30579 Rev. 3.1
September 2003
AMD Processor Performance Evaluation Guide
About This Document
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About This Document
This document is intended for use by those, particularly in the hardware review
community, who are interested in evaluating AMD64 performance, as demonstrated
by the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Athlon 64 FX processors.
AMD64 Processor Architecture
Optimal benchmarking of AMD’s processors does not require detailed knowledge of
processor or system architecture. However, knowledge of the benefits of AMD64
processor-based systems will help enable benchmarks to show the different ways of
how this processor performs relative to its competition. AMD designed a 64-bit PC
processor that offers industry-leading performance and native compatibility with
current 32-bit applications. Architectural improvements specifically designed to
increase instructions per clock (IPC) include:
AMD64
When utilizing the AMD64 Instruction Set Architecture, 64-bit mode is designed to offer:
Support for 64-bit operating systems to provide full, transparent, and simultaneous 32-bit and 64-bit
platform application multitasking.
A physical address space that can support systems with up to one terabyte of installed RAM, shattering
the 4 gigabyte RAM barrier present on all current x86 implementations.
Sixteen 64-bit general-purpose integer registers that quadruple the general purpose register space
available to applications and device drivers.
Sixteen 128-bit XMM registers for enhanced multimedia performance to double the register space of any
current SSE/SSE2 implementation.
Integrated DDR memory controller, as shown in Figure 1 on page 9.
This feature allows for a reduction in memory latency, thereby increasing overall system
performance.
Benchmarks like Business Winstone, WinACE and WinRAR Data compression, and Aquamark
will all help show the benefit of reduced latency.
An advanced HyperTransport link, as shown in Figure 2 on page 10.
This feature dramatically improves the I/O bandwidth, enabling much faster access to
peripherals such as hard drives, USB 2.0, and Gigabit Ethernet cards.
HyperTransport technology enables benchmark programs like Business Winstone and WinACE
and WinRAR Data compression to indicate higher processor performance due to a reduced I/O
interface throttle.