AMD Fusion: Brazos Gets Previewed: Part 2, Performance
Table of contents
- 1. AMD Fusion: Brazos Recap, Power, And Heat
- 2. Zacate: Power And Heat
- 3. Benchmark Results: Synthetics
- 4. Benchmark Results: Productivity
AMD gave us an opportunity to go hands-on with its upcoming Brazos platform--the only preview you'll see before this technology surfaces in retail notebooks. Is it fast enough to compete with the Nehalem-based competition, and cool enough to trounce Atom?
One week ago, we went over the details on Brazos and Zacate. Today, we are finally allowed to go release our benchmark numbers. If you haven't read our earlier coverage, it's a good time to go back and go over all the nitty gritty details on Brazos, Zacate, and Ontario.
A quick recap:
Bobcat: The processing architecture behind AMD's upcoming Zacate and Ontario APUs.
Brazos: AMD's 2011 platform for the ULV Zacate/Ontario APU + SB750 southbridge. It effectively replaces the high-end parts of the Nile platform.
| Test Hardware | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Processors | Intel Atom D525 (Dual-Core, 1.8 GHz) | Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 (Dual-Core, 1.3 GHz) | Simulated Intel Core i3-330UM (Dual-Core, 1.2 GHz) | Intel Core i3-350M (Dual-Core, 2.26 GHz) | Intel Core i3-540M (Dual-Core, 2.53 GHz) | AMD Athlon II Neo K125 (Single-Core, 1.7 GHz) | AMD E-350 (Dual-Core, 1.6 GHz) |
| Memory | 4 GB DDR3-1066 | 4 GB DDR2-800 | 4 GB DDR3-1066 | 4 GB DDR3-1066 | 4 GB DDR3-1333 | 4 GB DDR3-1333 | 4 GB DDR3-1333 |
| Graphics | Nvidia Ion2 Intel GMA 3150 (Optimus) | Intel GMA 4500MHD | AMD Radeon HD 5450, 1 GB DDR2 650 MHz/800 MHz | Intel HD Graphics | Nvidia Quadro NVS 3100M | AMD Radeon HD 4225 | AMD Radeon HD 6310 500/1066 MHz |
| Notebook | Asus eeePC 1215N | Asus UL20A | Desktop System | Dell Vostro 3300 | Lenovo Thinkpad T510 | Asus eeePC 1215T | - |
| Operating System | Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit | ||||||
| DirectX | Direct X11 | ||||||
| Graphics Driver | 260.99 (Nvidia) 8.14.10.2117 (Intel) | 8. 14.10.2117 | 8.782 | 8. 14.10.2226 | 260.99 | 8.782 | 8.789 |
Because we were dealing with notebooks, we often have no way to control memory timings. Given that platforms often ship with memory specific to that product line, we tried not to alter memory module configurations.
Benchmarks and Settings | |
|---|---|
Video Encoding | |
Cyberlink MediaExpresso 6 | Version: 6.0.1026.32053, Convert 1080p 16 Mb/s H.264 video file to MPEG-2 352x288 6 Mb/s |
Applications | |
WinRAR 3.93 | Version 3.90 (64-bit), Benchmark: THG-Workload (334 MB) |
Dragon NaturallySpeaking | Version 11.00.200.049, Transcribe Audio 14.1 MB Wav Recording (Duration: 11:12) |
| Adobe Photoshop CS5 (64-bit) | Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates filters |
| Norton Antivirus | Version: 18.1.0.37, Benchmark: Scan 334 MB Folder of ZIP/RAR compressed files |
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings | |
3DMark Vantage | Version: 1.02, GPU and CPU scores |
PCMark Vantage | Version: 1.00, System, Memories, TV and Movies, and Productivity benchmarks, Windows Media Player 10.00.00.3646 |
SiSoftware Sandra 2010 | CPU Test=CPU Arithmetic/Multimedia, Memory Test=Bandwidth Benchmark |
| Games | |
| World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King 3.4.0 | Fair Quality Setting, No AA / 2xAF, 4xAA / 16xAF, vsync off, 1280x720, 4 minute sequence, Fraps |
| Aliens vs. Predator Benchmark | Ultra High Settings, 4xAA / 16xAF, 1366x768, Built-In Benchmark |
| DiRT 2 | Modified Medium Setting, 2xAA 1366x768, In-Game Benchmark, Steam Version |
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- performance
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Stigma of power hungry and hot??? My oven stopped working - anyone got their Prescott handy???
The 3DMark Vantage graph on page 3 has the same figures for Atom as i3 which is clearly wrong.
Tough luck Aje21 - THG doesn't read the comments...
Some good power characteristics, and you can see that AMD is putting a lot of effort into marketing products that are smaller, faster and more energy-efficient. Good stuff considering market shares and turbulent economies.
Looks like a good buy for World of Wacraft players wanting a reasonably priced mobile gaming platform.