Memory analysis and Pifast
It's become a tradition to begin processor benchmarks with a look at bandwidth and latenc analysis.
Four dual-channel Athlon 64s post benchmarks that are, for all intents and purposes, identical. Only the single-channel 3200+ Clawhammer bucks the trend. The Intel duo, both benchmarked on dual-channel boards, also post reasonable scores. Remember that 6 setups are running DDR400 memory. Only the Alderwood's use of DDR2 memory makes it stand out.
Low memory latencies have always been a hallmark for Athlon 64s, be they single- or dual-channel. 43ns delay is pretty tasty.
We've kept the same version of Pifast (v4.1, downloadable here) for the past couple of years. Back in March 2002, a cutting-edge Athlon XP2100 managed a stock time of 89.3s. Fast forward to today and that stock time has been pulverised down to 47s; the first default sub-50 time at HEXUS. In case you're wondering, a 3.4GHz Extreme Edition clocks in at around 56s in this test. Athlon 64s ruled Pifast before, that domination is cemented by the arrival of FX-55 and Model 4000+ parts.
