2.4Ghz Conroe runs Super Pi

m3csl2004 · 6 Apr 2006 at 23:39

naffa said:
so Conroe looks to be the winner this year then.. all i want to know is.. do AMD have something to pull out of their sleeve? my spider sense say not but what do all you say?

your spider sence must be freinds with mine, because all the road map scouting ive done shows that am2/ddr2 wont do much, and they only glimer is the low tdp 90nm chips coming out, but still wont be a patch on conroe, we will have to wait till 07 with amds die shrink imo to see them doing anything worth choosing over conroe in the desktop market

my 2p anyway

Explicit · 6 Apr 2006 at 23:45

m3csl2004 said:
your spider sence must be freinds with mine, because all the road map scouting ive done shows that am2/ddr2 wont do much, and they only glimer is the low tdp 90nm chips coming out, but still wont be a patch on conroe, we will have to wait till 07 with amds die shrink imo to see them doing anything worth choosing over conroe in the desktop market

my 2p anyway

yup, but Intel will probably have 45nm lined by 2007 (I think). AMD should keep up, it's tough times ahead now that Intel have finally started performing again.

Efaws · 6 Apr 2006 at 23:57

About time tho, AM2, however, is just an extension of 939

When they bring out a new CPU, it may still even cane the poon out of intel, but they wont have a new CPU out for at least a year I wouldnt have thought, so its goin to be downhill for a while at least, and if they dont make something nice, there doomed

Naffa · 7 Apr 2006 at 00:12

m3csl2004 said:
your spider sence must be freinds with mine, because all the road map scouting ive done shows that am2/ddr2 wont do much, and they only glimer is the low tdp 90nm chips coming out, but still wont be a patch on conroe, we will have to wait till 07 with amds die shrink imo to see them doing anything worth choosing over conroe in the desktop market

my 2p anyway

wow, our Spider Senses must be friends :cool:

AM2 is only going to offer DDR2 support in terms of performance increase afaik and one more pin in the chipset i think..

Conroe has already won this round i think which isnt unexpected as AMD have been ahead for some time now and Intel were going to come back at some point.

WJA96 · 7 Apr 2006 at 05:39

There's going to be some cheap 2nd hand stuff about when these come out!

Emlyn_Dewar · 7 Apr 2006 at 15:09

Here's hoping, I could do with some cheap thrills!

Nikolic · 8 Apr 2006 at 15:27

I would hope there are some good quality motherboard for sub £100. For me, £150ish for a CPU is decent, and £70 for a motherboard.

It would be nice for AMD to release something that matches/beats conroe. It would be nice to have two options, like now for example in the GPU market.

Duke · 8 Apr 2006 at 15:38

There will be cheap motherboards using VIA/SiS/ATi chipsets, but everyone knows Intel make the best chipsets - which you have to pay the extra for.

PoliticallyCorrect · 10 Apr 2006 at 01:06

It is interesting to see intel have made the clocks lower, in fact the 2.4GHz version is about the same price as a 2.4GHz AMD64.

i rekon if AMD bung aload of extra cache onto the current AMD64's, and add SSE4 (All with AM2), it will easily match those scores.

correct me if i'm wrong but it seems Conroe is using an inbuilt memory controller like the AMD64 archutecture.

then AMD release a 65micron version and AMD are again the winner

Naffa · 10 Apr 2006 at 02:36

Hmmm I dont think so tbh. 2.4Ghz Conroe > 3.5Ghz Opteron. I dont see AMD increasing the efficiency of their chips that much in a the coming months before/when Conroe is released to make something that is on par with it, let alone faster.

Duke · 10 Apr 2006 at 07:50

I read last night (can't find link just now, but was on one of the larger h/ware sites) that AM2 was behind on performance compared to 939, and AMD have only just made it quicker.

monkeypants · 10 Apr 2006 at 10:32

Slenpree said:
i rekon if AMD bung aload of extra cache onto the current AMD64's, and add SSE4 (All with AM2), it will easily match those scores.

correct me if i'm wrong but it seems Conroe is using an inbuilt memory controller like the AMD64 archutecture.

then AMD release a 65micron version and AMD are again the winner

1. No, I think not. You see, Conroe's architecture has been tweaked to the max because of the P4's rubbishness. Intel are making up for it now.

2. The memory controller is still on the NorthBridge, so when Intel do adopt an on-chip controller, we'll see performance increase even more.

