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
Hardware Details
Performance Benchmarks
Motherboard I Intel D510MO (Rev. 1.0), Chipset: Intel NM10, BIOS: 0175 (03/8/2010)
Motherboard II Elitegroup 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 I Intel Atom D510 (45 nm, 1.66 GHz, 1 MB L2 Cache, TDP 13 W)
CPU Intel II Intel Atom 230 (45 nm, 1.6 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache, TDP 4 W)
CPU Intel III Intel Pentium 4 2.2 GHz (130 nm, 2.2 GHz, 512 KB L2)
CPU Intel IV Intel 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 Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.11, 500 GB (ST3500320AS), 7200 RPM, SATA 3Gb/s, 32 MB Cache
Power Supply Enermax Pro 82+, EPR425AWT
System Software & Drivers
Operating System Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Updated on 2010-05-10
Drivers and Settings
Intel Chipset Drivers Chipset Installation Utility Ver. 9.1.1.1025
Intel Storage Drivers Matrix Storage Drivers Ver. 8.​9.​0.​1023
Intel Graphics 945G Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 15.​12.​75.​4.​1930
Intel Graphics NM10 Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 15.​12.​75.​50.​5.​2117
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