AMD Athlon XP 2100+ Review - Page 5

Video 2000 MPEG Encoding

While many of the tests included in Video 2000 may be of questionable use (especially for performance testing) it does have one gem: the MPEG encoding portion of the suite. This test is a pure CPU subsystem workout that encodes frames in an MPEG animation and then displays a final framerate.

The Athlon XP has always done well in this particular benchmark, and the 2100+ processor is no different. When matched with the nForce platform especially, the MPEG encoding mark places it nicely ahead of the Pentium 4-2.2 GHz, and furthers the lead AMD took with the Athlon XP 2000+.

3DMark 2001 Pro

MadOnion's 3DMark 2001 is a very popular 3D benchmark tool, and as long as the video component is kept absolutely consistent, then it can be an adequate system/CPU test as well. 3DMark 2001 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 1024x768 using both 16 and 32-bit color/textures, and set for Pure Hardware T&L support.

In our 16-bit testing, the Athlon XP 2100+ nips the Pentium 4-2.2 GHz by an extremely thin margin, marking the first win for AMD in a long while. When raised to 32-bit, the Athlon XP displays slightly higher performance than the Pentium 4, and the Athlon XP 2100+ is once again the top dog.