Hardware

PCMark05 Pro Performance

PCMark05 Professional is the latest revision of the popular PCMark system benchmarking series from FutureMark, and is revamped to highlight current hardware and features additional multithreaded and multi-tasking performance tests. There is the usual selection of individual System, CPU, Memory, Graphics, and Hard Drive benchmark suites, and these continue to bridge the gap between synthetic and application-based benchmarks. As we're looking at overall platform performance, the System, CPU, Memory, Graphics, and HDD areas will be where we concentrate our benchmarking efforts.

The PCMark05 System benchmark suite includes a wide range of tests, from Windows XP hard drive startup to video and audio encoding, and features a selection of standard desktop routines like text edit, virus scanning, and image decompression. Three of the benchmark scenarios are multithreaded, with the first two including two simultaneous tests, and the final one utilizing four program tests running simultaneously. This helps make the PCMark05 System benchmark a great analysis tool for our Intel and AMD-based platforms. For this test, the latest 1.2 patch has been applied.

The Athlon 64 X2 + GeForce 6150 LE proves to be the superior performer in this section of the PCMark05 benchmark, easily besting the score of the Core 2 Duo + Intel G965 Express. This gets the AMD platform off to a good start, and shows a noticeable advantage in terms of overall system performance with PCMark05.

The PCMark05 CPU and Memory benchmarking tests show slightly different results, but the chart displays very close finishes between the AMD and Intel platforms. The CPU test gives the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ a slim victory over the Core 2 Duo 6300, but this is certainly nothing to write home about. It's the same with the Intel G965 Express victory in the Memory portion, it is slightly ahead of the GeForce 6150 LE system, but the advantage is nothing too significant.

The Graphics and HDD portions of the PCMark05 benchmark suite follow a similar pattern. The Graphics test gives the Athlon 64 X2 + GeForce 6150 LE platform a slim victory, while the HDD benchmarking shows the Intel G965 Express chipset with a more noticeable lead in hard disk performance.