For a more complete list of all available models, you can visit the Intel Web site at www.intel.ru

As you can see, the most productive processors are the Pentium 4 6xx family, which have a 2 MB L2 cache memory and universal technology support HyperThreading, Enhanced SpeedStep, EM64T and NX-bit. Also, note that Socket 478 processors that have the same clock speed have different FSB clock speeds and L2 cache sizes.

Introduction

Before the summer holiday season, both leading processor manufacturers, AMD and Intel, released the latest processors in their modern CPU lines aimed at high-performance PCs. First, AMD took the last step before the upcoming qualitative leap and, about a month ago, introduced the Athlon XP 3200+, which is expected to become the fastest representative of the Athlon XP family. AMD's further plans in this market sector are already associated with the next generation processor with x86-64 architecture, Athlon 64, which should appear in September this year. Intel waited a short pause and presented the last of the Penlium 4 on the 0.13-micron Northwood core only today. As a result, the final model in this family was the Pentium 4 with a frequency of 3.2 GHz. The pause before the release of the next desktop processor based on the new Prescott core will last until the fourth quarter, when Intel will once again raise the bar for the performance of its desktop processors with higher clock speeds and improved architecture.

It should be noted that during the confrontation between the Athlon and Pentium 4 architectures, the architecture from Intel proved to be more scalable. Over the period of existence of Pentium 4, produced using various technological processes, their frequency has already more than doubled and without problems reached 3.2 GHz using a conventional 0.13-micron technological process. AMD, which stuck with its Athlon XP at 2.2 GHz, cannot currently boast of such high frequencies for its processors. And although at the same frequencies the Athlon XP is significantly superior in performance to the Pentium 4, the ever-increasing gap in clock frequencies has taken its toll: the Athlon XP 3200+ with a frequency of 2.2 GHz can be called a full-fledged competitor to the Penium 4 3.2 GHz only with significant reservations.

In the graph below we decided to show how the frequencies of processors of the Pentium 4 and Athlon families have grown over the past three years:

As you can see, the 2.2 GHz frequency is an insurmountable barrier for AMD, which will be conquered, at best, only in the second half of next year, when AMD transfers its production facilities to the use of 90-nanometer technology. Until then, even the next generation Athlon 64 processors will continue to have such low frequencies. It’s hard to say whether they will be able to compete with Prescott. However, it looks like AMD is in for some serious trouble. Prescott, with its larger L1 and L2 cache, improved Hyper-Threading technology and rising frequencies, can become a much more attractive proposition than the Athlon 64.

As for Pentium 4 processors, one can only envy their scalability. Pentium 4 frequencies have been gradually increasing since the release of these processors. The slight pause observed in the summer-autumn of this year is explained by the need to introduce a new technological process, but it should not affect the balance of power in the processor market. By enabling Hyper-Threading technology and switching its processors to use an 800-MHz bus, Intel has achieved a noticeable superiority of its older CPU models over competitor processors and now can not worry about anything, at least until the mass distribution of the Athlon 64 begins.

Also in the graph above we showed the immediate plans of AMD and Intel to release new CPUs. It looks like AMD shouldn't have any illusions about its position in the market anytime soon. The fight with Intel on equal terms ends for it, the company returns to its usual role of catching up. However, it’s too early to make long-term forecasts; let’s see what the release of the Athlon 64 will bring to AMD. However, judging by the restrained reaction of software developers to AMD64 technology, no revolution will happen with the release of the next generation of processors from AMD.

Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz

The new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, which Intel announced today, June 23, is nothing special from a technological point of view. This is the same Northwood, operating at a bus frequency of 800 MHz and supporting Hyper-Threading technology. That is, in fact, the processor is completely identical (except for the clock frequency) Pentium 4 3.0, which was announced by Intel in April.

The Pentium 4 3.2 GHz processor, like its predecessors, uses the D1 stepping core

The only fact that should be noted in connection with the release of the next Pentium 4 processor based on the Northwood core is the newly increased heat generation. Now the typical heat dissipation of the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is about 85 W, and the maximum significantly exceeds 100 W. That is why the use of well-designed cases is one of the necessary requirements when operating systems based on Pentium 4 3.2 GHz. One fan in the case is now clearly not enough; in addition, it is necessary to ensure that the air in the area where the processor is placed is well ventilated. Intel also says that the temperature of the air surrounding the processor heatsink should not exceed 42 degrees.

