iCOMP Index 2.0 Performance Brief - Supélec · Finally, the derivation of the iCOMP index 2.0...

Order Number: 243127-001

June 1996

iCOMP Index 2.0Performance BriefA Simplified Measure of RelativeMicroprocessor Performance

iCOMP® Index 2.0 Performance Brief

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Information in this document is provided in connection with Intel products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel orotherwise, to any intellectual property rights is granted by this document. Except as provided in Intel’s Terms and Conditions ofSale for such products, Intel assumes no liability whatsoever, and Intel disclaims any express or implied warranty, relating tosale and/or use of Intel products including liability or warranties relating to fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, orinfringement of any patent, copyright or other intellectual property right. Intel products are not intended for use in medical, lifesaving, or life sustaining applications.

MPEG is an international standard for video compression/decompression promoted by ISO. Implementations of MPEGCODECs, or MPEG enabled platforms may require licenses from various entities, including Intel Corporation.

Intel retains the right to make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice.

*Third-party brands and names are the property of their respective owners.

Contact your local Intel sales office or your distributor to obtain the latest specifications and before placing your product order.

Copies of documents which have an ordering number and are referenced in this document, or other Intel literature, may beobtained from:

Intel CorporationP.O. Box 7641Mt. Prospect, IL 60056-7641

or call 1-800-879-4683

COPYRIGHT © INTEL CORPORATION 1996


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CONTENTS

PAGE

1.0 WHO SHOULD READ THIS REPORT?.................................................................5

2.0 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................5

2.1 Characteristics of iCOMP® Index 2.0.......................................................................... 5

2.2 Limitations of iCOMP® Index 2.0................................................................................ 5

3.0 OVERVIEW............................................................................................................6

3.1 Characteristics of the New iCOMP® Index 2.0............................................................ 7

3.2 Using iCOMP® Index 2.0.............................................................................................. 8

4.0 TECHNICAL OVERVIEW.......................................................................................8

4.1 Development Criteria................................................................................................... 9

4.2 Components of iCOMP® Index 2.0............................................................................... 9

4.3 Application Mix.......................................................................................................... 10

4.4 Benchmark Selection.................................................................................................. 11

4.5 Test System Configuration......................................................................................... 14

4.6 The iCOMP® Index 2.0 Formula................................................................................ 14

5.0 RESULTS.............................................................................................................16

6.0 CONCLUSION......................................................................................................17

APPENDIX A. iCOMP® INDEX 2.0 WEIGHTINGS......................................................18

APPENDIX B. OPERATING SYSTEMS SHIPPING PROJECTIONS.........................19

APPENDIX C. BENCHMARK RESULTS....................................................................20

APPENDIX D. BENCHMARK TEST CONFIGURATION............................................22

APPENDIX E. MMX™ TECHNOLOGY......................................................................23


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CONTENTS (Continued)

PAGE

FIGURES

Figure 1. Chart of iCOMP® Index 2.0 Ratings.................................................................. 8

Figure 2. System Resource Usage of a Pentium® Processor at 200MHz......................... 10

Figure 3. CPUmark32* Correlation with Traditional Business ApplicationPerformance..................................................................................................................... 11

Figure 4. Norton SI32* Correlation with High-End Application Performance.............. 12

Figure 5. SPECint_base95* Correlation with General Purpose Integer Performance.. 13

Figure 6. Graph of performance ratios of iCOMP® Index 2.0 and Other Benchmarks16

Figure 7. Today’s iCOMP® Index 2.0 Composition......................................................... 18

Figure 8. Operating Systems Shipping Projections......................................................... 19

TABLES

Table 1. Benchmark Weightings Past and Present........................................................... 7

Table 2. 32 and 16-bit Weighting of iCOMP® Index and iCOMP Index 2.0.................... 7

Table 3. Category Weights............................................................................................... 11

Table 4. Intel Media Benchmark Category Weights...................................................... 14

Table 5. Benchmark Weights.......................................................................................... 15

Table 6. Base Processor Benchmark Results................................................................... 15

Table 7. iCOMP® Index 2.0 Ratings................................................................................ 16


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1.0 WHO SHOULD READ THIS REPORT?This report is for individuals who need to better understand the derivation of iCOMP® index2.0. Readers who need to advise others in making purchasing decisions will find this reportespecially valuable. This report assumes that the reader understands some of the technologydifferences between the various Intel microprocessor families and has some knowledge of howmicroprocessor performance is measured.

