User manual HP COMPAQ EVO W8000 ANALYSIS OF INTEL XEON PROCESSOR FREQUENCY GRADES AND CACHE SIZES ON PERFORMANCE

[. . . ] White Paper March 2002 16G1-0302A-WWEN Prepared by: Workstations Division Compaq Computer Corporation Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Differences Between Intel Xeon Processors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 SYSmark 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Cadalyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [. . . ] The addition of the extra cache reduces the miss rates versus the 256KB cache misses. The size of the execution trace cache has not been changed nor have any of the other units of the P4 core, but the increase in L2 cache will provide some performance increase for most applications, especially newer ones. This will be evaluated in the following sections. The Xeon . 13 processor is built with a 0. 13-micron die shrink. The smaller transistors can switch faster and produce less heat than their older counterparts. This can result in higher clock speeds for these processors. All 0. 13-micron CPUs use copper interconnects, which also aid in increasing clock speeds. Benchmark Analyses These analyses are based on running benchmarks that focus on real-world applications run by typical users running business applications, such as the following: · · · Microsoft Word Microsoft Outlook Users running Internet applications 16G1-0302A-WWEN Analysis of Intel Xeon Processor Frequency Grades and Cache Sizes on Performance Benchmarks White Paper 5 · Users running 2D and 3D workstation applications on their computers This analysis compares the same frequency Xeon . 18 and Xeon . 13 processors and two frequency grades of Xeon . 13 (2. 0GHz and 2. 2GHz) on a Compaq Evo Workstation W6000 system. Table 1 details the system configuration for the benchmarks. Table 1. Benchmark Configuration System Number of Processors Memory HDD Graphics Card Operating System Hyper-Threading Graphics Card Driver Graphics Setting Compaq Evo Workstation W6000 1 CPU 512 RDRAM @ 800MHz 18GB 15K rpm SCSI 3 (U160 SCSI controller on board) NVidia Quadro 2 Pro Microsoft Windows 2000 Pro, SP2, 1-4 CPU Disabled 12. 95 Vertical sync = Always OFF Business Winstone Business Winstone Business Winstone is a system-level, application-based benchmark that measures the overall peformance of a PC when running today's top-selling Microsoft Windows-based 32-bit applications on Microsoft Windows 98 SE, Windows NT 4. 0 (SP6 or later), Windows 2000, Windows Me, or Windows XP. Business Winstone runs real applications through a series of scripted activities and measures the time a PC takes to complete those activities to produce its performance scores. When Business Winstone 2001 runs the test, it runs at least a portion of each application through a script that was developed by eTesting Labs. The script automatically executes commands within that application with no input from the user. Business Winstone 2001 uses the following applications in its tests: · · · · · · · · · · Norton Antivirus 2000 from Symantec WinZip 7. 0 Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Lotus Notes R5 Microsoft Access 2000 Microsoft Excel 2000 Microsoft PowerPoint 2000 Microsoft Project 98 Microsoft Word 2000 Netscape Communicator 4. 73 16G1-0302A-WWEN Analysis of Intel Xeon Processor Frequency Grades and Cache Sizes on Performance Benchmarks White Paper 6 Content Creation Winstone Content Creation Winstone is a system-level, application-based benchmark that measures the overall performance of a PC when it is running under a 32-bit operating system, such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Content Creation Winstone 2001 uses the following applications: · · · · · · Adobe Photoshop 5. 5 Adobe Premiere 5. 1 Macromedia Director 8. 0 Macromedia Dreamweaver 3. 0 Netscape Navigator 4. 73 Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 4. 5 Following the lead of real users, Content Creation Winstone 2001 allows multiple applications to be open concurrently and switches among those applications. Content Creation Winstone 2001 is a single large test that runs the above applications through a series of scripted activities and returns a single score. Those activities focus on "hot spots" or periods of activity when the PC is working but the user is likely to only see an hourglass or a progress bar. See Figure 1 for the Winstone Benchmark using Business Winstone and Content Creation Winstone. 2GHz Xeon . 18 2GHz Xeon . 13 2. 2GHz Xeon . 13 79. 9 76. 3 65 84. 6 Winstone Benchmark 61. 7 Higher is Better 56. 5 Business Content Creation Figure 1 16G1-0302A-WWEN Analysis of Intel Xeon Processor Frequency Grades and Cache Sizes on Performance Benchmarks White Paper 7 Analysis Testing shows a 9% performance improvement using higher caches in the Xeon . 13s versus the Xeon . 18 processor at the same frequency, when running business applications. The business applications take advantage of the larger cache in Xeon . 13s due to the reduction of memory cycles, thereby bettering the performance. Only an additional 5% improvement is realized in going to a higher frequency grade Xeon . 13s. In the Content Creation benchmark, a 6% increase is achieved in performance by moving to higher frequency processors. [. . . ] The next four tests use a subassembly, and compare the two FASTHLR modes, the default shading mode, and shading with edges. These tests also execute a common sequence of 3D transformations. The last five graphics tests use two different instances of the model--the first three without its outer skins (to illustrate the effect of FASTHLR and level-of-detail operations), and the last two to illustrate complex lighting modes and surface curvature display. The last test is an aggregate of all time, not accounted for by the previous 16 tests, and is a mix of CPU and graphics operations. · · · Scores are generated for all 17 tests. [. . . ]