Xeon 3.06ghz DP (1MB L3 Cache) Review
Omega65
Philadelphia, Pa
<a href="http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=xeon3061MB&page=1" target=_blank>GamePC: More Cache for the Masses</a>
<i><b>Intro</b> (excerpt)
While AMD's Opteron has proven to be quite an effective server-class processor, it has left the workstation market virtually un-tapped. This will likely be remedied in the next two to four weeks, as platforms based on the nVidia nForce3 Pro 150 chipset make it to market. Nevertheless, the lacking performance of AMD's older Athlon MP family of processors along with AMD's server-only approach for the Opteron launch has forced a lot of AMD-friendly workstation users to transition over to Intel's Xeon family.
The Xeon family already clocks up to 3.06 GHz, running on a 533 MHz front side bus speed. With no 800 MHz FSB Xeon chipset appearing in the distance, it would appear that Intel was holding off on the Xeon family for a while before making any major architectural changes. Just when it appeared the current Xeon processor had run out of steam, Intel is throwing some combustibles into the furnace. Not only has Intel done some major price drops on the high-end Xeon family (about 30%); they are also introducing a new Xeon processor. The new Xeon chip boasts one new feature, but it's a big one, and appears to be in direct response to AMD's Opteron line of processors. Let's look and see what this new Xeon chip is possible of doing.
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<b>Conclusion</b> (exceprt)
The additional L3 cache of the Xeon 3.06/1MB certainly helps in workstation applications, and we would bet that in server environments the extra cache may help even more than what we've seen here today. In our benchmark suite, we saw up to a 10% performance boost in real-world applications over the 3.06 GHz with no L3 cache. Honestly, L3 cache has been hit or miss on previous processor launches, as some have questions its viability to effectively improve performance. With this Xeon, we can certainly see that it improves performance across the board. Than again, if your applications aren't heavy on cache usage, you may not see any improvement at all. The additional L3 cache, along with the Xeon's Hyper-Threading technology should also improve multi-tasking performance by quite a bit.</i>
Xeon 3.06ghz 1MB L3 Cache ~$700
<i><b>Intro</b> (excerpt)
While AMD's Opteron has proven to be quite an effective server-class processor, it has left the workstation market virtually un-tapped. This will likely be remedied in the next two to four weeks, as platforms based on the nVidia nForce3 Pro 150 chipset make it to market. Nevertheless, the lacking performance of AMD's older Athlon MP family of processors along with AMD's server-only approach for the Opteron launch has forced a lot of AMD-friendly workstation users to transition over to Intel's Xeon family.
The Xeon family already clocks up to 3.06 GHz, running on a 533 MHz front side bus speed. With no 800 MHz FSB Xeon chipset appearing in the distance, it would appear that Intel was holding off on the Xeon family for a while before making any major architectural changes. Just when it appeared the current Xeon processor had run out of steam, Intel is throwing some combustibles into the furnace. Not only has Intel done some major price drops on the high-end Xeon family (about 30%); they are also introducing a new Xeon processor. The new Xeon chip boasts one new feature, but it's a big one, and appears to be in direct response to AMD's Opteron line of processors. Let's look and see what this new Xeon chip is possible of doing.
.
.
.
<b>Conclusion</b> (exceprt)
The additional L3 cache of the Xeon 3.06/1MB certainly helps in workstation applications, and we would bet that in server environments the extra cache may help even more than what we've seen here today. In our benchmark suite, we saw up to a 10% performance boost in real-world applications over the 3.06 GHz with no L3 cache. Honestly, L3 cache has been hit or miss on previous processor launches, as some have questions its viability to effectively improve performance. With this Xeon, we can certainly see that it improves performance across the board. Than again, if your applications aren't heavy on cache usage, you may not see any improvement at all. The additional L3 cache, along with the Xeon's Hyper-Threading technology should also improve multi-tasking performance by quite a bit.</i>
Xeon 3.06ghz 1MB L3 Cache ~$700
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