Page 11 - Synthetic testing Dhrystone, ZLib & Queen

DryStone CPU test
We make use of a multi-threaded Dhrystone test, which basically is a suite of arithmetic and string manipulating programs. Since the whole program should be really small, it fits into the processor cache. It can be used to measure two aspects, both the processor's speed as well as the optimizing capabilities of the compiler. The resulting number is the number of executions of the program suite per second.

You can see all he way on top the QX9770 processor. We test the 780i with this CPU primarily. As a basis of comparison we tested the same CPU on an Intel X38 based mainboard from ASUS (P5E3 Deluxe). Throughout the benchmarks you'll notice the difference is close to nothing.

All the way to your left an E6600 processor, then Q6600 and QX9650 with results taken on a 680i mainbord. This is a multi-threaded (uses all CPU cores) test, and it shows for sure.

Queen CPU test
This simple integer benchmark focuses on the branch prediction capabilities and the misprediction penalties of the CPU. It finds the solutions for the classic "Queens problem" on a 10 by 10 sized chessboard. At the same clock speed theoretically the processor with the shorter pipeline and smaller misprediction penalties will attain higher benchmark scores. For example -- with HyperThreading disabled -- the Intel Northwood core processors get higher scores than the Intel Prescott core based ones due to the 20-step vs 31-step long pipeline. However, with enabled HyperThreading the picture is controversial, because due to architectural bottlenecks the Northwood core runs out of internal resources and slows down. Similarly, at the same clock speed AMD K8 class processors will be faster than AMD K7 ones due to the improved branch prediction capabilities of the K8 architecture.

CPU Queen test uses only the basic x86 instructions, it consumes less than 1 MB system memory and it is HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP), multi-core aware and thus is a multithreading CPU Benchmark with MMX, SSE2 and SSSE3 optimizations.

An excellent test to get some synthetic performance numbers. To the left the 250 USD Q6600 processor, to the right the 1400 USD QX9770 CPU, the 780i scored slightly better over the X38 mainboard.
 

ZLib CPU test
This integer benchmark measures combined CPU and memory subsystem performance through the public ZLib compression library Version 1.2.2

CPU ZLib test uses only the basic x86 instructions, and it is HyperThreading, multi-processor (SMP) and multi-core (CMP) aware. Again a very good test to measure multi-core performance, the X38 mainboard was a teeny weenie faster. That's nothing though ...