AMD Shanghai Launch - Database Testing
by Jason Clark & Ross Whitehead on November 13, 2008 2:00 AM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
Quest Software Benchmark Factory
We mentioned that the benchmarks used previously are no longer useful, as we did not have the I/O capacity required to support them. We went looking for alternative benchmarks and stumbled upon Benchmark Factory from Quest Software. Below is a description of the product and the benchmarks that we used in this article.
Benchmark Factory for Databases is a performance and code scalability testing tool that simulates users and transactions on a database and replays a production or synthetic workload in non-production environments. This enables organizations to validate database scalability as user loads increase, application changes are made, and platform changes are implemented. Benchmark Factory is available for Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, MySQL and other databases via ODBC and Native connectivity.
Benchmark Factory provides many tests that you can run, and has a very nice and customizable metric reporting engine. We decided to run the AS3AP test, and the Scalable Hardware CPU, and Reads tests. Here is what Quest's help file says about these tests:
AS3AP
The AS3AP benchmark is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Structured Query Language (SQL) relational database benchmark. The AS3AP benchmark provides the following features:
- Tests database processing power
- Built-in scalability and portability that tests a broad range of database systems
- Minimizes effort in implementing and running benchmark tests
- Provides a uniform metric and straightforward interpretation of benchmark results
Systems tested with the AS3AP benchmark must support common data types and provide a complete relational interface with basic integrity, consistency, and recovery mechanisms. The AS3AP benchmark can test systems ranging from a single-user microcomputer Database Management System (DBMS) to a high-performance parallel or distributed database.
Scalable Hardware
The Scalable Hardware benchmark measures relational database systems. This benchmark is a subset of the AS3AP benchmark and tests the following:
- CPU
- Disk
- Network
It can also test any combination of the above three entities.
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piesquared - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - link
I mean really, how many times AT? You didn't seem to have a problem with i7 results, what's the hold up? Or is this going to be another dfi790, 790fx, 790gx, 780g etc, etc, etc, type of review. You know, the kind where you pay lip service to it, and then go back to cuddling up with Intel.... FraudsLTG - Friday, November 14, 2008 - link
Another power variable I didn't see in the review - The harpertown that matches AMD's price listed is the lower TDP model.The E5450 is 80w TDP
The X5450 is 120w TDP
LTG - Friday, November 14, 2008 - link
Sorry just found it on the benchmark graphs - looks to be the "E" version.LTG - Friday, November 14, 2008 - link
It would be very helpful to know this because almost all new Intel systems support the lower voltage FB-DIMMs.segerstein - Friday, November 14, 2008 - link
Yes, the future will be Muslim. AMD is going to get bought by rich UAEs. The next architecture will be called Istanbul.Why not Byzantium or Constantinople?
Tormeh - Saturday, November 15, 2008 - link
Maybe because Istanbul is an actual place, and not just a historic name?alpha754293 - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
You mentioned in this brief review that the FB-DIMMS remove any power efficiency advantage that the Intels othewise might have had.Does the AMD systems also use the FB-DIMMS?
Also, how are you measuring the power consumption because a lot of the charts/graphs look nearly exactly identical, which would seem odd unless it was using the CPU (i.e. all of the application profiles) were EXACTLY identical.
JarredWalton - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
AMD does *not* use FB-DIMMs, and very likely never will. The power penalty appears to be something like 7W per FB-DIMM, possibly even a bit more, and the performance advantage... well, it doesn't exist. FB-DIMM was an idea to add more memory on a single channel at the cost of increasing latency. I just don't think it really made enough of a difference to affect the vast majority of server users.Johnniewalker - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
Now that would be cool!acejj26 - Thursday, November 13, 2008 - link
Memory frequency is now 800 MHz. Bandwidth is a function of the frequency, but they are not the same.