FC6 on AMD Dual Core
Srikanth Konjarla
srikanth.konjarla at gmail.com
Mon May 21 18:57:27 UTC 2007
Phil Meyer wrote:
> Srikanth Konjarla wrote:
>> Yes. I see degraded performance on the laptop and i totally understand
>> that would cause latency in any heavily disk bound applications.
>> However, i am not sure how it will affect the loading of application(s)
>> and desktop navigation in general.
>>
>> Srikanth
>>
>> Oliver Schulze L. wrote:
>>
>>> Maybe the problem is the hard disk performance, do a quick check with:
>>> hdparm -t /dev/sda
>>>
>>> twice(because of caching) in each PC anc compare
>>>
>>> HTH
>>> Oliver
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> Several things to consider in basic architectural differences.
>
> 1. Your AMD laptop has a slower disk drive.
> 2. Your AMD laptop probably has slower memory timings.
> 3. Your AMD laptop may have less memory.
> 4. Your Laptop probably has a slower video card in it.
>
>
> There are other issues as well, but lets just examine the impact of
> these things in general desktop usage.
>
> Slower disk:
>
> This will impact application startup because reads are slower.
> To demonstrate this effect, time the startup of Firefox just after a
> reboot. Then close Firefox and time the startup of Firefox again. Do
> it a third time just for grins. You will see a marked decrease in the
> startup time of Firefox the second and third time compared to the
> first. Why? File caching by the operating system. The first was from
> disk, the second and third are from cache. repeat the timings on the
> desktop, and pay particular attention to the first timings as related to
> disk timings, and the second and third timings in relation to memory
> performance.
>
> Slow disk reads will also impact any application that forces paging
> activity.
>
Thanks for the detailed response. I guess the laptop is suffering from
slower disk. I have posted my SATA disk related question sometime back
and it appears that only my laptop disk (Samsung HM100JI) is showing
slower performance with sata_nv. Perhaps, i have to change the disk and try.
Srikanth
> Slower memory timings:
>
> Memory timing is critical for application performance, but most desktop
> applications sit and wait for user interaction. Memory timings will
> impact application load times, compiler times, gaming performance, and
> many other specialized applications. A 3D desktop like Beryl will
> 'feel' faster on a system with great memory timings and a great video card.
>
> The amount of memory installed can also make a difference. All modern
> UNIX/Linux kernels will use all available memory. The bulk of memory
> not tied to applications is used for caches of various sorts. As
> demonstrated with the Firefox startup times, disk cache does impact
> desktop performance. Other types of caching also impact general
> performance. UNIX/Linux loves memory. The more the better. In
> general, you will see a performance difference on an otherwise identical
> system between 512MB RAM and 2GB RAM installed. This assumes an active
> desktop user, of course.
>
> Video Card Differences:
>
> This can be the most critical difference in desktop performance, even in
> 2D, which most desktops are rendered.
> Driver differences are always suspect.
> Fonts and display resolutions can impact performance, and plain old
> 'look bad'.
> Using a font server is mpre efficient than reading fonts from disk each
> time.
> Using fonts 'as is' instead of 'rendering' fonts takes mush less CPU.
> Is the laptop display resolution set to recommended (actual) ?
> All of these things can tax a video card even in 2D.
>
> Generally speaking, a laptop will underperform a desktop of the same
> relative components, by design. A laptop uses major components designed
> for lowe power and low heat. This translates to 'slower' than desktop
> components.
>
> Typical 'slower' components include:
> Memory
> Disk
> Video
>
> For instance:
>
> A mobile GForce 7950 GTX is NOT equivalent to a desktop version of the
> same card.
>
> Good Luck!
>
>
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