Today's article will be a complete antipode to the previous: now we are interested in Low-End processors instead of top products. We are going to review the slowest modern processors from both competitors: Low-End single-core AMD Sempron LE and Intel Celeron (Conroe-L) processors, as well as the weakest dual-core CPUs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ and Pentium E2140. These processors are manufactured for a reason, aren't they? So, we'll find out what they can do and how fast.
Hardware and Software
Testbed configurations
| CPU |
Motherboard |
Memory |
Video |
| Intel Celeron 420 |
ASUS Maximus Extreme |
Corsair CM3X1024-1800C7DIN |
GeForce 8800 GTX |
| Intel Pentium E2140 |
ASUS Maximus Extreme |
Corsair CM3X1024-1800C7DIN |
GeForce 8800 GTX |
| AMD Sempron LE-1100 |
ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe |
Corsair TWIN2X4096-9136C5DF |
GeForce 8800 GTX |
| AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ |
ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe |
Corsair TWIN2X4096-9136C5DF |
GeForce 8800 GTX |
- Memory: 4 GB (4 x 1 GB modules)
- HDD: Samsung HD401LJ (SATA-2)
- Coolers: Thermaltake TMG i1, TMG a1
- Power supply unit: Cooler Master RS-A00-EMBA
| Processor |
Sempron LE-1100 |
Athlon 64 X2 3600+ |
Celeron 420 |
Pentium E2140 |
| Core name |
Sparta |
Brisbane |
Conroe-L |
Conroe |
| Fabrication process, nm |
65 |
65 |
65 |
65 |
| Core clock, GHz |
1.9 |
1.9 |
1.6 |
1.6 |
| Number of cores |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
| L1 cache, I/D, KB* |
64/64 |
64/64 |
32/32 |
32/32 |
| L2 cache, KB** |
256 |
2x512 |
512 |
1024 |
| FSB clock, MHz*** |
2x800 (DDR2) |
2x800 (DDR2) |
200 (800) |
200 (800) |
| Multiplier |
9.5 |
9.5 |
8 |
8 |
| Socket |
AM2 |
AM2 |
LGA775 |
LGA775 |
| Heat dissipation**** |
45 W |
65 W |
35 W |
65 W |
* Per single core in multi-core processors.
** "X x Y" means "X KB per each of Y cores".
*** In AMD processors it's memory controller bus frequency.
**** Specified differently in Intel and AMD processors, so a direct comparison would be incorrect.
Software
| Application |
64-bit |
Multi-threaded* |
| Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2 |
+ |
+ |
| Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 |
+ |
+ |
| Autodesk 3ds max 9 SP2 |
+ |
+ |
| V-Ray 1.5 SP1 |
+ |
+ |
| Autodesk Maya 2008 Ultimate |
+ |
+ |
| NewTek Lightwave 3D 9.2 |
+ |
+ |
| SolidWorks 2007 SP0.0 |
+ |
+ |
| PTC Pro/ENGINEER Wildfire 3.0 M120 |
+ |
- |
| UGS NX5 5.0.0.25 |
+ |
+ |
| Wolfram Research Mathematica 6 |
+ |
+ |
| MapleSoft Maple 11 |
- |
+ |
| MathWorks MATLAB 2007 |
+ |
+ |
| Adobe Photoshop CS3 10.0 |
- |
+ |
| Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 |
+ |
+ |
| Apache HTTP Server 2.2.8 |
- |
+ |
| PHP 5.2.5 |
- |
+ |
| MySQL Community Server 5.0.51a |
- |
+ |
| ACDSee 10 Photo Manager |
- |
+ |
| xat.com Image Optimizer 5.10 |
- |
- |
| IrfanView 4.10 |
- |
- |
| XnView 1.93.4 |
- |
- |
| Paint.NET 3.30 |
+ |
+ |
| 7-Zip 4.57 |
+ |
+ |
| WinRAR 3.71 |
- |
+ |
| UltimateZip 3.2 |
- |
- |
| FLAC 1.2.1 |
- |
- |
| LAME-MT 3.97 |
+ |
+ |
| Musepack MPC Encoder 1.16 |
- |
- |
| Nero Digital Audio Encoder 1.1.34.2 |
- |
+ |
| Ogg Encoder 2.83 (Lancer) |
- |
+ |
| Canopus ProCoder 3.0 |
- |
+ |
| DivX Codec 6.8.2 |
- |
+ |
| XviD Codec 1.1.3 Final |
- |
- |
| x264 Codec rev 807 |
- |
+ |
| VirtualDub 1.8.0 |
- |
+ |
| Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Patch 1.5) |
- |
+ |
| Call of Juarez (Patch 1.1.0.0) + DX10 Enhancements Pack |
- |
- |
| Crysis (Patch 1.2) |
+ |
+ |
| S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (Patch 1.006) |
- |
+ |
| Unreal Tournament 3 (Patch 1.2) |
- |
+ |
| Company of Heroes (Patch 1.71) |
- |
+ |
| World in Conflict (Patch 1.007) |
- |
+ |
* Means that two or more simultaneously active threads are actually present during tests; not just the fact that a process generates several threads.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
