By: Wilco (Wilco.Dijkstra.delete@this.ntlworld.com), May 18, 2013 12:04 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com) on May 18, 2013 8:02 am wrote:
> Exophase (exophase.delete@this.gmail.com) on May 17, 2013 10:41 pm wrote:
> > David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com) on May 17, 2013 9:29 pm wrote:
> > > So you're comparing two entirely different software stacks and trying to draw
> > > conclusions. Moreover, my understanding is that Moorestown actually matches
> > > the A9 and A15 on quite a few benchmarks (based on discussions with Anand).
> > >
> >
> > What Moorestown hardware was even tested? Or are you just calling it all the same?
> >
> > I've seen one Atom core running two threads do well against one A15 core,
> > but I haven't seen any single threaded scenarios where the Atom wins.
>
> Sorry, I meant Medfield. And yes, I wouldn't ever expect comparable single threaded performance.
>
> I don't test mobile very much, largely because it's a pain in the ass and my reviews get far less
> traffic than microarchitectural articles. However, in talking with Anand he was very clear that
> Moorestown is comparable or better than A9-based designs and sometimes can match A15.
Anand only ever tests JavaScript performance. That is the first red flag right there - JS has little relevance for browsing performance, let alone CPU performance. The second issue is that he insists on using the Chrome browser. This not the fastest browser, using the stock browser typically gives much better results.
In his Nexus 10 review the SunSpider score is 1384ms, while the identical Exynos 5250 in his Chromebook review scores 690ms. Why? Well it uses a different version of the same browser... That proves how much JS benchmarks rely on software optimizations (note it's not frequency scaling or power limitation, I've seen various Nexus 10 scores of around ~700ms with an up to date version of WebKit).
So if you only consider the slowest result for A15 then yes, Atom would appear faster than A15 on Sunspider. If Anand concludes from that that Atom can match A15 then he is far less smart than I thought.
Wilco
> Exophase (exophase.delete@this.gmail.com) on May 17, 2013 10:41 pm wrote:
> > David Kanter (dkanter.delete@this.realworldtech.com) on May 17, 2013 9:29 pm wrote:
> > > So you're comparing two entirely different software stacks and trying to draw
> > > conclusions. Moreover, my understanding is that Moorestown actually matches
> > > the A9 and A15 on quite a few benchmarks (based on discussions with Anand).
> > >
> >
> > What Moorestown hardware was even tested? Or are you just calling it all the same?
> >
> > I've seen one Atom core running two threads do well against one A15 core,
> > but I haven't seen any single threaded scenarios where the Atom wins.
>
> Sorry, I meant Medfield. And yes, I wouldn't ever expect comparable single threaded performance.
>
> I don't test mobile very much, largely because it's a pain in the ass and my reviews get far less
> traffic than microarchitectural articles. However, in talking with Anand he was very clear that
> Moorestown is comparable or better than A9-based designs and sometimes can match A15.
Anand only ever tests JavaScript performance. That is the first red flag right there - JS has little relevance for browsing performance, let alone CPU performance. The second issue is that he insists on using the Chrome browser. This not the fastest browser, using the stock browser typically gives much better results.
In his Nexus 10 review the SunSpider score is 1384ms, while the identical Exynos 5250 in his Chromebook review scores 690ms. Why? Well it uses a different version of the same browser... That proves how much JS benchmarks rely on software optimizations (note it's not frequency scaling or power limitation, I've seen various Nexus 10 scores of around ~700ms with an up to date version of WebKit).
So if you only consider the slowest result for A15 then yes, Atom would appear faster than A15 on Sunspider. If Anand concludes from that that Atom can match A15 then he is far less smart than I thought.
Wilco
