News @ SiSoftware

AMD Mobile Trinity APU Launch

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Trinity is the next generation APU from AMD (2012) replacing the current Llano (A-series) line-up for mobile platforms: Piledriver CPU (successor of Athlon FX Bulldozer with AVX, FMA3/4 and AES acceleration) and Series 7000 Devastator (VLIW4) graphics.

SP4a for Sandra 2012: AMD Bulldozer and Trinity fixes and optimisations

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Sat, 12 May 2012 00:00:00 GMT

We just have launched SP4a (18.47) with fixes and optimisations for current Athlon FX (Bulldozer) and future Trinity/Piledriver CPUs. Some scores are up to 50% better (FMA4 enablement, scheduler fixes) with even better gains on future CPUs (FMA3 a bit faster, etc.).

Intel Core 2012 Launch (Ivy Bridge)

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMT

Ivy Bridge (IVB) is the next generation Core APU from Intel (v3 2012) replacing the current Sandy Bridge (SNB) (v2 2011) line-up in both desktop and mobile platforms. While socket compatible (LGA 1155 desktop), not all SNB laptops may be upgradeable - unlike desktops.

SP3 for Sandra 2012: More optimisations and fixes

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 00:00:00 GMT

We just have launched SP3 for Sandra 2012; it mainly contains more optimisations and fixes based on the RTM/SP1/SP2 telemetry.

Measuring Cache and Memory Latency (access patterns, paging and TLBs)

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Why is it important to measure it? The latency of the main memory directly influences the efficiency of the CPU, thus its performance: reducing wait time can be more important than increasing execution speed. Unfortunately, memory has huge latency (today, by a factor of 100 or more): A CPU waiting for 100 clocks for data would run at 1/100 efficiency, i.e. 1% of theoretical performance!

Sandra 2012: Device Performance Certification, General Processing (GP) for GPU/APU, .Net/METRO for Windows 8

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Mon, 7 Nov 2011 00:00:00 GMT

In preparation for Windows 8 and its brand-new METRO API running on .Net (as used on Windows Phone 7.x), we have updated our .Net benchmarks that can measure .Net CLR performance. A new METRO style interface is also included for Windows 8 users. The GPGPU benchmarks have been upgraded to General Processing (GP) benchmarks, able to fully test the new APU (CPU+GPU) processors.

Using statistical analysis tools against the 1 million+ benchmark results submitted to the Official SiSoftware Ranker, you can now certify whether your tested device operates at peak performance. Based on the quality and variability of the results you can determine whether there are issues with the device that need to be addressed.

Mobile GPAPU Performance: AMD "Llano" APU (CPU+GPU)

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Wed, 11 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

What is it? "Llano" is a new CPU architecture that includes a built-in GPU from AMD from the "Fusion" family - alias an "APU". "Llano" mobile targets laptops i.e. Intel's Mobile Core i3M-i5M territory. What difference does the APU make? more...

Desktop GPAPU Performance: AMD "Llano" APU (CPU+GPU)

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Sat, 6 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

What is it? "Llano" is a new CPU architecture that includes a built-in GPU from AMD from the "Fusion" family - alias an "APU". "Llano" targets desktops i.e. Intel's Core i3-i5 territory. What difference does the APU make? more...

Tablet/MID GPAPU Performance: AMD "Brazos" APU (CPU+GPU)

florin.dranca.take.out@sisoftware.co.uk (Florin Dranca) — Thu, 4 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMT

What is it? "Brazos" is a new CPU architecture that includes a built-in GPU from AMD from the "Fusion" family - alias an "APU". "Brazos" targets low-end laptops, tablets and MIDs i.e. Intel's Atom territory. What difference does the APU make? more...