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We'll finish up our testing with
the incomparable Quake 3 Time Demo run.
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| Benchmarks
and Comparisons |
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Quake 3 Time Demo Benchmark |
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Once again, in an effort to
isolate raw host processor horsepower, we have turned the
graphical settings down to a low resolution 640X480 run with
16 bit color. Additionally, geometry and texture
settings were left low. The CPUs in this test should
be left with the ability to drive as many polygons, through
the GeForce3s that we used, as they can muster.
Here we see a more modest but
significant gain of about 7% for the 2GHz. Northwood and 12%
for the 2.2GHz. CPU. Again, Intel widens the gap in
this gaming benchmark, between itself and the Athlon
XP1900+. Even with XP2000+ chips around the corner, we
would be hard pressed to believe it could score higher than
a 2.2GHz. Northwood Pentium 4.
We see now what Intel would have
liked to deliver in the first incarnation of the Pentium 4
processor. However, with modern fab process
technologies in the .18 micron range, at the time of it's
first launch, cache sizes had to be chopped and clock speeds
held back in return for acceptable yields. With .13
micron technology now in full volume production in the Intel
fabs, Intel can finally realize the full potential of the
architecture they have been developing with the Pentium 4
all this time. At 2.2GHz. the Pentium 4 is the highest
clock speed processor on the planet right now. Higher
clock cycles do not always translate to higher performance,
as we all know. However, you cannot argue the fact
that the Pentium 4, with all of its 2.2GHz. of bandwidth,
shows impressive power in demanding applications.
Although the Athlon XP still seems to have an edge in office
applications, like those tested in the Winstone tests, we are
sure the average end user would have a tough time perceiving
the difference between a high end Athlon and a Pentium 4, in
these tasks. Intel's focus on the Floating Point and
Multimedia performance, we feel is very much on target, for
this is where processing power is going to be required most,
moving forward. Word processors just don't need a
2GHz. processor to run with acceptable performance.
In addition, you have seen a
glimpse of what is to come in our over-clocking tests.
Our 2.2GHz. chip reached 2.6+GHz without too much effort or
extra voltage. Once again, you get the feeling that
Intel is releasing higher follow on speed bins of the part,
almost at will. We are looking forward to the day, in
the not so distant future, where we'll have 3GHz. under the
hood. Let's not forget Intel's promised
"Hyper-Threading" technology, which will effectively make
one physical processor look like two logical processors to
the operating system. With the ability to execute
different tasks simultaneously using common system
resources, the Pentium 4 should, if all goes as Intel plans,
really begin to shine. We'll have to wait and see how
things pan out. For now, we'll thank "deep sub-micron"
technology (very deep) for smiling upon us once again and
delivering even more power.
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you in?
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