Our processor 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:

Thanks to Corsair for providing us with DDR333 memory for our testing. If you're looking to tweak out your system to the max and maybe overclock it a little, Corsair's RAM is definitely worth considering. Using it makes life easier for us as we're dealing with brand-new chipsets and pre-production motherboards, because we don't have to worry so much about stability and compatibility.

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:

• Cachemem 2.6
• SiSoft Sandra Standard 2002 SP1
• Compiled binary of C Linpack port from Ace's Hardware
• ZD Media Business Winstone 2001 1.0.3
• ZD Media Content Creation Winstone 2002 1.0.1
• POV-Ray for Windows version 3.5
• Sphinx 3.3
• ScienceMark 1.0
• LAME 3.92
• Xmpeg 4.5 with DivX Video 5.02
• MadOnion 3DMark 2001 SE Build 330
• Unreal Tournament 2003 demo benchmark
• Comanche 4 demo benchmark
• Quake III Arena v1.31
• Serious Sam SE v1.07
• SPECviewperf 7.0

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.