MadOnion's 3DMark 2001SE is a very popular 3D benchmark tool, and assuming the video card and driver revision is kept absolutely consistent, then it can be a good system/CPU test as well. 3DMark 2001SE also fills the dual role of doing some idea as to which processor may be the best fit for upcoming DirectX 8.X games. Benchmark testing was performed at the default setting of 1024x768, 32-bit color/textures, and Pure Hardware T&L support.
3DMark 2001SE is one of the hardest-fought benchmarks in this review, and the Athlon XP 2700+ only loses by the slimmest of margins to the Pentium 4-2.8 GHz. It's a no-brainer that the Athlon XP 2800+ would likely take the performance crown, but the 2700+ is still sitting pretty in second place.
Quake 3: Arena is our primary gaming benchmark here at SE and its design really shows off some of the advantages of the Pentium 4 and Athlon XP. Quake 3 is both floating-point intensive and has support for SIMD optimizations (MMX, 3DNow! and SSE), making it a great fit for processor testing. It also happens to be an extremely popular game and Quake 3 performance is often used as the barometer for many CPU and 3D video card purchases.
Quake 3 testing is performed using High Quality detail and a 1024x768 resolution, and Quake 3 testing has also been updated to release 1.30, along with the standard "demo Four".
Quake 3 has long been the domain of the Pentium 4, and even the SSE-enabled Athlon XP hasn't changed that fact. In this performance test, Intel once again comes out on top, and maintained their lead from previous comparisons. The 333 MHz Athlon XP 2700+ doesn't show a noticeable speed jump over the 266 MHz Athlon XP 2600+, and the lower FSB is likely not the issue for AMD processors and Quake 3.
Serious Sam: The Second Encounter is a great sequel in the popular franchise and the benchmark portion is even better than the original. This new game not only puts the pressure on processors and 3D cards (especially at higher resolutions) but provides some excellent in-game demos in wide open spaces with tons of enemies. For our specific tests, we have used the in-game Elephant Atrium demo to determine potential framerates, at 1024x768x32-bit.
As we've noted before, Serious Sam 2 is far more concerned with raw power as opposed to special enhancements or features, and previous video card and CPU testing has confirmed this. The Athlon XP 2700+ takes back the speed title from the Pentium 4-2.8 GHz and we also see a nice framerate increase that takes into consideration the 333 MHz FSB.
AMD Athlon XP 2700 Review Products
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