Estimated Performance

For a processor that AMD intends to launch for sale in August, it's surprising that they can't even provide us with actual results. It's one thing not to be able to send us a review sample for our own tests, it's quite another thing to send us estimated performance results. Still, something is better than nothing although this means you will have to take the results with a large pinch of salt.

Note : AMD has requested that we remove the benchmark results as they are outdated and inaccurate. They have promised us updated results soon, so keep an eye out for these results. With the launch looming so close, we think they will be doing everything they can to have the results out ASAP.

Important Update

George Ou of ZDNet has just alerted us to the fact that not only are these estimated results inaccurate, they are based on outdated Intel results. When the actual results are compared, the Barcelona's advantage is only 1% at 2.6 GHz. Even this advantage is only theoretical as the fastest Barcelona processors to be released initially will only run at 2.0 GHz. For more details on the latest, certified benchmark results, check out George Ou's post here.

George also pointed out that AMD removed the "simulated" benchmark results from their website on July 6th, and promised to post proper benchmark results of their Barcelona processor. However, we received the very same benchmark results just last week. If these results have already been officially junked by AMD, why are we still being served the same poo?

Feature Comparison

Here's a feature comparison of the four processors compared in the performance estimates above.

Expect AMD to harp on their better cache design (with larger L1 caches) and better power efficiency which will allow the Barcelona to deliver the same power usage and thermal output as the current dual-core Opteron processors.