Test Setup and Details
| Intel | |
| Intel Driver | V4.10 Build 1012 (11-13-2002) |
| Intel IAA Driver | V2.3 (11-13-2002) |
| AMD | |
| nForce2 Driver | Version: 1.16 Package (Asus) |
| VIA Driver | Version: Hyperion 4in1 V4.45 |
| Common Hardware | |
| Graphics Card I | ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Memory: 128 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 620 MHz (256 Bit) Chip Clock: 325 MHz |
| Graphics Card II | GeForce 4 Ti 4600
(MSI MS-8872) Version: 2.00 Memory: 128 MB DDR-SDRAM Memory Clock: 650 MHz Chip Clock: 300 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 40
GB,6L040J2, Maxtor UDMA100, 7200 rpm, 2 MB Cache |
| Network | D-Link DFE-530TX (10/100 Mbit) |
| CDROM | Asus 52x |
| Drivers and Software | |
| ATI | CATALYST RADEON 3.0 (7.81) ATI Control Panels 6.14.10.4012 |
| Nvidia | Detonator: 41.09 |
| DirectX | Version: 9.0 |
| OS | Windows XP, Build 2600 SP1 (English) |
| Benchmarks and Settings | |
| Bapco Sysmark 2002 | Version 1.0 |
| Quake III Arena | Patch V1.16 640x480 - 16 bit / 1024 x 768 - 32 bit Timedemo1 / demo demo001 / nv15demo command line = +set cd_nocd 1 +set s_initsound 0 Graphics detail = Normal |
| 3DMark 2001 SE | Version 1.1 - Build 340 - Patch Build 330 1024 x 786 - 32 bit Default Benchmark |
| PCMark 2002 Pro Pack | Build 100 CPU and Memory Tests |
| Winrar | 3.1 178 MB Wave file, Compression = Best, Dictionary = 4096 KB |
| SiSoftware Sandra Standard 2003 | Version 2003.1.9.26 CPU MultiMedia / CPU Arithmetic / Memory Bandwidth Benchmark |
| Mainconcept MPEG Encoder | Version 1.3 1.2 GB DV to MPEG II (720x576, Audio) converting |
| magix - mp3 maker platinum | Version 3.04 D 178 MB Wave file, 44100 Hz, VBR = on and Quality |
| Unreal Tournament 2003 | Patch 1 1080 1024 x 768 / 32 bit / Audio = off benchmark.exe Texture Detail = Normal, Character Detail = Normal World Detail = Highest, Physics Detail = High all = on, Decal Stay = High |
Benchmarks under Windows XP
| OpenGL performance | Quake 3 Arena "Demo 1" and "NV15 Demo" |
| DirectX8 games | Unreal Tournament 2003 (Demo) 3D Mark 2001 SE (Version 1.1) Unreal Tournament 2003 |
| MP3 audio encoding | mp3 Maker Platinum 3.04 |
| MPEG-2 video encoding | Main Concept 1.3 |
| Office performance | Sysmark 2002 |
| File compression | Winrar 3.1 |
| CPU and Multimedia Bench | PC Mark 2002 SiSoft Sandra 2003 |
We used several different benchmarks to obtain a complete and balanced picture of the performance of all x86 processors. Our benchmark results provide a clear performance overview of a total of 65 different CPUs.
We test OpenGL performance with two different Quake 3 tests. We test Direct3D performance in the DirectX package with 3D Mark 2001 Pro
(based on DirectX 8.1). The various MPEG encoding benchmarks provide us with a wealth of test
scenarios. We encode a 178 MB WAV file to "MPEG-1 Layer 3 format" using the Lame MP3 encoder and mp3 Maker
Platinum. We also convert a DV video (1.2 GB) to MPEG-2 format with Main Concept 1.3. Zipping of files is highly relevant to day-to-day
computing, and we have started to do this in our testing with Winrar 3.1. To measure Office performance, we use the well-known Sysmark 2002 benchmarking program. Last but not least, we include the ubiquitous SiSoft Sandra 2003. We must not forget Tournament 2003, the popular 3D game for DirectX8. Overclockers looking for guidelines for successful overclocking will find PC Mark 2002 of interest.