PCMark04 Pro is a popular system benchmarking tool and along with adapting to the ever-changing hardware world, FutureMark has added some new tests. The PCMark04 design still cuts a line between purely synthetic and application-based benchmarks, and provides a more general view of computer performance. PCMark04 performs general use tasks such as image compression, grammar check, and audio conversion, while combining this with a selection of similar benchmarks for individual system components. As we're dealing with processor and subsystem performance, the main tests we'll be looking at are the System, CPU and Memory results.
Before the dual core revolution, PCMark04 Pro was historically a weak link for AMD processors, but since the release of the Athlon 64 X2 this is no longer the case. In the System test, the Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and 4600+ are well in the lead, even outpacing the powerful quad-processing Pentium Extreme Edition 840. When comparing the Athlon 64 X2 Manchester and Toledo cores, there is really not that big a difference in overall scores, and the Athlon 64 X2 4600+ and 4200+ Manchester models stay very close to their 1MB L2 Toledo cousins. Clock speed certainly does play a role, as we see a nice progression down the line from the 2.4 GHz behemoths right down to the 2.0 GHz Athlon 64 X2 3800+.
The PCMark04 Memory performance scores again show the AMD Athlon 64 X2 line well in front of the comparable dual core Pentium D and EE processors. The Athlon 64 X2 4600+ and 4200+ also fare extremely well against their Toledo counterparts, and are right on pace in terms of the overall memory performance scores.
The Athlon 64 X2 4800+ and 4600+ are again right at the top of the PCMark04 CPU test, but this time outpacing the Pentium D 840, rather than another Athlon 64 X2 model. There is also a bit more separation when it comes to the Manchester vs. Toledo core comparison, as the larger 1MB L2 cache does have a performance impact. On the Intel side, this chart also illustrates that while Hyper-Threading does allow four threads to be processed simultaneously, in some cases, this does enact a performance penalty.
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