And so it ends with Quake III: Arena. For our run of benchmarks we tested using the bog-standard and default "Normal" quality settings at 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024 and 1600x1200. The "Normal" setting won't strain the limitations of any of the 3D cards (at low resolutions, which is why the 640x480 number is of particular interest primarily for CPU reviews), we still get an idea of what performance can be had with an average of speed and quality. For testing purposes, v-sync was turned off and the sheep set free for three hours.

Once again Intel's newest Pentium III edges past the other 1GHz CPUs. Although the increase in performance isn't a 10% gain, it still scores an impressive 134.6fps at 640x480 with sound turned ON (153.2fps with sound OFF). It'll be interesting to see what further increases in frequency to the “Thunderbird” Athlons will yield in terms of a speed increase. For now though, the Pentium III 1GHz and its SSE is champ.