Case Study: Custom Benchmark Analysis—Making the Numbers Work For You

Submitted by BDTI on Wed, 07/18/2007 - 18:00

Processor designers, marketers, and users with a sophisticated understanding of benchmarks know that raw benchmark results rarely give the most accurate picture of processor performance for a specific application scenario.  While useful for providing a general impression of processor capabilities, raw benchmark results must be adapted to give a clear sense of how processors will perform in a particular application.

For example, one large manufacturer of wireless equipment relies on BDTI DSP Kernel Benchmarks™ results to compare current and future processors for communications baseband applications.  After analyzing their application code, the company’s engineers developed a weighting vector which they use to weight each of the 12 individual benchmarks in the BDTI DSP Kernel Benchmarks suite.  The resulting aggregate metrics—for performance, cost/performance, energy efficiency, and memory use efficiency—provide a reliable indicator of processor performance in the target application.

Recently, BDTI made it easier for processor users, marketers, and designers to efficiently access and adapt BDTI Benchmark results to their needs by introducing the BDTI Benchmark Information Service™.  The BDTI Benchmark Information Service is a subscription service that provides up-to-date BDTI Certified results on the twelve BDTI DSP Kernel Benchmarks. Detailed cycle count, speed, cost-performance, and memory usage data for over 40 processors and processor cores are provided. The service includes quarterly updates for new and newly-benchmarked processors, as well as revised results for previously benchmarked processors.  Results are provided in electronic form, to ensure that users have immediate, company-wide access to BDTI’s benchmark results when needed.

The BDTI Benchmark Information Service includes the BDTI Benchmark Analysis Tool™ (BAT), a flexible analysis package running under Microsoft Excel. The BAT allows quick, customized comparison of processors using results on BDTI’s DSP Kernel Benchmarks. For example, users can carry out application-specific analysis by applying custom weightings to the individual benchmark kernels comprising the BDTI DSP Kernel Benchmarks, then quickly compute speed, cost-performance, energy-efficiency and memory-efficiency comparisons based on those weightings.  In addition, the BAT facilitates quick, “what-if” analysis: users can enter projected benchmark data for their processors and competitors, and immediately preview the future competitive landscape.  Once users have created their custom analysis, the BAT quickly produces clear charts and tables summarizing the results.

To learn how to use BDTI’s in-depth benchmark results to gain a competitive advantage, contact Jeremy Giddings at BDTI (info@BDTI.com).

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