2.0 INTRODUCTIONIn 1992, Intel introduced the iCOMP index to provide non-technical end-users with an easy-to-use tool to understand and compare the relative performance differences among Intelmicroprocessors. The index was comprised of four, industry-standard benchmarks weighted toreflect the mix of 16-bit and 32-bit software applications in use at that time and those expectedto be in use for the next three to four years.

To reflect the trend in 1996 toward 32-bit software and the proliferation of multimediaapplications, Intel has updated the iCOMP index with four, industry standard 32-bitbenchmarks and a new multimedia benchmark that reflect today's computing environment. Theupdated index is called iCOMP index 2.0.

2.1 Characteristics of iCOMP® Index 2.0Intel introduced the original iCOMP index in 1992 in response to the widespread misperceptionamong non-technical PC purchasers that a processor’s megahertz rating is a linear measure ofits performance. Although the megahertz rating has important consequences for the design of aPC system, and is therefore important to the PC design engineer, it is not necessarily a goodmeasure of processor performance, especially when comparing one family of processors to thenext.

The solution that Intel developed to address this problem was a simple, single number(embodying a weighted average of several processor benchmarks) that would measure theoverall performance of each processor and that would allow PC buyers to compare the relativeperformance of one Intel microprocessor to another. Thus, the non-technical user who does nothave the time or interest to read many separate benchmark reports still derives benefit fromthem.

Additionally, the iCOMP rating is an index of processor performance for any Intel architectureprocessor regardless of the family. Thus, it can be used to compare the relative performance of aPentium® processor at 200MHz and a Pentium Pro processor at 200MHz.

Finally, the derivation of the iCOMP index 2.0 formula is public information and can be foundin Section 4.6. Interested readers can replicate the iCOMP index 2.0 ratings published here forthemselves.

2.2 Limitations of iCOMP® Index 2.0Although the iCOMP index rolls into one number several different aspects of processorperformance, no single numerical measurement can describe completely a device as complexas a microprocessor. Nonetheless, Intel’s goal was to derive a single number for each processorthat would describe the processor’s highest possible performance on the desktop, and whichwould still be as independent as possible of system features.

It is also important to understand that the iCOMP index is a tool for making comparisonsbetween different Intel processors, not systems. To measure a processor’s maximum possibleperformance, Intel uses the highest performance system available for each processor. Thus,although two systems with a given processor will have exactly the same iCOMP 2.0 rating, this


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does not mean that all systems with the same processor perform the same—differences insystem design and configuration will affect performance considerably. For instance, systemvendors sell systems with a wide variety of disk capabilities and speeds, system memory,system bus features and video and graphics capabilities, and all of these influence how theprocessor and the system perform under actual conditions of use. However, given systems ofcomparable configuration and design, the one with the higher iCOMP 2.0 rating will have morepower and will run software faster.

PC buyers should also bear in mind that the iCOMP index 2.0 rating is not intended to replacemegahertz, or any benchmark. It is additional information that the PC buyer can use during thePC purchase process. Buyers should still consult other sources of information, in order toevaluate more completely the systems they are considering purchasing. They still need to makethe other choices associated with the PC—peripherals, expansion slots, total cost, service andsupport, to determine what’s needed to run their chosen software with the performance theyneed and expect.

Finally, the iCOMP index 2.0 is currently most valuable for desktop and client-based systems.Server systems typically require sophisticated I/O subsystems that the iCOMP index does notreflect.

Intel hopes that, armed with iCOMP index 2.0 ratings of the many Intel microprocessorchoices, buyers will find it easier to understand important differences among Intel’s broadselection of processors.

3.0 OVERVIEW• What is iCOMP® index 2.0? It is a weighted average of four, industry-standard

benchmark measures of 32-bit processor performance: CPUmark32*, Norton UtilitiesSI32*, SPEC’s CINT95* and CFP95*, and the Intel Media Benchmark. These measureswere chosen from among a number of publicly available benchmarks because theymeasure specific features found in the Intel architecture that are also heavily used by theapplication mixes found on most systems.

• Can a single number accurately reflect processor performance? No single numericalmeasurement or benchmark can completely measure all aspects of the performance of adevice as complex as a microprocessor. But, by weighting the results of severalbenchmarks to create a single number for each microprocessor, this index is better able toreflect the usage of the processor’s resources by the “average” system and its software.

