Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

Hi,

Are there anyone that have tested the new Intel Pentium 4 processor for CFD codes using Intel optimized compiler ?

The specmarks (SPECmark, fp) for the Pentium 4 processor are quite impressive !

SPECfp2000 (Base) Pentium 4 @ 1.5 Ghz: 549 AMD Athlon @1.2 Ghz: 304 Alhpa 21264B @833Mhz: 590

But what about real CFD applications in C or Fortran ?

Thanks in advance.

Regards

Jens

Re: Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

(1). Well, a good question. I think, you need to consider other factors such as the mother board bus, the type of memory, the hard disks, etc..and how the code was written. (2). Up to now, AMD is the choice of my son. But he is in the computer field, not in CFD. I am not quite ready for 1.5Ghz yet. But if I do decide to upgrade, I'll take AMD based on my son's suggestion.(he is mainly concern about the value or the cost.)

Re: Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

Where do you have those values from ? I have SPECfp2000 (Base): Athlon 1.2 DDR: 308, P4 1.5GHz: 417

With PovRay as testcase: P4: 783, Athlon:960 (!!)

Re: Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

I have both a PIII @700 MGHz and a AMD Athlon at 1000MGH.

In theory The AMD Athlon should be faster than my PIII for floating point calculation.

But in reality, for large calculation, they both deliver the same speed.

From what I've read, the bandwith between the cache is larger for the PENTIUM. Plus, MY PIII has Rambus Memory. Even though the PIII processor is slower than the AMD athlon, it always has some numbers to play with. Which is not the case fot the Athlon, numbers are not brought fast enough.

Conclusion, it is worthless to have the fastest CPU if it's not fed in the appropriate way.

Re: Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

Hi again

The numbers are from http://www.spec.org

Where performances numbers are listed.

Go to http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2000q4/

for a list over newly released processors.

Regards

Jens

Re: Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

Hi,

The specmark number are from

http://www.spec.org

And details about new processor are at:

http://www.spec.org/osg/cpu2000/results/res2000q4/

Regards

Jens

But what about com. CFD codes
 

Hi,

I also think that one of the main issues are bandwidth.

BUT what about commercial CFD codes ???

They (CFD codes) are not always compile with max. optimization and they are not compiler for a specified Intel-compatible processor.

Have any one tested this ?

Regards

Jens

Re: Performance of the P4 for CFD
 

(1). There is an indepth review by Anand Lal Shimpi, on "Intel Pentium 4 1.4Ghz & 1.5Ghz",Nov. 20th,2000, at the website: http://www1.anandtech.com/ (2). It covers all the design aspects and comparison with AMD Athlon. (3). There are many real world programs tested, and the conclusion is interesting.

Re: But what about com. CFD codes
 

Check the CFX user forum - a simple benchmark testcase with CFX4.3 have been used on different machines.

Regards Jan