PCMark 2002 Pro Performance

PCMark 2002 Pro is an intriguing system benchmark, as it relates more to basic computer usage. Instead of relying on synthetic scores or actual business applications, it cuts a swath between the two methodologies. PCMark 2002 Pro performs CPU tasks such as image compression, text search and audio conversion, while combining this with a selection of similar benchmarks for memory, hard drive and video components. As we are dealing specifically with processors, the two portions we will be looking at are the CPU and Memory Scores.

In the CPU tests, the Pentium 4 has exhibited noticeable advantages in previous comparisons, and at 2.53 GHz, this one is not even close. Where we see a surprising result is in the i850E vs. SiS 645DX comparison, where the SiS chipset takes the overall crown. PCMark 2002 is a bit different CPU test than found in SiSoft and based on previous benchmark reviews, it does take into consideration the performance of the subsystem.

The way PCMark 2002 Pro actually performs the memory tests is different than other benchmarks (such as SiSoft SANDRA), as it tests the system using a wide array of data sets, and of varying sizes. This tends to give the Pentium 4 an advantage, since at the lower-size data levels, both AMD and Intel platforms perform closely, but at a few of the tests using very large data sizes, the Pentium 4 takes a noticeable lead. Once again we see the SiS 645DX taking the performance lead, and solidifying for AMD owners that previous results were not simply a RDRAM/DDR discrepancy.