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Subject: Re: Sempron vs. Athlon 64: Proof that Crafty's working set is < 256k

Author: Tom Kerrigan

Date: 14:26:56 08/20/04

Go up one level in this thread


On August 20, 2004 at 14:53:37, Ernst Walet wrote:

>On August 20, 2004 at 12:00:38, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>
>>On August 20, 2004 at 07:26:28, martin fierz wrote:
>>
>>>On August 20, 2004 at 04:33:07, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>>>
>>>>Now that AMD is selling two processors that are identical other than L2 cache
>>>>size (Sempron has 256k, Athlon 64 has 512k) we have proof of Crafty's working
>>>>set size:
>>>>
>>>>Sempron:    1,080,020 NPS
>>>>Athlon 64:  1,080,230 NPS
>>>>
>>>>http://www.anandtech.com/linux/showdoc.aspx?i=2170&p=3
>>>>
>>>>This should prove once and for all that Crafty's working set is < 256k and
>>>>therefore that size of L2 cache has no effect on its performance (as long as
>>>>it's >= 256k) and that main memory speed likely plays a trivial role
>>>>performance-wise.
>>>>
>>>>I bring this up because of all of the long debates that have occurred in the
>>>>past about the value of L2 cache, the speed of memory, and the working set size
>>>>of chess programs.
>>>>
>>>>I have no doubt that Crafty uses a bunch of memory, but obviously not with
>>>>enough temporal locality for it to matter one iota.
>>>>
>>>>-Tom
>>>
>>>if i read this right, then the sempron 3100+ would be a very good choice for a
>>>(computer-chess-)power hungry user on a tight budget. correct or not? is there
>>>anything better out there price/performancewise right now?
>>
>>That would be a pretty darn tight budget. The price difference between a Sempron
>>3100+ and an Athlon 64 2800+ is only $20. They run at the same clock speed but
>>the A64 has twice the cache and 64-bit mode, which are fairly unimportant for
>>computer chess but useful features to have in general.
>>
>>You could save yourself a bunch of money by getting a Duron and a Socket A
>>motherboard instead of a Sempron 3100+ and a socket 754 motherboard.
>>
>>1.8GHz Duron: $49
>>MSI Socket A motherboard: $48
>>
>>Sempron 3100+: $128
>>MSI Socket 754 motherboard: $83
>>
>>($114 difference)
>>
>>-Tom
>
>What I don't get is that this Sempron has a rating of 3100+ and this A64 2800+.
>I would expect the other way around....

The Sempron #s are intended to be compared against Celeron MHz.

The A64 numbers are vs. Pentium 4s (unoffically).

-Tom



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