• Has the iCOMP index formula changed? Yes. iCOMP index 2.0 is meant to representprocessor performance requirements over the next few years. Thus, in order to maintainrelevance for today’s and tomorrow’s PC purchases, the formula was updated to matchtrends in the PC software environment. In particular, the benchmarks included in theformula are based on modern software, and their respective weightings reflect the shiftingusage pattern of particular types of applications and inherent instructions. The iCOMPindex definition will be updated based on customer input and technology advancements.

• What changes in software and usage patterns prompted updating the iCOMP® index?Three major market and performance trends have influenced the latest formula revision:

1. Development of new or updated benchmarks for today’s popular applicationprofiles. The PC industry has begun to develop new benchmarks which reflect theunique mix of instructions of emerging software. The developers of PCBench* 7.0.1,for instance, have created CPUmark32. As such, Intel has redefined the index toclosely match the emerging performance issues facing today’s PC buyer.


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2. Accelerating transition to 32-bit operating systems and applications on thedesktop. A trend is the emerging popularity of 32-bit operating environments on thedesktop including Windows 95*, Windows NT*, OS/2*, and UNIX*. The launch ofWindows 95, in particular, marks a major milestone in this trend.

3. Proliferation of multimedia, communications, and 3D. Another trend incorporatedinto the new formula is the continued growth of multimedia and communicationssoftware and platforms.

• Can the original iCOMP® index and iCOMP index 2.0 ratings be compared? No. Theratings based on the iCOMP index 2.0 formula cannot be compared to ratings based on theold formula since they are derived from a different set of benchmarks, with differentweightings, and are indexed to a different base processor. In particular, the Pentiumprocessor at 120MHz represents the base performance level of 100 in the new formula,whereas the Intel486TM SX processor at 25MHz was the base processor in the originalformula.

• Why was the Pentium® processor at 120MHz picked as the baseline processor? ThePentium processor at 120MHz was chosen because it is the processor of choice for entry-level desktop systems at the time of the introduction of the iCOMP index 2.0. Theselection of the base processor does not change the relative rating of one processor versusanother. (See Section 4.6, The iCOMP® Index 2.0 Formula.)

3.1 Characteristics of the New iCOMP® Index 2.0• New 32-bit benchmarks and weightings are used to define iCOMP index 2.0. Using

benchmarks which reflect typical usage patterns provides a comprehensive and accurateview of processor performance. The following table outlines the weightings used togenerate an iCOMP index rating for both the old and new formulas.

Table 1. Benchmark Weightings Past and Present

iCOMP® Index Weightings % iCOMP Index 2.0 Weightings %

PC Bench* 7.0.1 68 Norton SI32* 15

SPECint92* 25 CPUmark32* 40

SPECfp92* 5 SPECint_base95* 20

Whetstone* 2 SPECfp_base95* 5

Intel Media Benchmark 20

• Using 32-bit benchmarks tracks the trend in applications and operating systems.International Data Corporation estimates that 90% of the operating software shipping withnew PC’s by the end of 1997 will be 32-bit software and 10% will be 16-bit software. Bythe end of 1998, roughly all shipments will be 32-bit software. iCOMP index 2.0 reflectsthe move towards 32-bit code in the Windows environment, and the increasing complexityand sophistication of modern software. The emphasis on 32-bit software reflects theparallel trend in the application and operating system markets.

Table 2. 32-and 16-bit Weighting of iCOMP® Index and iCOMP Index 2.0

Software Type iCOMP® Index WeightingiCOMP Index 2.0 Weighting

32-bit 30% 100%

16-bit 70% 0%


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• Inclusion of a multimedia, communications, and 3D benchmark component. The useof multimedia, communications and 3D in software applications has proliferated andiCOMP index 2.0 uses the Intel Media Benchmark to measure multimedia,communications and 3D performance in the index formula. A more complete description isprovided in Section 4.4 Benchmark Selection.

3.2 Using iCOMP® Index 2.0Figure 1 below shows the iCOMP index 2.0 ratings for several Intel microprocessors. The baseprocessor is the Pentium processor at 120MHz, which has been scaled to the value of 100 (seeSection 4.6). All other rated processors will have a number that is either above 100, meaning afaster processor, or below, meaning a slower processor. The difference between any two indexratings provides a relative measure of the increase in the performance of one processor versusanother.

