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:
| Processor | Athlon XP-M 'Barton' 2500+ 2.4GHz | Athlon XP 'Barton' 3200+ 2.2GHz | Athlon XP 'Barton' 3000+ 2.167GHz | Athlon 64 3000+ 2.0GHz Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz Athlon 64 3400+ 2.2GHz | Opteron 146 2.0GHz Opteron 148 2.2GHz Opteron 150 2.4GHz | Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz Athlon 64 FX-53 2.4GHz | Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz | Pentium 4 2.8'C'GHz Pentium 4 3.2GHz Pentium 4 3.4GHz Pentium 4 3.2GHz Extreme Edition Pentium 4 3.4GHz Extreme Edition Pentium 4 2.8'E'GHz Pentium 4 3.0'E'GHz Pentium 4 3.2'E'GHz Pentium 4 3.4'E'GHz |
| Front-side bus | 400MHz (200MHz DDR) | 400MHz (200MHz DDR) | 333MHz (166MHz DDR) | HT 16-bit/800MHz downstream HT 16-bit/800MHz upstream | HT 16-bit/800MHz downstream HT 16-bit/800MHz upstream | HT 16-bit/1GHz downstream HT 16-bit/1GHz upstream | HT 16-bit/1GHz downstream HT 16-bit/1GHz upstream | 800MHz (200MHz quad-pumped) |
| Motherboard | Abit AN7 | Asus A7N8X Deluxe v2.0 | Asus A7N8X Deluxe v2.0 | MSI K8T Neo | MSI 9130 | MSI MS-6702E | Abit AV8 | Abit IC7-G |
| BIOS revision | 1.4 | C1007 | C1007 | 1.1 | 1.31 | 3.0B10 | v12 | IC7_21.B00 |
| North bridge | nForce2 SPP | nForce2 SPP | nForce2 SPP | K8T800 | K8T800 | K8T800 Pro | K8T800 Pro | 82875P MCH |
| South bridge | nForce2 MCP-T | nForce2 MCP-T | nForce2 MCP-T | VT8237 | VT8237 | VT8237 | VT8237 | 82801ER ICH5R |
| Chipset drivers | ForceWare 3.13 | ForceWare 3.13 | ForceWare 3.13 | 4-in-1 v.4.51 ATA 5.1.2600.220 | 4-in-1 v.4.51 ATA 5.1.2600.220 | 4-in-1 v.4.51 ATA 5.1.2600.220 | 4-in-1 v.4.51 ATA 5.1.2600.220 | INF Update 5.1.1002 |
| Memory size | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) |
| Memory type | Corsair TwinX XMS4000 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | Corsair TwinX XMS4000 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | Corsair TwinX XMS4000 DDR SDRAM at 333MHz | Corsair TwinX XMS4000 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | Corsair CMX512RE-3200LL PC3200 registered DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | Corsair TwinX XMS3200LL DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | Corsair XMS3500C2PT DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | Corsair TwinX XMS4000 DDR SDRAM at 400MHz |
| CAS latency | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Cycle time | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| RAS to CAS delay | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| RAS precharge | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Hard drive | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB ATA/100 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB ATA/100 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB ATA/100 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB SATA 150 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB SATA 150 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB SATA 150 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB SATA 150 | Seagate Barracuda V 120GB SATA 150 |
| Audio | Creative SoundBlaster Live! | |||||||
| Graphics | Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB with CATALYST 4.1 drivers | |||||||
| OS | Microsoft Windows XP Professional | |||||||
| OS updates | Service Pack 1, DirectX 9.0b | |||||||
I should point out that our 3500+ test platform uses a different motherboard and memory than our other 939-pin chips. Both platforms use the same VIA K8T800 Pro chipset and identical memory timings and BIOS settings, so results should be comparable.
Since I don't have a Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB in the Benchmarking Sweatshop, I used an underclocked Radeon 9800 XT 256MB running Pro speeds. OVERDRIVE was disabled on the underclocked 9800 XT, so the card's performance should match that of the Pro.
All tests on the Intel systems were run with Hyper-Threading enabled.
Thanks to Corsair for providing us with 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.
The test systems' Windows desktops were set at 1152x864 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 2.65MMX
- SiSoft Sandra 2004 (9.89)
- Compiled binary of C Linpack port from Ace's Hardware
- Discreet 3ds max 5.1 SP1
- NewTek Lightwave 7.5
- Cinebench 2003
- POV-Ray for Windows v3.5
- PICCOLOR v4.0 build 472
- SPECviewperf 7.1.1
- ScienceMark 2.0 beta (23SEP03 build)
- Sphinx 3.3
- LAME 3.95.1 (build from mitiok.cjb.net)
- Xmpeg 5.0.3 with DivX Video 5.11
- FutureMark 3DMark03 build 340
- Comanche 4 demo
- Quake III Arena v1.31
- Serious Sam SE v1.07
- Unreal Tournament 2003 demo v.2206
- Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory v2.55
The tests and methods we employ are generally publicly available and reproducible. If you have questions about our methods, hit our forums to talk with us about them.
