PCMark Vantage x64

Publisher: Futuremark

PCMark Vantage x64 is a Vista-only 64-bit productivity benchmark that tests a range of standard application types providing a general performance number in respect to other systems.

It tests multi-core processors and requires a processor with at least SSE2 support and a graphics card that supports Shader Model 2.0 or higher.

There are test scenarios for High Definition TV and Movies, Gaming, Memory, Music, Communications, Internet, General Productivity and Hard Drive. They cover the broad range of typical software a PC user will use and acts as a good "one stop" benchmark for general system performance.


PCMark Vantage x64 chucked out very similar results for all of the new AM3 quad-cores using DDR3, which is a little strange, but the results breakdown (not shown) also varied very little also. The DDR2 numbers however are quite a way down the table, although the 720 again seems like the processor worth looking at as it blitzes its little brother, the 710, while still remaining ahead of its core heavy and more expensive cousins.

DDR3 performance is ahead of a few more expensive Intel quad-cores with both DDR2 and DDR3, and the 720 with DDR2 is still ahead of the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 and even the quad-core Q9450 at 2.67GHz with DDR2 as well. Overall, it's not industry leading, but price matched - AMD has the advantage here.