Less than 2 months ago we completed here a very long comprehensive paper covering AMD’s 6000+ (3.00GHz) CPU and the energy efficiency of Western Digitals slick new 1TB GP hard discs.   The carefully chosen parts produced remarkable amounts of controversy.

The factual results obtained took many readers by storm and utter amazement.   A carefully constructed entry level workstation system could function with very high output, and, most importantly save money.  More to the point the golden saving of energy; but at the same time maintaining the all important productivity output.   We know since this article was published that many S.I.’s and VAR’s have followed a similar route of guidance which we portrayed and in turn passed on the savings to the end user.

The old question sneaked in very quickly from the huge quantities of e-mails, what of Intel and what can it show?   Could the savings be as good, or better?  With the gauntlet well thrown down by members of the community we took to task the request given.  

We thought long and hard on this requested line as to meet the needs of the many.  The answer was simple;  straight forward head to head with no holds barred and like for like in all areas.

For some they will find this to be a very laborious article.   Though to hit home hard the factual evidence, it has been completed fully as much as possible with charts and graph’s, with the occasional note.  This is where the factual evidentiary points are to be found and it was felt the best way to portray the results for simple shock treatment understanding.

Intel very kindly supplied us with the new E8400 Dual Core CPU and mainboard to match.   With those parts in place the methodology of the previous green article was followed to the letter.  This way we could ensure that at each direct point of the commentary, accurate and unbiased comparisons could be seen immediately.

All other components used previously were applied in the same mode.   The only exception being the Akasa REVO which was switched from its AMD socket AM2 mount to Intel’s 775 socket mount.  Alignment of the REVO HSF back onto the CPU was identical as before.

Therefore the test system configurations were as follows;

AMD Test Platform

1 X Akasa Mirage 62 Chassis
1 X Akasa Power80+ 500W Power Supply Unit
1 X Akasa REVO Heatsink
1 X AMD 6000+ (3.0GHz) CPU
1 X MSI K9N Diamond Mainboard
4 X 1GB PC2 8500 Corsair XMS2 Memory Modules
1 X AMD FireGL V3600 (Current Driver Release)
1 X Akasa Amber 120mm Intake Fan
1 X Akasa Amber 120mm Exhaust Fan
1 X Western Digital Caviar® GP 1TB Hard Disk, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB Cache

Intel Test Platform

1 X Akasa Mirage 62 Chassis
1 X Akasa Power80+ 500W Power Supply Unit
1 X Akasa REVO Heatsink
1 X Intel E8400 (3.0GHz) Dual Core CPU
1 X Intel DG33BU Mainboard
4 X 1GB PC2 8500 Corsair XMS2 Memory Modules
1 X AMD FireGL V3600 (Current Driver Release)
1 X Akasa Amber 120mm Intake Fan
1 X Akasa Amber 120mm Exhaust Fan
1 X Western Digital Caviar® GP 1TB Hard Disk, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB Cache

As is our normal standard operating procedures here; but to also ensure that like for like was completed, the hard disc was the one used on the previous outing on the AMD Test System and it was completely low level formatted.   This would then ensure that no residue MBR was in place and this would give the Intel based Test Platform a true identical like for like fresh drive.

Software Used.

Maintaining the like for like as before, we utilised the exact same software packages looked at before found within systems within Corporate Workplace, Studio’s and the SoHo users and primarily used here to show both systems and graphic cards at their best.   

Previously, the final output of benchmarks results were not to be as important as we need to see that no productivity is lost but the actual wattage consumption has dropped, which in turn means less energy consumed but the productivity deadline output has been met!   Today however this is not to be the case and you the individual will be able to draw upon your own decisive conclusion at what suits you.

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2
SPECviewperf 10 ®
HD Tach Version 3.0.4.0  
SiSoftware Sandra XII
MAXON CINEBENCH 10
Autodesk 3ds Max 9 SP2
SPECapc for 3ds Max™ 9
SPECapc for SolidWorks 2007™
Solidworks 2007
Diskeeper® 2008 Pro Premier Edition