Posted: June 6th, 2001
Written by: Tuan "Solace" Nguyen

Benchmark System

Benchmarks can be divided into two kinds, component and system. Component benchmarks measure the performance of specific parts of a computer system, such as a microprocessor or hard disk, while system benchmarks typically measure the performance of the entire computer system. In either case, the performance you see in day-to-day use will almost certainly vary from benchmark performance, for a number of reasons. First, individual components must usually be tested in a complete computer system, and it is not always possible to eliminate the considerable effects that differences in a system design and configuration will have on a benchmark result. For instance, system vendors sell systems with a wide variety of disk capabilities and speeds, system memory, system bus features and video and graphics capabilities, all of which influence how the system components (such as the processor) and the computer system perform in actual use and can dramatically affect benchmark results. Also, you may not actually purchase the exact components we use in your benchmark system. This is just a reference you can base your purchase decisions on. Also, differences in software, including operating systems and compilers, will affect component and system performance. Finally, benchmark tests are typically written to be exemplary of only a certain type of computer application, which may or may not be similar to your applications.

Benchmarks are, at most, only one kind of information that you may use during the purchasing process. To get a true picture of the performance of a component or system you are considering purchasing, you must consult other sources of information (such as performance information on the exact system you are considering purchasing). You may also want to try actually sitting down and using the system if possible. There’s no better way to get a feel of a system than actually using it.

AMD “Thunderbird” Athlon 1.4GHz (133MHz DDR)
AMD “Thunderbird” Athlon 1.33GHz (133MHz DDR)
AMD “Thunderbird” Athlon 1.2GHz (133MHz DDR)

Asus A7V133 with BIOS 1004
256MB Micron PC133 SDRAM Cas2
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra 64MB DDR
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB UltraATA/100 7200RPM
Hitachi GD-7000 12X DVD ROM
Intel Management S 100+ Ethernet Adapter
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live!

Intel Pentium 4 1.5GHz

Intel D850GB Desktop reference motherboard
256MB PC800 Samsung RDRAM
NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra 64MB DDR
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 30GB UltraATA/100 7200RPM
Hitachi GD-7000 12X DVD ROM
Intel Management S 100+ Ethernet Adapter
Creative Labs SoundBlaster Live!
Microsoft Windows 98 SE

BAPCo SysMark 2000
ZD Content Creation Winstone 2000
ZD High-End Winstone 99
ZD WinBench 99 CPUM/FPUM

3Dmark2000
800x600 @ 16/32bpps
1024x768 @ 16/32bpps
1280x1024 @ 16/32bpps

Quake 3 Arena with Point Release (1.25y)
Demo001: High Quality and Normal
1024x768
1280x1024
1600x1200

Let’s get on to how this CPU scores.

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