Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Thu 31st Jul 2008 20:51 UTC, submitted by snydeq
While using an AMD Barcelona server to create a portable benchmarking kit, InfoWorld's Tom Yager discovered something unexpected: "I could incur variances in some benchmark tests ranging from 10 to 60 percent through combined manipulation of the server's BIOS settings, BIOS version, compiler flags, and OS release." Yager put this matter to AMD's performance engineers and was told he was seeing an effect widely known among CPU engineers, but seldom communicated to IT - that the performance envelope of a CPU is cast in silicon, but is sculpted in software. "Long before you lay hands on a server," Yager writes, "BIOS and OS engineers have reshaped its finely tuned logic in code, sometimes with the real intent of making it faster [...] sometimes to homogenize the server to flatten its performance relative to Intel's."
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Member since:2005-07-20
Member since:2005-07-06
ok, now i feel like its required to move on to coreboot or something as after getting to know stuff like that, one start to feel potentially cheated...
its like knowing that if you swap a chip or remove a part somewhere your vehicle gains maybe 60% more power.
as in, its cheaper to make the same parts and then sell it underclocked for those that cant or wont go for the premium products, then it is to make a specific part that cant perform any better...
Member since:2005-07-06
well on a server one should rarely run more then the required minimum. so optimizing and shaking out bugs should be easier.
whats worrisome is that the bios can have such an effect on things. makes one wonder if some motherboard bios can result in a under-performing pc...
hmm, flash bios, get a more responsive vista?
whats worrisome is that the bios can have such an effect on things. makes one wonder if some motherboard bios can result in a under-performing pc...
hmm, flash bios, get a more responsive vista?
Why is this a surprise? this has been known for years; crappy bios with a crappy ACPI implementation which results in a crappy operating system experience. If there are issues with resource allocation at the lowest level, things are not going to be pretty when it comes to running an operating system.
This is why you see weird compatibility issues in the PC world; you'll see motherboards requiring 'routine' BIOS upgrades because of an incompatibility with a video card or sound card. Hence the reason I've said it many times when people crap on about Apple - they don't know what the heck they're talking about.
Build you're own PC and it is Russian roulette whether or not you stumble over bugs in the firmware - get a computer off the likes of Dell or HP and find that the bare minimum testing has been done for all possible scenarios. These are things which people on here, who appoint themselves as 'all knowing guru's' when it comes to computers ignore.
Yes, I have actually seen peoples computers perform better after a firmware upgrade; I remember having an old HP; upgraded the firmware and the performance and battery life was better - same said for my old Lenovo laptop too. It does happen, its unfortunate that people don't check their computer manufacturers website for BIOS updates instead of spitting and cursing at Microsoft for things outside their control.
Member since:2005-07-06
there is one thing to release bios updates that fix bugs, but one that cleans up tweaking goofs that should not be there in the first place if the bios people didnt try to second guess the cpu people?
still, i should really be to jaded to get riled up about second guessing or big brother knows better.
but then if i go down that path, i may as well stay in bed...
Member since:2006-09-27
Build you're own PC and it is Russian roulette whether or not you stumble over bugs in the firmware - get a computer off the likes of Dell or HP and find that the bare minimum testing has been done for all possible scenarios. These are things which people on here, who appoint themselves as 'all knowing guru's' when it comes to computers ignore.
Hmm,that may explain why I had to reset the BIOS about every other month because it stopped detecting the DVD drive, until I went to DFI website, downloaded the upgrades and upgraded (with no Windows and no floppy, thanks to FreeDos and Syslinux :p ).
Now I've only had to do that once in a year. Yay!
Member since:
2005-07-06
well on a server one should rarely run more then the required minimum. so optimizing and shaking out bugs should be easier.
whats worrisome is that the bios can have such an effect on things. makes one wonder if some motherboard bios can result in a under-performing pc...
hmm, flash bios, get a more responsive vista?