HP dv2 Runs the CrystalMark Benchmark Gauntlet

Over the past several years, I’ve run the CrystalMark software on just about every computing device I’ve purchased or reviewed. As I mentioned in my recent battery test for the HP dv2, there are a number of ways to test hardware. For consistency, I try to use the same test methods were I can since you can then compare the results across different machines.

That’s why I ran CrystalMark R3 on the dv2, just like I did with my MSI Wind netbook when I bought it. I think the results will speak for themselves, but I’ll add my personal thought right up front: the benchmarks reiterate that the dv2 and, more importantly, the AMD Neo platform is squarely targeted between the netbook market and traditional notebooks. You can get traditional notebook performance in a near-netbook sized package: call it a more portable package than a standard notebook, but not as anemic as a netbook. Let’s take a look and see if you agree.

Just to set up the scenario, let me rehash a few of the components in the dv2 as well as my MSI Wind when I tested it.

CPU: The HPdv2 uses a 64-bit AMD Athlon Neo Processor MV-40 running at 1.6GHz with 512MB of L2 cache. The MSI Wind has a 32-bit Intel Atom N270 CPU also running at 1.6GHz with 512MB of L2 cache.

Graphics: There’s an ATI Radeon 3410 with 512 MB of video RAM in the dv2 while the Wind has to make due with the integrated Intel GMA 950 with a meager 64MB of shared memory.

Memory: The dv 2 uses 2 GB of DDR 2 RAM and although my MSI Wind is capable of using 2 GB, I only had 1 GB of RAM in it when testing.

Storage: Although they vary in capacity, both devices use a 5,400 RPM hard drive. Each uses a SATA interface, but the dv2 offers a faster SATA-300 vs. the Wind’s SATA-150.

Now that you’ve got the basics for each system, let’s do some comparison to see if you draw the same conclusion about the dv2’s target market. Here’s a link to the CrystalMark R3 results for the HP dv2 as well as a link to the results from the MSI Wind.

Some general comparisons:

• Overall, the dv2 scored around 30% higher than the MSI Wind: 39524 vs. 27365
• A sizeable chunk of the dv2’s higher score (the majority, in fact) was in the graphics area as expected. In the OpenGL testing, the MSI Wind scored a meager 683 points while the dv2 earned a whopping 9845.
• In most other tests, the dv2 exceeded the Atom only marginally.

Again, I see this device and platform as a compromise beteween what’s currently available. You gain the portability of a small device but you don’t totally sacrifice performance. This comes at the cost of power efficiency as I alluded to in my battery testing, but this shouldn’t be a surprise: the Intel Atom can use up to 2.5 Watts or so, while the AMD Athlon MV40 can hit 15 Watts of consumption.