Processor performance can be divided into floating point and integer unit speeds. Two of our standard CPU benchmarks, Ziff Davis' CPUMark 99 for integer performance and FPU WinMark 99 for floating point performance, separate these two aspects of processing to compare the different architectures and offer views of the CPU as an isolated component.
The Athlon "Classic" always scored below an equivalently clocked Pentium III. For the first time, a 1GHz Athlon edges slightly ahead of a Pentium III. The ground that AMD has made up should also be noted. An Athlon "Classic" 1GHz scores 77.9 where as the T-bird gets 91.0, which is 4.6% more than its Intel counterpart scores at 87.0 and an increase of 16.8% over the older Athlon.