Some readers may wonder why we are running all the Intel processors with RDRAM. With the recent mass recall of all i820 motherboards using the MTH (Memory Translation Hub), SDRAM is no longer an option we can recommend for i820 motherboards.

Quake III: Arena Performance

Quake III Arena, when run in NORMAL Quality mode at 640x480x16bpp, is a good test of both a processor's floating point and integer capabilities as well as AGP performance. As per usual, we ran the demo001 tests at 640x480 using the NORMAL setting. To avoid encountering fill-rate limitations we are continuing to use our Guillemot MaxiGamer Xentor TNT2 Ultra running at 175/183. We use a TNT2 Ultra instead of a GeForce because, if you test Quake III Arena with a GeForce, the GeForce's transformation and lighting engine unloads the CPU of some of its work, leaving you with a good test of the GeForce and a less reflective test of the CPU.

In Quake III Arena, the Pentium III 933MHz picks up where the 866MHz left off. The "Coppermine" core once again shows off how well it scales all the way from 667MHz-1Ghz. The 933MHz outperformed the Athlon 1GHz by a significant margin of 10.8fps and at 119.7fps wasn't too far off the Pentium III 1GHz either. The Athlon 950MHz also falls a little behind the 933MHz, proving that, at higher clock speeds, the Pentium III has a significant advantage in Quake III Arena. As we've stated in previous reviews, this is ultimately due to the Pentium's full-speed on-die L2 cache, which keeps the Pentium's core well fed with data and instructions while the Athlon sits hungry, waiting for more. When AMD ships their Athlons with the new "Thunderbird" (later on this summer) core and its full speed on-die cache, the Pentium III will likely have a strong challenger at high clock speeds, but by then, Intel's Willamette won't be far behind. The big wheel keeps on turning…