Test notes
In order to get the P4 570J to work properly with our Abit AA8 motherboard, we had to update the motherboard's BIOS. That's not a huge problem, but it does create the possibility of differences between our P4 570J results and our results for other Pentium 4 processors, most of which were obtained using an older BIOS revision.
Also, please note that several of our test CPUs are actually underclocked versions of other products. Specifically, the Pentium 4 model 540 and 550 entries are actually our Pentium 4 560 3.6GHz review sample running at 3.2 and 3.4GHz, respectively. Similarly, the 130nm version of the Athlon 64 3500+ is a down-clocked Athlon 64 3800+, and our Athlon 64 3200+ results were achieved by testing the 90nm Athlon 64 3500+ at 2.0GHz. For most intents and purposes, save perhaps for our power consumption tests, these underclocked processors should perform just like the real deals.
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 64 3200+ 2.0GHz (S939) Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (90nm) Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz (130nm) Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz Athlon 64 4000+ 2.4GHz Athlon 64 FX-55 2.6GHz | Pentium 4 540 3.2GHz Pentium 4 550 3.4GHz Pentium 4 560 3.6GHz Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4GHz | Pentium 4 570J 3.8GHz | Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.46GHz |
| System bus | 1GHz HyperTransport | 800MHz (200MHz quad-pumped) | 800MHz (200MHz quad-pumped) | 1066MHz (266MHz quad-pumped) |
| Motherboard | Asus A8V Deluxe | Abit AA8 DuraMax | Abit AA8 DuraMax | Intel D925XECV2 |
| BIOS revision | 1008 beta 1 | 1.4 | 1.7 | CV92510A.86A.0338 |
| North bridge | K8T800 Pro | 925X MCH | 925X MCH | 925XE MCH |
| South bridge | VT8237 | ICH6R | ICH6R | ICH6R |
| Chipset drivers | 4-in-1 v.1.11 beta (9/7/04) | INF Update 6.0.1.1002 IAA for RAID 4.5.0.6515 | INF Update 6.0.1.1002 IAA for RAID 4.5.0.6515 | INF Update 6.0.1.1002 IAA for RAID 4.5.0.6515 |
| Memory size | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) | 1GB (2 DIMMs) |
| Memory type | OCZ PC3200 EL DDR SDRAM at 400MHz | OCZ PC2 5300 DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz | OCZ PC2 5300 DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz | OCZ PC2 5300 DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz |
| CAS latency | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Cycle time | 5 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| RAS to CAS delay | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| RAS precharge | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Hard drive | Maxtor MaXLine III 250GB SATA 150 | |||
| Audio | Integrated VT8237/ALC850 with 3.64 drivers | Integrated ICH6R/ALC880 with 5.10.0.5022 drivers | Integrated ICH6R/ALC880 with 5.10.0.5022 drivers | Integrated ICH6R/ALC880 with 5.10.0.5032 drivers |
| InGraphics | GeForce 6800 GT 256MB AGP with ForceWare 66.81 drivers | GeForce 6800 GT 256MB PCI-E with ForceWare 66.81 drivers | GeForce 6800 GT 256MB PCI-E with ForceWare 66.81 drivers | GeForce 6800 GT 256MB PCI-E with ForceWare 66.81 drivers |
| OS | Microsoft Windows XP Professional | |||
| OS updates | Service Pack 2, DirectX 9.0c | |||
All tests on the Intel systems were run with Hyper-Threading enabled.
Thanks to OCZ 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, OCZ's RAM is definitely worth considering.
Also, all of our test systems were powered by OCZ PowerStream power supply units. The PowerStream was one of our Editor's Choice winners in our latest PSU round-up.
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 SP2.b
- Compiled binary of C Linpack port from Ace's Hardware
- DOOM 3 1.1 with trdelta1 demo
- Far Cry 1.2 with tr3-pier demo
- Unreal Tournament 2004 v3323 with trdemo1
- 3DMark05 v110
- Sphinx 3.3
- LAME 3.96.1 (build from mitiok.cjb.net)
- Xmpeg 5.0.3 with DivX Video 5.21
- Cinebench 2003
- POV-Ray for Windows 3.6
- picCOLOR v4.0 build 479
- WorldBench 5.0
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.
