Results: Cinebench R10, Cinebench R11.5, and Valve Benchmarks

Cinebench R10

This benchmark has always shown the AMD architecture in a favorable light.  This has been one area where AMD has been able to compete successfully with Intel, but unfortunately for AMD this is only one program.

Using a single thread, the Phenom II X4 980 is actually the fastest processor in this test.  When using the max number of threads though, the i7-860 takes a good sized lead.

Cinebench R11.5

The latest iteration of Cinebench changes around how it handles the rendering technique, and it arguably makes it more efficient in assigning workloads.

The 6 core processors rule this benchmark, but the X4 980 is not all that far behind the i7-860 in this test.

Valve Particle Benchmark

Valve is a firm believer in multi-threading, and they have spent a considerable amount of time optimizing their programs for this.  Their particle simulation benchmark is designed to really push multi-core CPUs, but then again this is one of the easier applications to leverage multi-threading.  Dealing with hundreds of particles and their interactions is inherently quite parallel.

The i7 with its ability to address 8 threads due to Hyperthreading takes a nice lead in this benchmark.  The X6 CPUs come in a close second.  Straggling behind those other processors is the little old X4 980.  Ok, so the CPU is pretty damn new.

Valve Map Compilation Benchmark

The second Valve benchmark deals with compiling a map.  Things like static lighting and some effects are taken care of in this compiling, so map loading and in-game performance should be faster even in complex scenes.

We see all of the results, except for the dual core, be very close to one another.  I think we are seeing the limits of this particular benchmark with the latest and highest end processors.  Note as well that it does not seem to really leverage the extra cores that the X6 processors provide.

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