Pentium Processor 75MHz








Pentium Pro Processor 150MHz


Pentium®Pro Processor 200MHz

67

81

90

100

111

114

127

142

168

197

220

50 100 150 200 250











Pentium®Pro Processor 200MHz

Figure 1. Chart of iCOMP® Index 2.0 Ratings

The actual performance the user perceives in the system will depend on the individual systemand software of the user, as well as on the processor. iCOMP index 2.0 can help buyers selectthe right processor for their systems. Selection of a system, however, should be based onprocessor and other system features such as disk capacity, video capability, price, and systemlevel benchmarks.

The following section provides an in-depth derivation and analysis of the iCOMP index 2.0formula. It also provides the objectives and technological foundations of iCOMP index 2.0.

4.0 TECHNICAL OVERVIEWThe objective of iCOMP index 2.0 is to provide a means of evaluating the relative performanceof Intel microprocessors with respect to a variety of tasks reflective of those that are runningduring the execution of application programs. With this objective in mind, we have definediCOMP index 2.0 following the criteria defined in Section 4.1.

Unfortunately, no measure of a processor (or any other component) can be completely divorced


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from the system in which it operates any more than a human brain can be taken out of its bodyand measured for its stand-alone intelligence. The formula derived here tacitly recognizes theprocessor's dependence on its host system’s subsystems by using benchmarks that primarilyexercise the processor while executing representative tasks.

4.1 Development CriteriaThe iCOMP index 2.0 definition was designed to have the following features:

• Repeatability: anyone will be able to replicate Intel's iCOMP index 2.0 processor ratingswith publicly available documentation and benchmarks.

• Representativeness: each benchmark component depicts the class of application which itwas chosen to represent in the iCOMP index 2.0 formula.

• Performance: iCOMP Index 2.0 focuses on the processor's performance.

• Integrity: iCOMP index 2.0 cannot be modified to over- or understate-performance.

• Availability: the iCOMP index 2.0 formula and component benchmarks are publiclyavailable. The equipment used to measure processor performance can be purchased easilyfrom computer stores, by mail-order, or through other sources.

4.2 Components of iCOMP® Index 2.0iCOMP index 2.0 is intended to reflect native Intel microprocessor performance for theapplication mix that a typical end user will be using today and over the next few years. Fiveapplication categories were chosen to encompass the various types of loads placed onprocessor’s by typical applications:

• Traditional Business Applications

• High-End Applications

• General Purpose Integer

• General Purpose Floating-Point

• General Multimedia, Communications and Visualization


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In Figure 2 below, Intel has taken some well-known 32-bit productivity applications and hasshown the execution time spent in each computer sub-system. As is evident in the chart, theprocessor/memory play a key part in executing these applications. iCOMP index 2.0 isdesigned to focus on this processor/memory component.

PageMaker*

CorelDRAW!*

Freelance*

WordPro*

Excel*

Powerpoint*

Word*

Paradox*

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

PageMaker*

CorelDRAW!*

Freelance*

WordPro*

Excel*

Powerpoint*

Word*

Paradox*

%CPU %CPU Stalled for Memory %I/O and Other

Figure 2. System Resource Usage of a Pentium® Processor at 200MHz

4.3 Application MixOnce the application categories are defined, it is necessary to assign weights to each category.These assigned weightings represent Intel’s best estimate (based on market research,discussions with industry analysts and independent software vendors and our own experience)of a typical user’s application mix over the next few years. The weightings used for eachcategory are summarized below.

• The traditional business applications category was given a relatively large weighting of40%. After reviewing market research data showing past application sales as well as futureprojections, it is clear that business productivity applications, such as Microsoft Office andLotus Smart Suite, have and will continue to sell in large volumes.

• The high-end application category was given a weight of 15%. High-end applications, suchas Adobe Photoshop and Autodesk's Autocad, are growing in popularity, but seem to havea relatively smaller share of sales.

• To cover the wide range of general integer applications in the market place, we haveassigned a 20% rating to general purpose Integer.

• A light weight of 5% was given to the general purpose floating-point applicationcomponent. We spoke to independent software vendors to understand the relativeimportance of floating point use in today's and future applications over the next few years.Based on information supplied by these vendors, applications that demand greater floating-point performance are emerging and will continue to grow. However, the software vendorsstill believe that applications will be dominated by integer performance.


