Our testing methods
As ever, we did our best to deliver clean benchmark numbers. Tests were run at least twice, and the results were averaged. The Pentium III and Celeron test system was built using the following components:

Processor: Intel Pentium III processor at 1.2GHz on a 133MHz front-side bus, Intel Celeron processor at 900MHz on a 100MHz front-side bus (Celeron 900 supplied by KickAss Gear.)

Motherboard: Intel D815EEA2 motherboard - Intel 815 chipset - 82815 memory controller hub (MCH), 82801BA I/O controller hub (ICH2)

Memory: 256MB PC133 SDRAM (CAS 2) in one 256MB DIMM

Video: NVIDIA GeForce 3 64MB AGP (Version 12.41 drivers)

Audio: Creative SoundBlaster Live!

Storage: IBM 75GXP 30.5GB 7200RPM ATA/100 hard drive

Our comparison systems varied only with respect to the motherboard, memory, and CPU. The DDR Athlon system used by the 1.2GHz CPU was built with these parts:

Processor: AMD Athlon processor at 1.2GHz on a 266MHz (DDR) bus

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA7-DX motherboard - AMD 761 north bridge, VIA VT82C686B south bridge

Memory: 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM (CAS 2.5) in one 256MB DIMM

Meanwhile, to allow a better comparison between the Thunderbird and Morgan, the same PC133 system was used by the 1GHz Athlon and Duron, and consisted of the following:

Processor: AMD Athlon processor at 1GHz, Duron processor at 1GHz, on a 200MHz (DDR) bus

Motherboard: Asus A7VI-VM motherboard - Via VT8365 north bridge, Via VT8231 south bridge

Memory: 256MB PC133 SDRAM (CAS 2) in one 256MB DIMM

Finally, the Pentium 4 box looked like this:
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 processor at 1.4GHz on a 400MHz (quad-pumped) bus

Motherboard: Intel D850GB - Intel 850 chipset - 82850 memory controller hub (MCH), 82801BA I/O controller hub (ICH2)

Memory: 256MB PC800 DRDRAM memory in two 128MB RIMMs

All systems were equipped with Windows 2000 SP2 with DirectX 8.0a.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

  • SiSoft Sandra Standard 2001.3.7.50
  • Compiled binary of C Linpack port from Ace's Hardware
  • ZD Media Business Winstone 2001 1.0.1
  • ZD Media Content Creation Winstone 2001 1.0.1
  • LAME 3.70
  • SPECviewperf 6.1.2
  • 3DMark 2001 Build 200
  • Quake III Arena 1.17
  • Serious Sam v1.02
  • ScienceMark 1.0
  • Sphinx 3.3

The test systems' Windows desktops were set at 1024x768 in 32-bit color at a 75Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.

All the tests and methods we employed are publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.