3DMark Drama: Intel Employee Claims AMD Never Held The Top Score
3DMark Drama: Intel Employee Claims AMD Never Held The Top Score
Posted 02/01/2009 at 5:31pm
| by Justin Kerr
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It’s no secret that we here at Maximum PC are fans of Intel’s new Core i7. In fact, Intel has held a place of distinction in our best of the best round up pretty consistently now ever since Athelon’s day came and went several years ago. Despite this fact, we are pretty fickle with our affections, and are all secretly still rooting for the underdog. We are also the first to admit that we are glad AMD is still around to keep Intel on its toes. Though both Phenom & Phenom II failed to set the world on fire, we were all pretty impressed when we discovered how much overclocking headroom we received as a result of the die shrink. We were even more excited when we saw the videos of AMD pushing the new CPU past 6.5Ghz, setting a new record in terms of clock speed.
Intel however, never wanting to concede its speed crown, was quick to go on the attack. In an email exchange with TGDaily, an Intel employee pointed out that the AMD 3DMark score of 45,474 submitted on January 12th 2009 was actually 1,170 points lower than a Core i7 score turned in by Intel just 8 days earlier. He also stated that the AMD results were achieved with unapproved drivers, and curiously were only run when the clock speed was at 4.481 Ghz. So as for who holds the 3DMark speed crown, I guess it all depends on who you ask.
It’s good to know that even if Phenom II didn’t quite bring them up to where they need to be, at least they have Intel taking notice of them again. And I for one can’t wait until I see the portable liquid helium cooling system that lets me duplicate these AMD scores at home! They are working on that right?
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drcrazyrich
December 20, 2010 at 8:58pm
ALL I CAN IS I HOPE THE BATTLE CONTINUES ....FOR THE RECORD I LIKE WHAT THEY BOTH HAVE BUT I PREFER AMD s PRICING BETTER !!
ghot
February 02, 2009 at 9:43pm
Just read the Phenom II benches in the March 2009 Max PC mag....and the difference between AMD's best and Intels I7 in 3DMark06 Overall is barely over 800points.....further...PCMark Vantage overall Intel I7 wins by only 1000 ponts.....and now itgets really silly.....my AMD 5000+ B.E. gets 12093 on 3DMark06 overall !!
....and I don't even use the latest drivers. Also, I'm on an old M2N32SLI Deluxe mobo. Whats all this mean?
It means Intel can't make a chip that'll put out a decent score on 3DMark06 overall....or that XP kicks Vistas butt,coming and going. Either way it's pretty sad that with a 140$ mobo and a 90$ CPU I can get 12093 on 3DMark06 and the mighty Intel I7 gets only 12,859 :/
Conclusion MS and Intel suck at making new things, be it OS's or CPU's.....sure the I7 trounces my humble setup in office cr*p...but who cares lol? Sure the I7 on Win 7 can open 27 windows at the same time....but since I can only read one at a time.....who cares lol? Btw, I can open 27 windows at same time too, but can still only READ one at a time. I guess all the pretty pictures must be worth spending 5-7 grand on a PC.
Now if your one of those people who thinks a computer is an A/V device get an I7.....if not don't waste your money.
System:
Operating System: Windows XP Pro 5.1.2600 w/SP2
Motherboard: ASUS M2N32 SLI Deluxe, Wireless Edition
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (B.E.) Brisbane 2.6GHz Dual-Core (Overclocked to 3.2Ghz)
CPU Fan/Heatsink: ZALMAN CNPS9500A 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
Memory: CORSAIR Dominator 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel
Video Card: EVGA 01G-P3-1280-AR GeForce GTX 280 1GB 512-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 (stock)
Hard Drive #1: WD 36GB 10,000rpm Raptor SATA I
Hard Drive #2: Seagate ST3250410AS 250GB 7200rpm SATA IIOptical Drive # 1: LG HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22LS30 CD/DVD Burner SATA
Optical Drive # 2: Lite-On LH-18A1P CD/DVD Burner IDE
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Black) EPS12V
Case: Mid Tower (Gerneric) 5x 80mm case fans (2 front intake, 2 rear exh., 1 side exhaust)
Sound Card: none
Monitor: ViewSonic G90FB Black 19" CRT MonitorIdle temps: CPU: 26C Motherboar: 26C GPU: 35C (fan @ 100%)
Load Temps: CPU: 48C Motherboard: 27C GPU: 52C (fan @ 100%)
Drivers: nVidia 9.35 Chipset.....nVidia 177.41 Video
TAKE THAT, INTEL AND MICROSOFT !!!!!!!!
