3DMark 2001 Pro

MadOnion's 3DMark 2001 is a good CPU benchmarking tool, as long as you keep the video portion consistent. In this case, we're using a high-end GeForce3 Ti 500 supporting all of the benchmark features, so we can safely compare results across CPU types and speeds. 3DMark 2001 also fills the role of predicting which processor may offer the best base for upcoming DirectX 8.0 games, as well as demonstrating the fit for the popular NVIDIA brand of video cards. All benchmark testing was performed at 1024x769 using both 16 and 32-bit color/textures, and set for Pure Hardware T&L support.

In what is the closest race of them all, the Athlon XP 1900+ turned in the best 16-bit score using Windows 2000 Pro, while the Pentium 4 edged out the Athlon crowd using Win 98SE. Once we hit 32-bit testing, the Pentium 4-2.0 GHz comes out on top in both situations. This goes along with some of testing, as the Athlon XP seems to be far more suited to the demanding environments of Win 2000 Pro and Win XP Pro. The Pentium 4 is no slouch in Win 2000 Pro either, though the processor did produce higher Win 98SE scores than in Win 2000 Pro, exactly the opposite of the AMD processors.

Quake 3 Arena

Quake 3: Arena is our primary gaming benchmark here at SE and its design really shows off some of the advantages of SSE support. Quake 3 is floating-point intensive and has support for Intel and AMD optimizations (MMX, 3DNopw! and SSE), making it a great test for the Athlon XP's new SSE features. It also happens to be a very popular game and Quake 3 performance is often used as the sole barometer for many gamers.

We have included both Quake 3 Win 98SE and Win 2K benchmarks, using Normal, High Quality and MAX settings. Normal is the default Quake 3 option (set at 16-bit color/textures) as is High Quality, while MAX starts with the High Quality setting and ups the detail levels to maximum.

Although the Athlon XP 1900+ does feature SSE enhancements and a higher clock speed, it still came up just short of the Pentium 4-2.0 GHz in our Quake 3 testing. The framerate jump from the Athlon 1.4 GHz is very impressive, demonstrating one again that the Athlon XP enhancements are hard at work. But as with our previous Duron 1.1 GHz results, it just seems to fall a bit short of the Intel mark. Please note that the best CPU comparisons occur at Normal and High Quality settings, and the MAX scores start to be limited by the video card, rather than the CPU.

Serious Sam Performance

Given the natural inclination to see Quake 3 as an Intel-only benchmark, we've also included a more open test for your viewing pleasure. Serious Sam is a far more generic game and its benchmark results usually point more towards pure 3D gaming performance than support of a given API or feature. It's kind of a "getting back to basics" kind of test, and due to varied game tastes and genres, it can be important for just that reason. For our specific tests, we have used the in-game demos to determine potential framerates, using both 16 and 32-bit modes.

In Serious Sam testing, the Athlon XP is by far the faster CPU, and outdistances the Pentium 4-2.0 GHz by a nice margin. This happens in both 16 and 32-bit settings, and also notice how far ahead the Athlon XP processors are from the Athlon 1.4 GHz. This test shows off the inherent core enhancements of the Athlon XP and not only demonstrates performance advantages over the Pentium 4-2.0 GHz, but over the previous Athlon core as well.