We used several different benchmark tests in order to give you a complete and balanced picture of how the P4 with 3.2 GHz performs. The benchmark results from a total of 15 different CPUs provide a general overview.

There are a few new aspects to the benchmark tests. OpenGL performance is evaluated using various Quake 3 tests and the Direct3D performance from the DirectX package is measured with 3D Mark 2001 SE (based on DirectX 8) and the established 3D games for DirectX 8: Unreal Tournament 2003 and Comanche 4. A newcomer here is Splintercell.

A comprehensive test scenario is provided by a variety of benchmarks for MPEG encoding. With the help of mp3 Maker Platinum, a 178 MB WAV file is converted to the MPEG-1 Layer 3 format. New to the tests is Xmpeg version 5.0b, including the DivX codec 5.05. We also convert a DV video (1.2 GB) to MPEG-2 with the help of Main Concept 1.3. In addition, an MPEG-2 file is created with new, entry-level video editing software, Pinnacle Studio 8.5.

Part of our standard repertoire is evaluating rendering performance with Lightwave version 7.5 from Newtek, 3D Studio Max version 5.1 and Cinema 4D XL 8.1.

Also important for practical applications is data compression, for which we use WinRAR 3.11. In order to test office performance, the Sysmark 2002 benchmark is used. And, of course, SiSoft Sandra 2002 SP1 shouldn't be left out.

PC Mark 2002 is interesting for friends of overclocking who want references with which to measure their own overclocking success.