We use different benchmark tests to obtain a comprehensive and balanced picture of the Intel Pentium 4 3.06 GHz. The benchmark test results of 22 different CPUs provide a clear overview. Regarding the 3.06 GHz version of the P4 we enabled and then disabled the Hyper-Threading option in the BIOS of the motherboard. The results of the P4 3.60 GHz represent a CPU without Hyper-Threading capabilities on-die. The latter is a special "unlocked" sample.

There have been numerous improvements since the last test, and these are described below. We gauged OpenGL performance with five different Quake 3 tests, the Direct3D performance in the DirectX package with the 3D Mark 2000 Pro (Version 1.1 based on DirectX 7) and the 3D Mark 2001 SE (based on DirectX 8). The various MPEG encoding benchmarks provide us with a wealth of test scenarios. A 178 MB WAV-File is encoded into MPEG-1 Layer 3 format with the aid of the Lame MP3-Encoder and mp3 Maker Platinum. New in this test, we converted a DV video (1.2 GB in size) into an MPEG-4 file using Divx-Codec 5.02 Pro and with the assistance of Virtual Dub. An MPEG-2 file is also created, using the new video editing software Pinnacle Studio 8.

The standard test repertoire includes measuring the rendering performance with Lightwave in the 7.5 version of Newtek, 3D Studio Max version 5.0, and Cinema 4D XL 7.303. The highlight here is 3D Studio Max 5.0. But of more relevance to practical computing is the zipping of files, which we carry out with the new WinACE 2.2 zip program. We use the Sysmark 2002 benchmark to measure Office performance. The new SPEC Viewperf version 7 provides us with a comprehensive 3D benchmark suite. And, bringing up the rear, we have SiSoft Sandra 2002 SP1.