Obviously I was a little disappointed at the bulldozer architecture debut. But there were cases where the benchmarks really did not make sense, in one instance it scales, another it doesn't. Its great, its not and all that mixed stuff. Like a rollerskating CPU. And it runs hot as well as inefficient. (although one wanders what most of us are doing thats keeping out CPU's away from an idle state most of the time).
Anyway. Then there was the little increase in Windows 8 performance over at toms.
And other things that seem to be popping out of the woodwork. It led me to keep looking for reasons. (WHY AMD WHYYYYYY... I cried)
I stumbled upon the Phoronix.com website. Which tests Bulldozer under Linux.... A LOT!!!!
Even in the initial review you get the idea that Bulldozer is better under linux than Wondows.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_fx8150_bulldozer&num=1
I was thinking its not all bad... And then I stumbled upon the second article about performance using different Compilers. Being a bit of a unknown to me as to what compiling is I was surprised by the sheer amount of performance to be gained by doing this.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_bulldozer_compilers&num=2
The conclusion to the article is that Linux users will get these benefits before Windows because the kernel is always the same for windows (whatever a kernel is )
My thoughts are the following, it looks like its actually a great architecture once applications take advantage of the AVX and other extensions available. Which simply are not coded for at the moment, and when they are compiled right... Bingo.
Take Cinebench 11.5, Most people seem to take this benchmark as the defacto " how fast is the CPU benchmark" in heavy threaded apps. simply because its the one thats conveniently available. If it was optimized for AMD and Intel alike, would the Intel CPU's be showing better. C-RAY for example takes a massive performance lead for Bulldozer once its compiled with their compiler.
I am not trying to say that Bulldozer is a magic chip, but there is more to it than just "it sux". Windows 8 will bring a new kernel, other patches and chip optimization that are simply not available to Win7, New programs will certainly take advantage in time, and I'm guessing that at the end of 2012, people will be praising the chip once power usage goes down and clock speeds increase even more. I know this because I own a Phenom I processor, and its really no different to a Phenom II other than a patch I disable and I'm unable to go beyond 2.6GHZ. (I got it cheap).
What do you guys think, does the long term performance benefit look better than the one available now ( I acknowledge that Intel has a considerable lead in normal programs now)
Anyway. Then there was the little increase in Windows 8 performance over at toms.
And other things that seem to be popping out of the woodwork. It led me to keep looking for reasons. (WHY AMD WHYYYYYY... I cried)
I stumbled upon the Phoronix.com website. Which tests Bulldozer under Linux.... A LOT!!!!
Even in the initial review you get the idea that Bulldozer is better under linux than Wondows.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_fx8150_bulldozer&num=1
I was thinking its not all bad... And then I stumbled upon the second article about performance using different Compilers. Being a bit of a unknown to me as to what compiling is I was surprised by the sheer amount of performance to be gained by doing this.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amd_bulldozer_compilers&num=2
The conclusion to the article is that Linux users will get these benefits before Windows because the kernel is always the same for windows (whatever a kernel is )
My thoughts are the following, it looks like its actually a great architecture once applications take advantage of the AVX and other extensions available. Which simply are not coded for at the moment, and when they are compiled right... Bingo.
Take Cinebench 11.5, Most people seem to take this benchmark as the defacto " how fast is the CPU benchmark" in heavy threaded apps. simply because its the one thats conveniently available. If it was optimized for AMD and Intel alike, would the Intel CPU's be showing better. C-RAY for example takes a massive performance lead for Bulldozer once its compiled with their compiler.
I am not trying to say that Bulldozer is a magic chip, but there is more to it than just "it sux". Windows 8 will bring a new kernel, other patches and chip optimization that are simply not available to Win7, New programs will certainly take advantage in time, and I'm guessing that at the end of 2012, people will be praising the chip once power usage goes down and clock speeds increase even more. I know this because I own a Phenom I processor, and its really no different to a Phenom II other than a patch I disable and I'm unable to go beyond 2.6GHZ. (I got it cheap).
What do you guys think, does the long term performance benefit look better than the one available now ( I acknowledge that Intel has a considerable lead in normal programs now)