Computer Chess Club Archives


Search

Terms

Messages

Subject: Re: P4 gets blown to pieces, again.

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 07:34:10 04/25/03

Go up one level in this thread


On April 24, 2003 at 16:59:37, Aaron Gordon wrote:

>On April 24, 2003 at 13:45:23, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On April 24, 2003 at 13:01:04, Keith Evans wrote:
>>
>>>On April 24, 2003 at 01:20:00, Matt Taylor wrote:
>>>
>>>>On April 23, 2003 at 23:27:49, Keith Evans wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>On April 23, 2003 at 22:08:41, Matt Taylor wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On April 23, 2003 at 01:01:37, Keith Evans wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On April 23, 2003 at 00:43:27, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On April 22, 2003 at 22:09:16, Aaron Gordon wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>On April 22, 2003 at 21:20:15, Eugene Nalimov wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Here are *official* results for Spec2k. Please notice that Athlon benchmarks
>>>>>>>>>>were submitted by AMD itself.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2003q1/cpu2000-20030224-01964.html
>>>>>>>>>>http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2002q4/cpu2000-20021202-01875.html
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>So: base Spec2k for P4/3.06 is 1099. For Athlon XP 3000+ score is 995. Higher is
>>>>>>>>>>better.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>Thanks,
>>>>>>>>>>Eugene
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I've done official testing for AMD using AMD's methods. This was when I was
>>>>>>>>>working on the optimized Quake 3 dlls. They had me disable everything in the
>>>>>>>>>bios. This means the test took a pretty large hit performance wise. Why? I asked
>>>>>>>>>AMD the same thing. They responded with, "Intel doesn't think it's fair, so if
>>>>>>>>>we set the bios timings to the fastest settings possible we'd have a large
>>>>>>>>>lawsuit on our hands and AMD doesn't need that". If you need confirmation of
>>>>>>>>>what I'm saying email me at speedycpu@attbi.com and I'll give you the contact
>>>>>>>>>information to the guy at AMD and he'll verify everything I've said.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>So, for a properly configured Athlon, my results are there and plain as day.
>>>>>>>>>Like I said, run them yourself on the same systems I ran them on.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>I don't see how that works. Intel has the "performance at all costs" reputation
>>>>>>>>for SPEC scores, even going so far as to use its committee clout to make
>>>>>>>>profile-directed optimizations allowed for base scores, and now you're saying
>>>>>>>>they use artificially slow memory timings? You can be sure that the competition
>>>>>>>>(Sun, IBM, HP, etc.) runs their memory as fast as possible--is Intel going to
>>>>>>>>sue them, too? Also, Intel submits slightly higher scores than Dell for the same
>>>>>>>>processors. Does Dell also run its memory slow? And what would the charge be for
>>>>>>>>this lawsuit, anyway? And besides, why do slow memory timings hurt AMD and not
>>>>>>>>Intel?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>It's one thing to suggest that some sites might be somewhat biased in Intel's
>>>>>>>>favor to get free stuff from them, but in this free-press society, not all sites
>>>>>>>>can be biased, or it would be a major coup for the one that does the exposee.
>>>>>>>>Besides, what benefit would aggressively anti-Intel sites (e.g., AMDZone) get
>>>>>>>>from biasing their reviews towards Intel, and their reviews are remarkably
>>>>>>>>similar to other sites' reviews.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Suggesting that all hardware review sites are biased and that Intel, Dell, and
>>>>>>>>AMD are all part of a conspiracy to artificially lower their own SPEC scores...
>>>>>>>>did you forget your tin foil hat today?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>-Tom
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Well if they thought that said settings would produce unreliable behavior, then
>>>>>>>they might feel uncomfortable quoting performance under said conditions. Makes
>>>>>>>sense...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The default settings are good enough for consumers but unreliable for SPEC?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>-Matt
>>>>>
>>>>>No the default settings are good enough for consumers, and apparently good
>>>>>enough that they use them for SPEC.
>>>>
>>>>Default settings on all my boards are more optimized than the ones Aaron has
>>>>described.
>>>>
>>>>>The "optimized" settings may be operating components out of specification, so
>>>>>they could feel uncomfortable quoting results obtained with those in benchmarks.
>>>>>For example do those people who tweak BIOS settings related to DRAM know how to
>>>>>read a datasheet and verify that all of the parameters are being met?
>>>>
>>>>Modern DRAM has an SPD chip on it that lets the DIMM determine the specs. There
>>>>is a difference between using SPD and manually configuring the DIMM so that it
>>>>runs slower. I believe Aaron was implying the latter.
>>>>
>>>>I have had ram where I've been forced to manually configure it due to the
>>>>manufacturer settings being too aggressive. In my experiences, however, this is
>>>>not the general trend when you buy quality ram (which they were hopefully
>>>>using).
>>>>
>>>>>Tom was basically wondering why they might "hold back", and I offered a
>>>>>potential reason. I doubt that they would intentionally cripple their
>>>>>benchmarks. Believe me I've worked in the electronics industry for a while, and
>>>>>marketing people will do anything possible to quote good numbers.
>>>>
>>>>Considering they've had a couple hard years of losses and their gross income
>>>>doesn't even compare to Intel's profit, AMD has no means to fight a lawsuit.
>>>>Such lawsuits are not aimed for major financial gains but rather to inflict
>>>>financial woes on the opponent. Baseless or not, if AMD was indeed threatened
>>>>with a lawsuit over their numbers, they would be forced to comply.
>>>>
>>>>>I remember back when Diamond was shipping overclocked graphics cards. By default
>>>>>they would be overclocked, and then we people had trouble they would call up and
>>>>>the tech support guys would tell them to edit a ".ini" file to fix the problem.
>>>>>I'm sure the cards that went to reviewers were carefully screened so they could
>>>>>be overclocked and produce good benchmarks.
>>>>
>>>>So if AMD is doing the opposite as Aaron is claiming, it should make you raise
>>>>your eyebrows.
>>>>
>>>>-Matt
>>>
>>>
>>>It just wouldn't make any sense. If they are so afraid of getting caught up in a
>>>lawsuit with Intel, then how do you explain the release of the Opteron?
>>
>>
>>
>>I'm sorry, but I don't buy the "Urban Legend" stuff about Intel suing
>>anyone that is faster.  They could get murdered in court for filing a
>>frivilous lawsuit and end up paying attorney fees for _both_ sides.
>>
>>It makes no sense, other than to provide another urban legend topic for
>>various conversation groups..
>
>Would you like to explain why the AMD employee (Manager, Performance Technical
>Marketing) told me this?


I wouldn't venture a guess, since I have no idea.

However, if a company told _my_ company to run slower or face a law suit, I'd
tell them to "go for it" and then bury them with everything from defamation,
to false claims to monopolistic practices.

I believe the risk is simply too high...




This page took 0.01 seconds to execute

Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700

Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.