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• The multimedia component is an indicator of the processor’s ability to process video,audio, images, and 3D related software and has been given a weighting of 20%.Multimedia applications are playing an important role in both the home and in business.This trend in multimedia application usage is expected to grow over the next few years.

Table 3 summarizes the specific weights that are used to represent the categories.

Table 3. Category Weights

Category Mix

Traditional Business Applications 40%

High-End Applications 15%

General Purpose Integer 20%

General Purpose Floating-Point 5%

General Multimedia, Communications and Visualization 20%

4.4 Benchmark SelectioniCOMP index 2.0 measures traditional and high-end business application performance by usingSPEC’s CINT95, Ziff-Davis’ CPUmark32 and Symantec’s Norton SI32. SPEC CINT95represents the general purpose integer applications. CPUmark32 and Norton SI32 represent thetraditional business and high-end applications respectively. Figures 3, 4, and 5 illustrate howthese benchmarks track their respective application categories.

4.4.1 TRADITIONAL BUSINESS

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

Pentium®Processor

100MHz

PentiumProcessor

120MHz

PentiumProcessor

133MHz

PentiumProcessor

150MHz

PentiumProcessor

166MHz

Pentium ProProcessor

150MHz


180MHz


200MHz

Per

form

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um

Pro

cess

or

at 1

20M

Hz

CPUmark3232-Bit Apps. on Win95

Figure 3. CPUmark32* Correlation with Traditional Business Application Performance


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CPUmark32 performance results correlate well with 32-bit applications running on Windows95 as shown in Figure 3. The 32-bit application suite consists of Microsoft Word*, Excel*, andPowerpoint*, Lotus Freelance* and WordPro*, Corel’s CorelDRAW!*, Borland Paradox*, andAldus Pagemaker*. There is some variance in the comparison of CPUmark32 to a systembenchmark due to the time spent accessing peripheral devices. The time required to accessdevices like the disk and graphics card are not measured by CPUmark32 because theseactivities are not processor bound. Even with this in mind, CPUmark32 follows 32-bitapplications running under Windows 95.

4.4.2 HIGH-END APPLICATIONS

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

Pentium®Processor

100MHz

PentiumProcessor

120MHz

PentiumProcessor

133MHz

PentiumProcessor

150MHz

PentiumProcessor

166MHz

PentiumPro

Processor150MHz

PentiumPro

Processor180MHz

PentiumPro

Processor200MHz

Per

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ance

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um

Pro

cess

or

at 1

20M

Hz

Norton SI32

High-End Applications

SYSmarkNT

Figure 4. Norton SI32* Correlation with High-End Application Performance

As shown in the above figure, Norton SI32 tracks SYSmark NT* and high-end applicationsclosely. These benchmark results were collected under the Windows NT operating system.SYSmark NT consists of Microsoft Word 6.0, Excel 5.0, and PowerPoint 4.0 for Windows NT,Welcom Software Technology Texim Project* 2.0e, and Orcad MaxEDA* 6.0. The high-endapplications used were Elastic Reality*, Extreme 3D*, MathCAD*, Photoshop*, Vistapro*,and Typestry*. Based on the correlation of Norton SI32 and the application suite used, NortonSI32 represents 32-bit processor performance on a Windows NT desktop.


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4.4.3 GENERAL PURPOSE INTEGER

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

1.60

1.80

2.00

2.20

2.40

Pentium®Processor

100MHz

PentiumProcessor

120MHz

PentiumProcessor

133MHz

PentiumProcessor

150MHz

PentiumProcessor

166MHz

PentiumPro

Processor150MHz

PentiumPro

Processor180MHz

PentiumPro

Processor200MHz

Per

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Pro

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SPECint95High-End ApplicationsSYSmarkNT

Figure 5. SPECint_base95* Correlation with General Purpose Integer Performance

SPEC CINT95 is composed of applications which are heavily used in the scientific andengineering world and thus provides adequate and realistic performance results regarding aprocessor’s performance for this segment. Figure 5 shows that SPECint_base95* tracks high-end applications and SYSmark NT well.

4.4.4 GENERAL PURPOSE FLOATING-POINT

The best measure of 32-bit floating-point performance for the iCOMP index 2.0 is SPECCFP95.