Well, let us remind you once again that the presented Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is the latest CPU from Intel for high-performance desktop systems, based on 0.13-micron technology. The next processor for such systems will use the new Prescott core, manufactured using 90-nanometer technology. Accordingly, the heat dissipation of future desktop processors will be less. Consequently, the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz will remain the record holder for heat dissipation.

The official price for the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz is $637, which means that this processor is the most expensive CPU for desktop computers today. Moreover, Intel recommends using the new product with expensive motherboards based on the i875P chipset. However, as we know, this requirement can be neglected: many cheaper motherboards based on i865PE provide a similar level of performance thanks to the activation of PAT technology by manufacturers in the i865PE logic set.

How we tested

The purpose of this testing was to determine the level of performance that the new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz can provide compared to its predecessors and older models of the competing Athlon XP line. Thus, in addition to the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, Petnium 4 3.0 GHz, Athlon XP 3200+ and Athlon XP 3000+ took part in testing. As a platform for Pentium 4 tests, we chose a motherboard based on the i875P chipset (Canterwood) with dual-channel DDR400 memory, and Athlon XP tests were carried out using a motherboard based on the most powerful NVIDIA nForce 400 Ultra chipset.

The composition of the test systems is given below:

Notes:

• In all cases, the memory was operated in synchronous mode with the FSB in a dual-channel configuration. The most aggressive timings used were 2-2-2-5.
• Testing was performed on the Windows XP SP1 operating system with DirectX 9.0a installed.

Productivity in office and content creation applications

First of all, according to established tradition, we measured the speed of processors in office applications and applications that work with digital content. To do this, we used test packages from the Winstone family.

In Business Winstone 2002, which includes typical office business applications, the processors of the Athlon XP family are at their best, the performance of which significantly exceeds the speed of processors of the competing family. This situation is quite common for this test and is determined both by the features of the Athlon XP architecture and by the large amount of cache memory in the Barton core, the total capacity of which, thanks to the exclusivity of L2, reaches 640 KB.

In the comprehensive test Multimedia Content Creation Winstone 2003, which measures the speed of test platforms in applications for working with digital content, the picture is somewhat different. Pentium 4 processors with NetBurst architecture and a high-speed bus with a bandwidth of 6.4 GB per second leave older Athlon XP models far behind.

Performance when processing streaming data

Most applications that work with data streams are known to run faster on Pentium 4 processors. This is where all the advantages of the NetBurst architecture are revealed. Therefore, the result we obtained in WinRAR 3.2 should not surprise anyone. The older Pentium 4 significantly outperforms the top-end Athlon XP in terms of information compression speed.

A similar situation is observed when encoding sound files into mp3 format using the LAME 3.93 codec. By the way, this codec supports multi-threading, so the high results of the Pentium 4 here can also be attributed to the support of Hyper-Threading technology by these CPUs. As a result, the Pentium 4 3.2 outperforms the older Athlon XP with a rating of 3200+ by almost 20%.

In this testing, we included the results obtained by measuring the encoding speed of an AVI video into the MPEG-2 format using one of the best encoders, Canopus Procoder 1.5. Surprisingly, the Athlon XP in this case shows slightly higher performance. However, this should most likely be attributed to the high-performance floating point unit present in the Athlon XP. SSE2 instructions of Pentium 4 processors in this case, as we see, cannot be as strong an alternative. However, it should be noted that the gap in speed between the older Athlon XP and Pentium 4 models is quite small.

MPEG-4 video encoding is another example of a task where Pentium 4 processors with Hyper-Threading technology and an 800-MHz bus show their strengths. The Pentium 4 3.2's superiority over the Athlon XP 3200+ in this test is almost 20%.

A similar situation is observed when encoding video using Windows Media Encoder 9: this application is optimized for the SSE2 command set and is perfectly suited for NetBurst architecture. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the top part of the chart is again occupied by processors from Intel.

Gaming Performance

After the release of the patched version 3Dmark03, the Pentium 4's results relative to the Athlon XP in this test became slightly higher. However, this did not change the balance of power: Pentium 4 was the leader in this benchmark before.

Pentium 4 confirms its leadership in the overall standings in 3Dmark03. True, the gap here is small: this is due to the fact that 3Dmark03 is, first of all, a test of the video subsystem.

After the Pentium 4 switched to using an 800 MHz bus, the Pentium 4 began to outperform the Athlon XP in the older version 3Dmark2001. Moreover, the gap between the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz and the Athlon XP 3200+ is already quite significant and amounts to 6%.

