Advanced Micro Devices : : AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 vs. FX-51 :

AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 vs. FX-51

Manufacturer:	AMD
Product:	Athlon 64 FX-51/FX-53
Availability:	Immediately
Author:
Date:	3-18-2004
Price:	$799.00

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There are 4 parts to this review, please use the pulldown below to browse sections or simply hit "Next" at the bottom of each section to continue

Test Bed and Programs

Test Bed Configuration

ASUS SK8N

1 Gig OCZ PC3200 (2-2-3-6)

AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 & FX-53

2 x 40 Gig Seagate Barracuda

Lite-On 52x32x52x CD Burner

Lite-On 16x DVD-Rom

Enermax EG465P-VE power supply

Gigabyte Radeon 9700 Pro

ThermalTake Venus 12 heatsink

Windows XP Pro SP1

The software used in this review is all freeware/shareware programs and anyone can benchmark their computer like what I did in the lab

CodeCult's CodeCreatures
Futuremark's 3dmark2001 and 3dmark2003
GL Excess
Sisoft Sandra 2004
Splinter Cell
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
AquaMark 3

results

We'll begin by looking at the comprehensive results of Sisoft Sandra's tests.

FX-53 @ 2400MHz - SiSoft Multimedia

FX-51 @ 2200MHz - SiSoft Multimedia

Both processors perform admirably in Sisoft Sandra's Multi-Media benchmark where the FX 53 pulls in a 9% performance increase for both the Integer and Floating Point.

FX-53 @ 2400MHz - SiSoft CPU Arithmetic

FX-51 @ 2200MHz - SiSoft CPU Arithmetic

Already I am impressed by the performance delta from the previous benchmark and the FX53 remain consistant with a 9% lead over the FX51 in Sisoft Sandra's Arithmetic part of the benchmark.

FX-53 @ 2400MHz - 3DMark 2001

FX-51 @ 2200MHz - 3DMark 2001

A paltry 146 3dmark difference between the two chips show a negligible performance delta of 1%.

FX-53 @ 2400MHz - 3DMark 2003

FX-51 @ 2200MHz - 3DMark 2003

Not surprising, since these chips were nearly neck at neck in 3dmark2001, in 3dmark2003, there is only .5% difference, not even 1%.

FX-53 @ 2400MHz - Aquamark

FX-51 @ 2200MHz - Aquamark

Aquamark shows a 5% performance delta if you compare the CPU scores.

Our FX chips do absolutely nothing in the CodeCreatures being limited by the Radeon 9700 Pro with the official scores five points apart.

FX-53 1024x768@32 - XSMARKS: 12682
		Fillrate			CPU			Polygon			VRAM
		Scene 1	Scene 9	Scene 12	Scene 2	Scene 7	Scene 8	Scene 3	Scene 5	Scene 6	Scene 4	Scene 10	Scene 11
	MIN	286	200	330	166	165	372	230	230	337	125	125	249
	AVG	382	259	342	223	216	431	584	361	469	161	197	293
	MAX	442	333	434	298	252	500	913	608	603	252	408	411
SUMMARIES		12247			10122			16087			7210

FX-53 1280x1024@32 - XSMARKS: 10036
		Fillrate			CPU			Polygon			VRAM
		Scene 1	Scene 9	Scene 12	Scene 2	Scene 7	Scene 8	Scene 3	Scene 5	Scene 6	Scene 4	Scene 10	Scene 11
	MIN	169	124	199	166	120	241	241	141	249	78	82	164
	AVG	244	161	210	227	170	304	429	243	338	102	126	199
	MAX	291	200	251	301	201	409	601	510	435	165	250	252
SUMMARIES		7760			9799			13103			4582

FX-53 1600x1200@32 - XSMARKS: 8367
		Fillrate			CPU			Polygon			VRAM
		Scene 1	Scene 9	Scene 12	Scene 2	Scene 7	Scene 8	Scene 3	Scene 5	Scene 6	Scene 4	Scene 10	Scene 11
	MIN	124	90	125	166	90	166	200	100	191	57	61	110
	AVG	174	117	146	227	140	237	316	180	262	77	89	142
	MAX	201	142	167	301	173	289	434	408	333	154	144	200
SUMMARIES		5503			9538			10134			3523

FX-51 1024x768@32 - XSMARKS: 12725
		Fillrate			CPU			Polygon			VRAM
		Scene 1	Scene 9	Scene 12	Scene 2	Scene 7	Scene 8	Scene 3	Scene 5	Scene 6	Scene 4	Scene 10	Scene 11
	MIN	290	199	330	165	187	378	229	240	383	126	130	248
	AVG	394	249	342	212	243	424	596	365	500	167	196	295
	MAX	440	292	435	268	306	438	914	608	614	252	409	410
SUMMARIES		12447			9880			16263			7373

FX-51 1280x1024@32 - XSMARKS: 9915
		Fillrate			CPU			Polygon			VRAM
		Scene 1	Scene 9	Scene 12	Scene 2	Scene 7	Scene 8	Scene 3	Scene 5	Scene 6	Scene 4	Scene 10	Scene 11
	MIN	167	125	199	165	124	238	240	141	249	76	83	164
	AVG	244	161	210	212	186	312	428	245	356	102	129	199
	MAX	291	179	251	268	250	409	601	510	438	160	252	252
SUMMARIES		7740			9529			13086			4541

FX-51 1600x1200@32 - XSMARKS: 8275
		Fillrate			CPU			Polygon			VRAM
		Scene 1	Scene 9	Scene 12	Scene 2	Scene 7	Scene 8	Scene 3	Scene 5	Scene 6	Scene 4	Scene 10	Scene 11
	MIN	124	90	125	165	99	174	200	100	196	61	58	110
	AVG	174	117	146	211	151	240	314	180	272	77	92	141
	MAX	201	141	167	265	201	307	434	409	358	159	150	200
SUMMARIES		5502			9249			10130			3595

If you look at the red/orange boxes, we can see about 3% difference for the resolutions of 1024x768 and 1280x1024, while 4% is seen for the higher resolution of 1600x1200.

Price of Persia has always been my favorite game, especially when it first came out on the DOS OS. Then came PoP 2, PoP3d, then Sands of Time which I used as a benchmark. PoP: SoT has quite a bit of eye candy and stresses the computer out. I calculated the percentage difference to be a whopping 10% difference with the FX-53 @ 85 FPS average and the FX-51 @ 65 FPS average.

Splinter Cell has been my favorite game since its debut for the computer in March 2003, and I eagerly anticipating Pandora Tomorrow. Splinter Cell's performance between the FX53 and FX51 resulted in 1% increase between the chips. Splinter Cell is limited by the video card more so than the CPU.