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.

Our test systems were configured like so:

Note that we've included an SiS 645-based system so we can get a sense for the performance of the P4s with a 533MHz bus and DDR333 memory. Although the SiS 645 chipset doesn't officially support a 533MHz bus, Abit's wondrous (and aptly named) little SD7-533 motherboard offers all the right divisors for PCI, AGP, and memory to allow operation with a 533MHz front-side bus without running anything else out of spec. In fact, the board performs flawlessly with the bus at 533MHz. SiS has recently released its 645DX chipset with official 533MHz bus support and a slightly improved memory controller, and we'll have one in-house for testing soon. Nevertheless, what you see from the SD7-533 shouldn't be far off what you can expect from other DDR333 solutions for these new Pentium 4 chips.

I should also note that we're using the Intel Application Accelerator drivers instead of the older Ultra ATA drivers. We elected to go this route because Intel is replacing its Ultra ATA drivers with IAA. In addition to providing support for Ultra ATA modes, the Application Acclerator does some prefetching to improve I/O throughput, so products based on Intel chipsets may have a slight advantage as a result. But then, that's the point. We're hopeful other chipset manufacturers will incorporate similar performance-boosting measures in their drivers, as well—if they haven't already.

The test systems' Windows desktops were set at 1024x768 in 32-bit color at an 85Hz screen refresh rate. Vertical refresh sync (vsync) was disabled for all tests.

We used the following versions of our test applications:

• SiSoft Sandra Standard 2002
• Compiled binary of C Linpack port from Ace's Hardware
• ZD Media Business Winstone 2001 1.0.2
• ZD Media Content Creation Winstone 2002 1.0
• POV-Ray for Windows version 3.5 beta RC3
• NewTek Lightwave 7.0b
• Sphinx 3.3
• ScienceMark 1.0
• LAME 3.91
• Xmpeg 4.5 with DivX Video 5.01
• MadOnion 3DMark 2001 SE
• Codecreatures Benchmark Pro
• Comanche 4 demo benchmark
• Serious Sam SE v1.05

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.