Oh, almost forgot.....I can do anything twice as fast on XP, as in less clicks!
...and before anyone says my numbers aren't valid ....I got screenshots and posts on about 12 different sites...AND I'm 24+ hour Orthos Beta, stable....running Blend @ priority 9
Take efficiency, and edit out all the intelligence and what you have left is a post-XP Microsoft operating system :)
pppriot
February 04, 2009 at 6:04am
LAWL. newb. not getting a high cpu score on 3DMark does not mean a processor that sucks. LAWL. 3DMark is used to measure a system's capabilities to process 3D. surely, a CPU is not mainly for processing 3D.
well, anyway, congratulations for AMD fanboys, AMD has finally defeated the Q6600 on SOME benchmarks, after two years. maybe in another two years, AMD might get a fighting chance against the Core i7.
a Cry-baby AMD fanboy just can't believe things, or rather, would not believe so.
rookie. XD
FusilliJerry82
February 02, 2009 at 9:11am
I think it'd only be fair if they were only to release their 3DMark CPU scores.
zodi
February 01, 2009 at 8:39pm
The only thing I can think that Intel is whining about is they were not WHQL certified or some other certification. Drivers are drivers. Obviously whether the drivers were beta, Alpha, or the nerd's code next door. It worked and AMD got their results.
Its similar to whining about how your ferrari got beat by some garage heads souped up Chevette because its not street legal or stock. Its irrelevant you got beat.
Now Intel quit your Griping, increase your clock speed, lower your prices by like 50% for your top line processors and you will get some more support from the public.
aarcane
February 01, 2009 at 8:29pm
does it really matter who got around to submitting their results a few days before whom?
mwinfie
February 01, 2009 at 7:41pm
Yes liquid helium/nitrogen is not practical for home use overclocking... I think that is pretty obviouse, but last time I checked the land speed record was not set in your typical soccer mom's van either. Records are set by going to the extreme with what you have available to you such as liquid helium and "unapproved" drivers. I mean what do you even consider to be an unapproved driver? If its the optimal choice then its also the obviouse one. When start splitting hairs it makes you look like the loser even if you are the winner.
Bottom line is that I could care less if Intel beat the benchmark scores 8 days before they were even rendered because I didn't see any headlines about it and they didn't have an interesting video to go with it. I don't care who holds the record. I'm more intertested in how you got there and seeing it happen.
Cyberdiver
February 01, 2009 at 7:15pm
I dont think the drivers had shit to do with it. They only came close becuase of the helium liquid cooling.. want to impress me get the same results with air or normal liquid cooling that the avg home user has access too. I'll bet they come nowhere near that number they put up.
Lord Omega
February 01, 2009 at 5:53pm
I am an intel user and have no quams of using an AMD processor either. I go with whatever was the best at the time (or whatever I can afford). The crap saying that AMD was running unapproved drivers is just junk. Where is the proof of this? There has been backstabbing and curb stomping between these two companies for years. This just brings a new level to the "BS Alarm". Come Intel, cant take the heat?
AndyYankee17
February 01, 2009 at 6:19pm
what exactly is an unapproved driver? beta that hasn't been publicly released?
Justin.Kerr
February 01, 2009 at 9:56pm
They usually only allow the latest WHQL driver, but in some cases unapproved is just the newests or a beta drivers that futuremark hasn't gotten around to certifying yet. The fear is that manufacturers could optomize drivers just for the 3d mark tests and never offer them to the public making those who compete in the benchmarks operate at a handicap. Thats why they like to stick to shipping drivers.
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