InfoWorld: To paraphrase Benjamin Disraeli, there are lies, damn lies, and benchmarks. Synthetic CPU tests can provide numbers pointing one way or the other and can help unmask weaknesses and strengths in chip architectures, but what matters most is how the processors perform in production.

Last month, I used real-world, application-based benchmarks to test a Dell PowerEdge server sporting the spanking new Xeon with EM64T (Extended Memory 64 Technology), otherwise known as Intel’s answer to AMD’s Opteron. But the Intel processor was so fresh, we had to stick with 32-bit benchmarks and postpone tests of the chip’s 64-bit x86 capabilities, which are based on, but not identical to, the AMD’s x86-64 standard.

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