The previous benchmark testing, while interesting, didn't really tell us anything we didn't suspect in the first place. If the Duron 900 is the current value CPU performance leader, it would stand to reason that the Duron 950 would be just a bit faster. So in the long-standing Sharky Extreme tradition of giving you something a bit different in each review, we have decided to do just that with the Quake 3 benchmarks.

If you are thinking of buying AMD, one of the main questions is whether to spend the cash and go with the Athlon, or save a few bucks and nab a Duron. This is also not just a question of processors, but also one of allocating your PC budget appropriately. After all, if you decided to save $50 and go with a Duron 900 instead of an Athlon 1 GHz, then that money may take you from a standard GeForce2 GTS 32 MB all the way up to a 64 MB GeForce2 Pro.

Although we can't answer all of these questions in this one article, we have taken the most telling 3D game benchmark of all, Quake 3 Arena, and taken it up against both an Athlon 1 GHz and Duron 950 MHz. The video card angle is handled by comparison benchmarks using a reference GeForce2 ULTRA, Pro and GTS, as well as testing at three different video settings.

At the Normal 640x480 setting, we see the CPU itself being the limiting factor, as at this resolution and detail, each card performs almost exactly the same. This does give a great opportunity to look at comparative CPU performance, and we find the Athlon 1 GHz out to a 16 fps lead, virtually across the board.

When moving up to the MAX 800x600 level, we start to see noticeable differences between the GeForce2 video cards, and the Athlon lead starts to shrink considerably. You should also notice that as we move lower down the GeForce2 list, the Althorn and Duron scores start to become a lot closer. The faster Athlon really benefits from the higher-end speed of the GeForce2 ULTRA, while the Duron seems to make it a real contest with the lower fill-rate of the GeForce2 GTS.

Finally, looking over the MAX 1024x768 benchmark scores, we start to see the GeForce2 performance limitations coming into effect, as the Athlon lead shrinks to only a few fps with any of the GeForce2 reference cards.

So what does this all tell us? Mostly that the Athlon 1 GHz is still a higher performing CPU, even when compared to the Duron 950. There is a bit more at work here as well, such as comparing the different CPU/3D video platforms, instead of just the processors.

Discounting the CPU-limited Normal tests, the MAX benchmarks suggest that a Duron 950 with a GeForce2 Pro will outperform a Athlon 1 GHz with a GeForce2 GTS. The same is true of the 1024x768 MAX GeForce2 ULTRA vs. Pro comparison, where the slower Duron made hay using the faster, more expensive ULTRA. For budget-oriented gamers, spending a bit less on a Duron may be a very good deal if you then use those cost savings to upgrade your 3D video card.