In Quake3, the Pentium 4 traditionally outperforms the Athlon XP, so the result is not surprising.

A similar picture is observed in the game Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This makes perfect sense since this game uses the same Quake3 engine.

One of the few applications where the older Athlon XP model manages to retain the lead is Unreal Tournament 2003. I would like to note that all modern games do not support Hyper-Threading technology, so the potential of the new Pentium 4 is not yet fully revealed in games.

But in Serious Sam 2 the Athlon XP 3200+ is no longer the leader. With the release of the new processor from Intel, the palm in this game goes to the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz.

The new Splinter Cell game, although based on the same engine as Unreal Tournament 2003, runs faster on Intel processors.

In general, it remains to be admitted that the fastest processor for modern 3D games at the moment is the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, beating the Athlon XP 3200+ in most game tests. The situation is changing rapidly. Just recently, the older Athlon XPs were in no way inferior to Intel processors in gaming tests.

3D rendering performance

Since 3ds max 5.1, which we used in this testing, is well optimized for multi-threading, the Pentium 4, which can execute two threads simultaneously thanks to Hyper-Threading technology, is the leader by a wide margin. Even the older Athlon XP 3200+ cannot compete with it.

Absolutely the same can be said about the rendering speed in Lightwave 7.5. However, in some scenes, for example when rendering Sunset, older Athlon XP models do not look so bad, but such cases are rare.

It's difficult to compete with the Pentium 4, which runs two threads simultaneously, in rendering tasks for the Athlon XP. Unfortunately, AMD has no plans to introduce technologies like Hyper-Threading even in future Athlon 64 processors.

An absolutely similar situation is observed in POV-Ray 3.5.

Scientific Performance

To test the speed of new CPUs from AMD in scientific calculations, the ScienceMark 2.0 package was used. Details about this test can be found at http://www.sciencemark.org. This benchmark supports multi-threading, as well as all SIMD instruction sets, including MMX, 3DNow!, SSE and SSE2.

It has long been known that Athlon XP family processors perform best in mathematical modeling or cryptography tasks. Here we see another confirmation of this fact. Although, I must say, the Athlon XP is beginning to lose its former advantage. For example, in the Molecular Dynamics test the new Pentium 4 3.2 GHz comes out on top.

In addition to the ScienceMark test in this section, we decided to test the speed of the new processors in the client of the Russian distributed computing project MD@home, dedicated to calculating the dynamic properties of oligopeptides (protein fragments). Calculation of the properties of oligopeptides may be able to help study the fundamental properties of proteins, thereby making a contribution to the development of science.

As you can see, the new Pentium 4 solves molecular dynamics problems faster than the Athlon XP. Pentium 4 achieves such a high result thanks to its Hyper-Threading technology. The MD@home client itself, unfortunately, does not support multithreading, but running two client programs in parallel on systems with processors with Hyper-Threading technology allows you to speed up the calculation process by more than 40%.

conclusions

The testing clearly shows that at the next stage of the competition, Intel managed to defeat AMD. The latest processor based on the Northwood core outperforms the older and latest Athlon XP models in most tests. Recently, Intel has been able to significantly increase the frequencies of its CPUs, increase the frequency of their bus, and also introduce clever Hyper-Threading technology, which gives an additional increase in speed in a number of tasks. AMD, not being able to increase the clock speeds of its processors due to technological and architectural difficulties, was unable to adequately strengthen its CPUs. Even the appearance of the new Barton core did not improve the situation: the latest Pentium 4 models are clearly stronger than the older Athlon XP. As a result, the Pentium 4 3.2 GHz can be considered the most powerful CPU for desktop systems at present. This situation will last at least until September, when AMD will finally have to announce its new Athlon 64 family processors.

It should also be noted that the rating system currently used by AMD to label its processors can no longer be the criterion by which the Athlon XP can be compared with the Pentium 4. Improvements that have occurred with the Pentium 4, including the translation these CPUs on an 800-MHz bus and the introduction of Hyper-Threading technology have led to the fact that the Pentium 4, with a frequency equal to the rating of the corresponding Athlon XP, is clearly faster.

In general, we will look forward to the fall, when both AMD and Intel will present their new developments, Prescott and Athlon 64, which may be able to intensify the competition between long-time rivals in the processor market. Now AMD is being pushed aside by Intel into the sector of low-cost processors where, however, this company feels excellent: Celeron is a frankly weak competitor compared to Athlon XP.