Q & A : Benchmarks : CPU vs. GPGPU: Memory Bandwidth

A set of benchmarks designed to measure memory bandwidth, both internal and to/from the host system. These are native ports of the traditional memory benchmarks that have been available in Sandra since 1998. They allow us to directly compare CPU with GPGPU performance by using the same algorithms and the same data.

We believe the industry is seeing a shift from a model where the vast majority of workload is processed on the traditional CPU: in a wide range of applications developers are using the power of GPGPU to aid business analysis, games, graphics, and scientific applications.

Coupled with the charts added to the latest version of the software, we can work out whether a CPU or GPU would be faster, more power efficient or cost efficient.

1. The memory results are in MB/s, i.e. how many MB can be transferred in 1 second.
2. In all cases, as higher indexes mean better performance (MB/s) the higher the result the better the performance.

Testing the bandwidth performance of various current desktop processors and GPGPU-capable video adapters reveals quite interesting results.

Note: Prices fluctuate all the time; the below table was correct as of October 2009, for US market, in USD, via JustRelevant and is provided as an example only. Please check prices in your own region.

Device Name Cores / Speed / Power (TDP) Performance Power Efficiency Cost Efficiency Comments AMD 790FX / 2x 1GB DDR2 PC2-6400 / AMD Phenom 9750 4 / 800MHz / 11W+125W TDP 10.2 GB/s 75.2 MB/s/W 30 MB/s/$ Excellent power and cost efficiency of all CPU systems (due to the internal memory controller) but no match to the internal transfer bandwidth of a modern GPGPU. AMD 790FX / 2x 1GB DDR3 PC2-10600 / Phenom II 945 4 / 1.33GHz / 11W+125W TDP 16.6 GB/s 122 MB/s/W 41.5 MB/s/$ Better power and cost efficiency than the original Phenom with DDR2, best cost efficiency of all CPU/chipset solutions. Intel P35 / 2x 1GB DDR3 PC3-10600 / Intel Core 2 Quad 4 / 1.33GHz / 11.5W+130W TDP 8.8 GB/s 61.9 MB/s/W 23 MB/s/$ DDR3 memory makes it competitive but less power/cost efficient than other traditional processor solutions. No match for GPGPU solutions. The large processor cost makes it uncompetitive. Intel P35 / 2x 1GB DDR2 PC-6400 / Intel Core 2 Quad 4 / 800MHz / 10.5W+130W TDP 5.5 GB/s 38.8 MB/s/W 17 MB/s/$ DDR2 memory is not enough to make it competitive, not even on price anymore. Nowhere as fast as GPGPU systems. Intel X58 / 3x 1GB DDR3 PC3-10600 / Intel Core i7 920 4+4 / 1333MHz / 20W+130W TDP 20 GB/s 136 MB/s/W 29 MB/s/$ Best raw performance of any CPU systems (3 DDR3 channels), best power efficiency, even good price efficiency! ATI Radeon 3850 (GPU) 320 / 669MHz / 104W 38.5 GB/s (internal)/ 2.6 GB/s (PCIe) 370 MB/s/W 427 MB/s/$ Great power/price efficiency, though superseded now. ATI Radeon 4870 (GPU) 800 / 750MHz / 160W 45.5 GB/s (internal) / 2.5 GB/s (PCIe) 285 MB/s/W 303 MB/s/$ Great performance, thogh not as power efficient as newer series or cost efficient as older series. ATI Radeon 5870 (GPU) New! 1600 / 850MHz / 188W 101 GB/s (internal) / 4.4 GB/s (PCIe2) 537 MB/s/W 266 MB/s/$ Best performance, excellent power efficiency though relatively expensive being brand-new. nVidia GeForce 9600 GT (GPU) 96 / 1.6GHz / 95W 39.6 GB/s (internal) / 2.5 GB/s (PCIe) 417 MB/s/W 396 MB/s/$ Better performance, power efficiency than its competition, though superseded now. nVidia GeForce 260 GTX (GPU) 192 / 1.2GHz / 182W 89.6 GB/s (internal) / 3.3 GB/s (PCIe2) 492 MB/s/W 484 MB/s/$ Fastest bandwidth until recently, competitive power efficiency and best cost efficiency due to lower price.

You can check your own processor or video adapter or view how other processors/video adapters measure up using the Sandra benchmarks.

Most Popular Chipsets, Video Adapters

Most popular Chipsets (and thus Mainboards) as benchmarked by users (past 30 days):		Most popular Video Cards as benchmarked by users (past 30 days):
1. 14% Intel 975X 90.00 USD 2. 13%   AMD RS780   3. 13% Intel P45 89.99 USD 4. 6% Intel 915G 34.00 USD 5. 4% Intel P965 75.00 USD		1. 12%   NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT   2. 12%   NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295   3. 12% ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 451.99 USD 4. 12% NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 202.99 USD 5. 8% ATI Radeon HD 4800 174.99 USD
For a complete list of statistics, check out the Most Popular Hardware page. For a list of more products, see SiSoftware Shopping.

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