Intel Pentium 4 Vs. Atom: A Battle Of The Generations

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Most people know that Intel’s Atom is a slow, low-cost processor. But does it even offer enough performance to take it beyond desktop processors nearly a decade old? Today we're comparing a modern Atom CPU to two Northwood-class Pentium 4-based PCs.

Test Systems And 3DMark Vantage

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System Hardware
HardwareDetails
Performance Benchmarks
Motherboard IIntel D510MO (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel NM10, BIOS: 0175 (03/8/2010)
Motherboard IIElitegroup 945GCT-D (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel 945GC, BIOS: 08/07/08
Motherboard III (Socket 478)DFI LANParty PRO875B (Rev. B), Chipset: Intel 875P, BIOS: 1.2 (05/21/2005)
CPU Intel IIntel Atom D510 (45 nm, 1.66 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, TDP 13 W)
CPU Intel IIIntel Atom 230 (45 nm, 1.6 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache, TDP 4 W)
CPU Intel IIIIntel Pentium 4 2.2 GHz (130 nm, 2.2 GHz, 512 KB L2)
CPU Intel IVIntel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz (130 nm, 2.2 GHz, 512 KB L2)
RAM DDR (dual)2 x 1 GB DDR2-400 (Corsair CMX1024-3200C2) 2 x 1 GB DDR2-400 (Corsair CMX1024-3500LLPRO)
RAM DDR2 (dual)2 x 2 GB DDR2-800 (Apogee AU2G732-12GH001)
RAM DDR3 (dual)2 x 2 GB DDR3-1333 (OCZ3G2000LV4GK 8-8-8-24)
Graphics Card (AGP)Radeon AX800 Pro, 256MB
Hard DriveSeagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500 GB (ST3500320AS), 7200 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 32 MB Cache
Power SupplyEnermax Pro 82+, EPR425AWT
System Software & Drivers
Operating SystemWindows 7 Ultimate x64 Updated on 2010-05-10
Drivers and Settings
Intel Chipset DriversChipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.1.1025
Intel Storage DriversMatrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.​9.​0.​1023
Intel Graphics 945GIntel Graphics Media Accelerator 15.​12.​75.​4.​1930
Intel Graphics NM10Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 15.​12.​75.​50.​5.​2117

3DMark06

3DMark is not a particularly notable test in this article, as we armed the Pentium 4 system with a Radeon X800 Pro graphics card. The Atom systems output via their integrated GMA 950 and GMA 3150 graphics processor, which deliver much lower results compared to the discrete ATI card, despite its age.

In the CPU test, the dual-core Atom D510 does well, delivering the best performance in this benchmark section.

Once graphics performance is involved, both Atom solutions don’t stand a chance anymore.

Patrick Schmid and Achim Roos