AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+

Name: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ - Page 3
Brand: AMD

by Marco Chiappetta — Tuesday, February 20, 2007, 12:01 AM EDT

How we configured our test systems: When configuring our test systems for this article, we first entered their respective system BIOSes and set each board to its "Optimized" or "High performance Defaults". We then saved the settings, re-entered the BIOS and set memory timings for DDR2-800 with 4,4,4,12 timings. The hard drives were then formatted, and Windows XP Professional (SP2) was installed. When the Windows installation was complete, we installed the drivers necessary for our components, and removed Windows Messenger from the system. Auto-Updating and System Restore were then disabled and we set up a 1024MB permanent page file on the same partition as the Windows installation. Lastly, we set Windows XP's Visual Effects to "best performance," installed all of our benchmarking software, defragged the hard drives, and ran all of the tests.

HotHardware's Test Systems

AMD & Intel Inside!

System 1:
AMD Athlon X2 6000+
(3.0GHz)
Athlon 64 FX FX-62
(2.8GHz)

Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe
(NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI)

2x1GB Corsair PC-6400
CL 4-4-4-12 - DDR2-800

GeForce 7950 GX2
On-Board Ethernet
On-board Audio

WD740 "Raptor" HD
10,000 RPM SATA

Windows XP Pro SP2
nForce Drivers v9.35
NVIDIA Forceware v91.27
DirectX 9.0c

System 2:
Core 2 Extreme QX6700
(2.66Hz - Quad-Core)
Core 2 Extreme X6800 / E6700
(2.93GHz & 2.66GHz)

Asus P5W DH Deluxe
(975X Express)

2x1GB Corsair PC-6400
CL 4-4-4-12 - DDR2-800

GeForce 7950 GX2
On-Board Ethernet
On-board Audio

WD740 "Raptor" HD
10,000 RPM SATA

Windows XP Pro SP2
Intel INF 8.0.1.1002
NVIDIA Forceware v91.27
DirectX 9.0c

System 3:
AMD Athlon 64 FX-74
AMD Athlon 64 FX-72
AMD Athlon 64 FX-70
(3.0GHz, 2.8GHz, 2.6GHz)

Asus L1N64-SLI WS
(NVIDIA nForce 680a SLI)

4x512MB Corsair PC-6400
CL 4-4-4-12 - DDR2-800

GeForce 7950 GX2
On-Board Ethernet
On-board Audio

WD740 "Raptor" HD
10,000 RPM SATA

Windows XP Pro SP2
nForce Drivers v9.53
NVIDIA Forceware v91.27
DirectX 9.0c

We began our testing with SiSoftware's SANDRA XI, the System ANalyzer, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant. We ran six of the built-in subsystem tests that partially comprise the SANDRA XI suite with the Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (CPU, Multimedia, Multi-Core Efficiency, Memory, Cache, and Memory Latency). All of the scores reported below were taken with the processors running at their default clock speeds of 3.0GHz.

Preliminary Testing with SiSoft SANDRA XI

Synthetic Benchmarks

Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0GHz CPU Arithmetic	Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0GHz MultiMedia	Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0GHz Multi-Core Efficiency
Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0GHz Memory Bandwidth	Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0GHz Cache and Memory	Athlon 64 X2 6000+ @ 3.0GHz Memory Latency

The results reported by the various SANDRA test modules fell right in line with our expectations. The Athlon 64 X2 6000+ outperformed all other AMD dual-core processors, but it couldn't quite keep up with the higher-clocked Core 2 and Xeon processors. Memory bandwidth and memory latency proved to be strong points for the CPU, as it racked up over 8.5GB/s in SANDRA's buffered memory bandwidth test, and posted the lowest latencies with block sizes up to 1MB. Once block sizes exceeded 1MB, the Core 2's larger 4MB cache allowed it to take the lead.

Tags: AMD, Athlon, X2, 6000, Athlon 64, AM

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com