Benchmarks Under Windows XP
We used different benchmark tests to obtain a complete and balanced picture of the performance of the Chip-Con system with the P4 running at 4.0 GHz. The benchmark results for the different CPUs provide a clear overview of how each performed.
We have made a lot of improvements to the benchmark tests, and these are described in detail below.
We test OpenGL performance with five different Quake 3 tests. We test Direct3D performance in the DirectX package with 3D Mark 2001 SE (based on DirectX 8). And we haven't forgotten the well-established 3D games for DirectX 8, Unreal Tournament 2003 and Comanche 4. Splintercell is new in 3D game tests.
The various MPEG encoding benchmarks provide us with a wealth of test scenarios. We encode a 178 MB WAV file to MPEG-1 Layer 3 format using the Lame MP3 encoder and mp3 Makers Platinum. New in this test is Xmpeg in version 5.0b, together with the Divx-Codec 5.05. We also convert a DV video (1.2 GB) to MPEG-2 format using Main Concept 1.3. We also create an MPEG-2 file using the latest version of the entry-level video editing software, Pinnacle Studio 8.5.
Our standard test repertoire includes an assessment of rendering performance with Newtek's Lightwave (version 7.5), 3D Studio Max version 5.1 and Cinema 4D XL 8.1. The latter has been updated, and we now include the latest version in our suite of test software.
Zipping files is highly relevant to everyday computing, and we have started to do this now using Winrar 3.11. To measure Office performance, we use the well-known Sysmark 2002 benchmarking program.
And last but not least, where would we be without our trusty SiSoft Sandra 2003 SP1? Overclockers looking for guidelines for successful overclocking will find PC Mark 2002 of interest.
