New P4 isn't as fast as I was hoping.

[InlineFive]

Hey all,

I recently received a new Dell OptiPlex 620 with a P4 (3Ghz, 2MB L2, EMT64, HT). And it seems like it might be underperforming.

In the SiSoft Sandra arithmetic benchmark it scored about half what a previous gen P4 does. And in SorB it ran about 1M cem/s instead of 3M cem/s a similiar Gateway did.

SpeedStep is disabled in the BIOS. Have any ideas?

-Por

 

[Dman877]

Whats the memory situation? Maybe they gave ya single channel...

 

[InlineFive]

Nope, 1GB (512x2) DDR2 533Mhz in seperate memory clusters so it should be in dual-channel mode right now

WCPUID doesn't reconize what it is though. 😕

 

[LTC8K6]

Throttling?

 

[InlineFive]

I'm not 100% sure.

1. SpeedStep is BIOS disabled.
2. WCPUID shows 299x.xxMhz with realtime clock checker.
3. I tried to see temps with SpeedFan but failed. The fan is running pretty slow so I presume it's running at acceptable temps.

 

[LTC8K6]

You can download Throttlewatch to check.

 

[Thor86]

Sisoft Sandra is not an indicator of ANY real-world performance, so you shouldn't base anything of what it tells you between two systems.

 

[Hyperlite]

Originally posted by: Thor86
Sisoft Sandra is not an indicator of ANY real-world performance, so you shouldn't base anything of what it tells you between two systems.

thats exactly what he should use it for, to compare two systems. of course you can't use it to determine performance, but you can use it to determine performance relative to another machine. otherwise, what would be the point?

 

[TuxDave]

Can we get specs?

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: Hyperlite

Originally posted by: Thor86
Sisoft Sandra is not an indicator of ANY real-world performance, so you shouldn't base anything of what it tells you between two systems.

thats exactly what he should use it for, to compare two systems. of course you can't use it to determine performance, but you can use it to determine performance relative to another machine. otherwise, what would be the point?

Regardless, Dell's are not really tuned for blazing performance, more for stability IMHO.

 

[InlineFive]

System specs:
Dell OptiPlex GX620 (latest software, firmware and bios)
P4 Prescott 630 (3Ghz, 2MB L2, EMT64, NX-Bit, HT)
Hitachi 48x CD-ROM
Dell 1704FP Ultrasharp Flat Panel
WD 80GB SATAII HDD
NEC 1.44MB Floppy
1GB DDR2-533 memory (512x2 in DC)

And Throttlewatch reports that the processor is not scaling speed. But it does say that the core voltage is close to 1.96v! Is there another source to find out processor voltage? I tried SpeedFan but it didn't pick up anything other then the hard drive.

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo
System specs:
Dell OptiPlex GX620 (latest software, firmware and bios)
P4 Prescott 630 (3Ghz, 2MB L2, EMT64, NX-Bit, HT)
Hitachi 48x CD-ROM
Dell 1704FP Ultrasharp Flat Panel
WD 80GB SATAII HDD
NEC 1.44MB Floppy
1GB DDR2-533 memory (512x2 in DC)

And Throttlewatch reports that the processor is not scaling speed. But it does say that the core voltage is close to 1.96v! Is there another source to find out processor voltage? I tried SpeedFan but it didn't pick up anything other then the hard drive.

CPU-Z should report vcore voltages.

 

[redhatlinux]

I know that you probably don't want to call Dell but I would to register your complaint.
Next, do you have any slow issues with 'real application'. My 2.8 ghz system ran pretty damn good, but I'm only interested in 'real' work load.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: PorBleemo
System specs:
Dell OptiPlex GX620 (latest software, firmware and bios)
P4 Prescott 630 (3Ghz, 2MB L2, EMT64, NX-Bit, HT)
Hitachi 48x CD-ROM
Dell 1704FP Ultrasharp Flat Panel
WD 80GB SATAII HDD
NEC 1.44MB Floppy
1GB DDR2-533 memory (512x2 in DC)

And Throttlewatch reports that the processor is not scaling speed. But it does say that the core voltage is close to 1.96v! Is there another source to find out processor voltage? I tried SpeedFan but it didn't pick up anything other then the hard drive.

Throttlewatch is most likely reporting the core voltage wrong. Not sure what you mean by saying it's not scaling speed. People seem to think that when a P4 throttles, that it runs at a frequency, and that is NOT correct. Throttling causes it to duty cycle, it's still running at 3ghz, but "pauses" every 1-2 cycles. I doubt it's actualy throttling anyway, but what did you use to put the CPU under load while you were running throttlewatch? There should be 2 graphs on throttle watch, CPU load history, and TMI throttling. If you are getting any spikes at all on the TM1 history, then you are throttling.

 

[TuxDave]

What processor was in the Gateway?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Thor86
Sisoft Sandra is not an indicator of ANY real-world performance, so you shouldn't base anything of what it tells you between two systems.

Who said that?
Thats the most uniformed bogus statement I have ever heard!!

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Thor86
Sisoft Sandra is not an indicator of ANY real-world performance, so you shouldn't base anything of what it tells you between two systems.

Who said that?
Thats the most uniformed bogus statement I have ever heard!!

Synthetic benchmarks usually mean very little. I do, however, disagree with the second half of that statement. 🙂

 

[Viditor]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda

Originally posted by: Thor86
Sisoft Sandra is not an indicator of ANY real-world performance, so you shouldn't base anything of what it tells you between two systems.

Who said that?
Thats the most uniformed bogus statement I have ever heard!!

SiSoft Sandra isn't very good at differentiating between different TYPES of processors (e.g. AMD/Intel) because it's synthetic benches are optimized for Intel by and large. However, for judging relative strengths within a group (e.g. between 2 different Intel or 2 different AMD processors) it's not too bad...
You shouldn't expect that your own real-world software will run at the same speed difference though.

 

[Thor86]

Holy Sisoft fanboys. 🙂

Where's Duvie to back me up?