4.4.5 GENERAL MULTIMEDIA, COMMUNICATIONS AND VISUALIZATION

Intel developed the Intel Media Benchmark because currently there is no industry standardmultimedia benchmark which measures video, audio, imaging, and 3D performance. The IntelMedia Benchmark measures the performance of processors running the following algorithmsfound in multimedia uses: audio and video playback, image processing, wave sample rateconversion, and 3D geometry. The algorithms used are coded for both scalar and MMX™technology-enabled processors. MMX technology uses a Single Instruction Multiple Data, orSIMD, technique to speed software by processing multiple data elements in parallel. Thisaddition to the Intel Architecture is especially useful in the multimedia environment where thesame operations are routinely applied to a large quantity of data. For more information onMMX technology see Appendix E.

The most probable anticipated use of the microprocessor in video applications will be toprovide software decompression of video data. One algorithm, which is increasing inpopularity, is the industry standard MPEG1 algorithm, such as that used by the popular XingTechnology decompression and the Berkeley MPEG1 shareware software. The video playbackcomponent of the Intel Media Benchmark implements the MPEG1 decompression algorithm(ISO11172-2). This benchmark focuses on the contribution of the processor in implementing avideo player.


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The audio component of the Intel Media Benchmark is based on the MPEG1 audiodecompression definition (ISO11172-3). This component decompresses and plays a stereoaudio clip. The audio component also includes sample rate conversion, special effects andstereo mixing.

The image processing component of the Intel Media Benchmark applies digital filters to true-color (24-bit) bitmap images. These filters include a box filter which is used to implementfilters such as Gaussian blur and embossing, an image blending function used to combine twoimages into one, and a color space conversion function used to change an image’s luminance.

The 3D component of the Intel Media Benchmark is based on Direct3D* and a geometryroutine from the OpenGL* 3D Triangle benchmark. These tests measure only the geometryportion of a 3D workload. The rendering portion of a 3D application will probably be handledby the graphics card and thus is not measured since it is not reflective of processorperformance.

The weighting of the video, audio, imaging, and 3D components was based on informationfrom leading multimedia software vendors. The following weightings are based on their input.

Table 4. Intel Media Benchmark Category Weights

Category Mix

Video 40%

Audio 25%

Imaging 5%

3D Geometry 30%

4.5 Test System ConfigurationTo measure the processor’s maximum performance and to isolate as much of the processorperformance as possible, the iCOMP index 2.0 rating for each processor was measured on anoptimally configured system. (See Appendix D for a description of the system hardware andsoftware configurations used to calculate the iCOMP index 2.0 ratings.) Performance indicesmeasured on systems with fast memory subsystems will be different from those measured on asystem with a slower memory subsystem. Therefore, if an individual user calculates an iCOMPindex 2.0 rating for the processor in his or her own system, it could be different from the oneIntel has specified, reflecting differences in system, not processor performance. Although somesystems may not take full advantage of a processor’s potential performance, they probablyhave other benefits, such as lower cost.

Ratings for processors introduced before June 1996 were calculated at the time of the iCOMPindex 2.0 introduction. After June 1996, processors will be measured at the time they areintroduced.

4.6 The iCOMP® Index 2.0 FormulaiCOMP index 2.0 is computed by calculating the weighted geometric mean (Equation 1) of aprocessor’s relative performance on each of the component benchmarks compared to somebase processor. (The BAPCo* benchmark group, the developers of SYSmark NT, also uses thismethod of calculating the mean.) The base processor is currently designated to be the Pentiumprocessor at 120MHz. All iCOMP index 2.0 results are scaled to the rating of the Pentiumprocessor at 120MHz and multiplied by 100. This is illustrated in Equation 1.


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Equation 1. General iCOMP® Index 2.0 Formula

iCOMP Index 2.0 =

100 1

1

2

2

1 2

*_

*_

*...*_

BMBase BM

BMBase BM

BMBase BM

P P

n

n

Pn

The benchmarks scores, BMi, are chosen to represent each category. The category weights arerepresented by Pi. The Base_BMi corresponds to the performance of the base machine on the ithbenchmark. Once again, the selection of the base processor does not change the relative ratingof one processor versus another.

4.6.1 BENCHMARK WEIGHTINGS

Table 5 lists the values of BMi and Pi which will be used to complete Equation 1. The valuesare as follows:

Table 5. Benchmark Weights

I Category Benchmark Scores (BMi) Weight (Pi)

1 Traditional Business CPUmark32* 40%

2 High-End NSI32* 15%

3 General Purpose Integer SPECbase_int95* 20%

4 General Purpose Floating-Point SPECbase_fp95* 5%

5 General Multimedia, Communications andVisualization

Intel Media Benchmark 20%

The “base” numbers were measured on a system with a Pentium processor at 120MHz. Theresults are shown in Table 6.