3. Again no, reducing the process size does not increase it's performance. Speed: yes, TDP: yes, Performance with no speed boost, therefore giving lower TDP: no. AMD will have to redesign their architecture to regain the performance crown.

tomos · 10 Apr 2006 at 10:49

havent they already got a new design ready to go?

hopefully what conroe will do is force AMD not to take the cheap turn and just re-use 939 design but to move forward and use their next design instead. may give us some choice next time around

m3csl2004 · 10 Apr 2006 at 11:48

tomos said:
havent they already got a new design ready to go?

hopefully what conroe will do is force AMD not to take the cheap turn and just re-use 939 design but to move forward and use their next design instead. may give us some choice next time around

venices for 50 quid would be nice

bigredshark · 11 Apr 2006 at 00:03

Well, conroe does look interesting, I'm all linedup to buy one when they come out. responding to a few points people have made... (and a few of my own)

Price - the processors will compare favourably price wise to AMD, they're cheaper to make (thanks to 65nm process and i believe bigger wafer size in intels fabs). Motherboards won't be out of this world expensive, i think they will be more expensive than AMD boards because intel are still using the off chip memory controller which means the chipsets for conroe are pretty complex and expensive. All in all, I doubt either will be cheaper for a complete system.

Performance / TDP - By all accounts it stamps on anything else out there right now, but it is a next generation chip being compared to current gen stuff. I don't think the move to AM2 will give AMD much performance boost really, it's only DDR2 being added and that carries penalties as well as benefits. I don't think AMD will add cache as it would only push prices up. Also, I'm not sure if it's been mentioned but conroe is meant to have a TDP of 65w, which is amazing for the performance but not entirely surprising considering its using 65nm tech. Speaking of performance, the reason of course it performs better is the pipeline is down to near core duo levels (14 stages i think) which is similar to AMD.

The other interesting point is that by the time AMD move to 65nm, intel will be close to 45nm chips. if this trend continues it could knock amd out of contention for a while to come. that said, although conroe beats an fx60 by 20% in some benchmarks, it's remarkable amd even come that close while still using a 90nm process.

so just my thoughts

and i'm back after a 3 month absence...hey all!

Rojin · 11 Apr 2006 at 10:57

I think the biggest thing here, apart from Intel having a cracking chip on the way, is that they are moving very aggressively with prices in a move that could smash AMD. I've gone for AMD in the past due to price\performance ratio, now if Intel thrash ADM in that area, who's going to buy AMD anymore? They will have to drastically revise their own line up to stay competitive, all good for the end consumer I guess, but not if AMD go under.

NathanE · 11 Apr 2006 at 14:19

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mainboards/display/20060407234312.html

Intel Corp. has notified its clients that starting from the 16th of April the company would begin to ship its mainboards that support the next-generation code-named Conroe central processing units (CPUs), which are set to become available later in the year.

m3csl2004 · 11 Apr 2006 at 14:29

woot!!! thats like a week - we will see a delay before that however, due to the various people it has to go through to get to us

Naffa · 11 Apr 2006 at 15:34

So whats the Johah then? Is it like a single core Conroe? :cool:

Kamakazie! · 12 Apr 2006 at 00:05

bigredshark said:
Price - the processors will compare favourably price wise to AMD, they're cheaper to make (thanks to 65nm process and i believe bigger wafer size in intels fabs).

Performance / TDP - By all accounts it stamps on anything else out there right now, but it is a next generation chip being compared to current gen stuff.

The other interesting point is that by the time AMD move to 65nm, intel will be close to 45nm chips. if this trend continues it could knock amd out of contention for a while to come. that said, although conroe beats an fx60 by 20% in some benchmarks, it's remarkable amd even come that close while still using a 90nm process.

Has eurpean pricing been announced yet?
I doubt they are cheaper to make. Yes they are 65nm but they are gonna have 4mb of cache onboard... thats going to lead to a very large die size. Intel uses 300mm wafers which is what AMDs Fab36 (just come online) is using.

I am waiting on some fair, independant performance benchmarks before making any assertions as to the chips real world performance. I suggest everyone else does the same.

AMD should be shipping some 65nm chips in Q3 this year (as far as i rememeber) with the 65nm increasing in volume later in the year. Not sure when intel is going to 45nm but i wouldn't have thought its gonna be for atleast a year and a bit... and even that is if nothing crops up to cause problems.
EDIT: June Production of AMD 65nm
The process isn't important for performance, more for heat output and clock speed. If the 2.4ghz Conroe is as good as the benchies are showing then it would still do as well at the 90nm process (what with the 65nm meant to be reaching 3ghz+).

Conroe is looking good but i think i may still stick with an AM2 X2... mainly with the upgrade path in mind. Intel boards have notoriously short lifespans and its looking like AMD will catch up with intel later in 07 even if Conroe lives up to the hype.