Table 6. Base Processor Benchmark Results

i Benchmark Score (Base_BMi)

1 CPUmark32* 270

2 Norton SI32* 32.4

3 SPECint_base95* 3.55

4 SPECfp_base95* 2.19

5 Intel Media Benchmark 99.87

Tables 5 and 6 results can be substituted into Equation 1 (Section 4.6, iCOMP® Index 2.0Formula) to calculate the iCOMP index 2.0 rating.

4.6.2 MEASUREMENT METHODOLOGY

To ensure that the iCOMP index 2.0 results are repeatable, the following methodology wasfollowed for benchmark data collection. Prior to running each benchmark the disk isdefragmented and the system is rebooted. The benchmark is then run three times with a systemreboot between each run. The median of the scores from the three benchmark runs is used tocalculate the iCOMP index 2.0 rating. This process is not needed to obtain SPEC CPU95*results because the benchmark comes equipped with its own workload manager that ensuresrepeatable results.


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5.0 RESULTSTable 7 contains the current iCOMP index 2.0 ratings for various microprocessors measured indesktop systems.

Table 7. iCOMP® Index 2.0 Ratings

Processors iCOMP® Index 2.0

Pentium® Pro Processor 200MHz 220

Pentium Pro Processor 180MHz 197

Pentium Pro Processor 150MHz 168

Pentium Processor 200MHz 142








See Appendix D for a description of the specific platforms configurations used to calculatethese results.

Comparing the iCOMP index 2.0 ratings for these microprocessors to the values of thebenchmarks reveals that the iCOMP index 2.0 measurements generally track industry standardbenchmarks as shown in Figure 6.

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

PentiumPro

Processor200MHz

PentiumPro

Processor180MHz

PentiumPro

Processor150MHz

PentiumProcessor

200MHz

PentiumProcessor

166MHz

PentiumProcessor

150MHz

PentiumProcessor

133MHz

PentiumProcessor

120MHz

PentiumProcessor

100MHz

PentiumProcessor

90MHz

Pentium®Processor

75MHz

Per

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ance

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th

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enti

um

® P

roce

sso

r at

120

MH

z

CPUmark32Norton SI32SPECint95SPECfp95Intel Media BenchmarkiCOMP® Index 2.0

Figure 6. Graph of Performance Ratios of iCOMP® Index 2.0 and Other Benchmarks


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These results are consistent with expectations because iCOMP index 2.0 is designed to reflectthe processor performance.

6.0 CONCLUSIONiCOMP index 2.0 provides a comprehensive measure of relative processor performance bycovering numerous aspects of processor usage while reflecting the emergence of 32-bitoperating systems and applications, and multimedia and communications capabilities. iCOMPindex 2.0 also provides PC users with a balanced performance metric. iCOMP index 2.0 is arepeatable, representative microprocessor performance index which reflects today’s trendtoward modern 32-bit software and the proliferation of multimedia.


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APPENDIX A. iCOMP® INDEX 2.0 WEIGHTINGS

CPUmark32*40%

Norton SI32*15%

SPECint95*20%

SPECfp95*5% Intel Media

Benchmark20%

Video40%

Audio25%

3D30%

Image5%

Intel Media Benchmark

Figure 7. Today’s iCOMP® Index 2.0 Composition


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APPENDIX B. OPERATING SYSTEMS SHIPPINGPROJECTIONS

Note: Mainstream users will be running modern applications and operating systems

0100002000030000400005000060000700008000090000

DOS*/Windows*

Windows95*,Windows NT*,OS/2*, UNIX*

Worldwide Shipments of New PCs byOperating System (000s)

Source: IDC, 5/95

80% of Shipments

Transition to Modern 32-bit Software

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Figure 8. Operating Systems Shipping Projections


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APPENDIX C. BENCHMARK RESULTSCPUmark32*, Norton SI32*, SPEC CPU95*, Intel Media Benchmark, iCOMP® Index 2.0

Processors CPUmark32*NortonSI32*

SPECint_base95*

SPECfp_base95*

Intel MediaBenchmark

iCOMP®

Index 2.0

Pentium® Pro Processor 200MHz 553 90.0 8.20 5.54 196.29 220

Pentium Pro Processor 180MHz 497 81.0 7.28 4.99 176.70 197

Pentium Pro Processor 150MHz 420 69.5 6.25 4.44 148.57 168

Pentium Processor 200MHz 382 43.8 5.00 2.98 153.06 142








Intel Media Benchmark Component Scores

Processors Video Audio Imaging 3D GeometryIntel MediaBenchmark

Pentium® Pro Processor 200MHz 160.97 239.27 222.04 212.41 196.29

Pentium Pro Processor 180MHz 145.02 215.54 199.86 190.90 176.70


Pentium Processor 200MHz 153.42 148.50 157.77 155.69 153.06









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Relative Performance Results (Relative to the Pentium® Processor at 120MHz):CPUmark32*, Norton SI32*, SPEC CPU95*, Intel Media Benchmark, iCOMP® Index 2.0

Processors CPUmark32*NortonSI32*

SPECint_base95*

SPECfp_base95*

Intel MediaBenchmark

iCOMP®

Index 2.0

Pentium® Pro Processor 200MHz 2.05 2.78 2.31 2.53 1.97 2.20

Pentium Pro Processor 180MHz 1.84 2.50 2.05 2.28 1.77 1.97

Pentium Pro Processor 150MHz 1.56 2.15 1.76 2.03 1.49 1.68

Pentium Processor 200MHz 1.41 1.35 1.41 1.36 1.53 1.42








Relative Performance Results (Relative to the Pentium® Processor at 120MHz): Intel MediaBenchmark Component Scores

Processors Video Audio Imaging 3D GeometryIntel MediaBenchmark

Pentium® Pro Processor 200MHz 1.61 2.41 2.22 2.12 1.97












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APPENDIX D. BENCHMARK TEST CONFIGURATION

Pentium® ProcessorDell Dimension XPS*

CPU: Pentium® processor at 75 MHz, 90MHz, 100MHz, 120MHz, 133MHz,150MHz, 166MHz, 200MHz

FPU: Integrated

Primary Cache: 16 KB

Secondary Cache: 512 KB Write-Back

Memory: 32 MB (EDO), except for SPEC CPU95* which used 64MB (EDO)

I/O Bus: PCI

Disk Quantum Fireball* EIDE with Integrated EIDE disk controller

Video: Matrox Millennium* PCI

Audio Creative Labs Sound Blaster* 16

Compilers Intel Reference C Compiler Version 2.3 for SPEC CINT95*Intel Reference FORTRAN Compiler Version 2.3 for SPEC CFP95*

Pentium® Pro ProcessorDell Dimension XPS* Pro

CPU: Pentium® Pro processor 150MHz, 180MHz, 200MHz

FPU: Integrated

Primary Cache: 16 KB

Secondary Cache: 256 KB Write-Back

Memory: 32 MB (EDO), except for SPEC CPU95* which used 64MB (EDO)

I/O Bus: PCI

Disk Quantum Fireball* EIDE with Integrated EIDE disk controller

Video: Matrox Millennium* PCI

Audio Creative Labs Sound Blaster* 16

Compilers Intel Reference C Compiler Version 2.3 for SPEC CINT95*

Intel Reference FORTRAN Compiler Version 2.3 for SPEC CFP95*


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APPENDIX E. MMX™ TECHNOLOGYIntel’s new MMX™ technology is designed to accelerate the key elements of demandingmultimedia and communications applications, such as audio, video, 2D- and 3D-graphics,animation, and recognition. The technology introduces new instructions and data types thatexploit the parallelism inherent in many media processing algorithms, yet maintains fullcompatibility with existing applications and operating system software.

It features 57 new instructions, eight new 64-bit wide registers, and 4 new data types. Integerdata, either bytes, 16-bit words, dwords, or a quadword, are packed into the 64-bit registersupon which the MMX instructions operate. A single MMX instruction operates on all elementsof the 64-bit register in parallel, providing throughput improvement of as much as 8x for byteoperations.

MMX technology uses general-purpose instructions, most of which operate in a single clockcycle. Instruction types supported include the following:

• Basic arithmetic operations (such as add, subtract, multiply, etc.)

• Logical operations (such as AND, OR, AND NOT, etc.)

• Compare operations

• Conversion instructions to pack and unpack data elements

• Shift operations

• Data movement instructions

More information on MMX technology can be found Intel’s web site at http://www.intel.com.

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