Athlon XP benchmarks

[bloom25]

http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1543
 http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q4/011009/index.html

The results aren't really a surprise, since we knew the 1.4 GHz Tbird was the equal of the 2 Gig P4.  Now it's Intel's turn to strike back with a faster processor again.  

[bloom25]

I thought I'd mention that Anandtech and Tom's Hardware got different SysMark 2001 results because there is a bug in Windows Media Encoder that did not recognise SSE support in the Palomino.  There is a patch for this (which Anandtech used and Tom did not).  Microsoft has also fixed the issue with future versions of Media Encoder.  If the bug is fixed the Athlon XPs gain 8% in overall performance and 18% in the Media Encoder portion.  Keep that in mind when viewing the benchmarks.

I still don't like the Model number ratings on the new Athlon XPs, but judging by the benchmark results they are VERY conservative.  The 1.533 Ghz "Model 1800" wins just about every benchmark vs the 2 Gig P4.  (I was most impressed at the Athlon XPs boost in Quake 3.  I expected some boost, but I did not expect the Athlon Xp to actually catch [or pass at the higher resolutions that actually matter] the 2 gig P4. )

The other good thing about the release of the Athlon XPs is that the prices on the Tbird core Athlons will likely fall pretty much overnight.  Now would be a great time to upgrade your CPU if you have an Athlon Socket A board.  Intel would also be wise to lower their prices now, so those of you who bought P4s at 1.3 Ghz might be able to find 2 GHz P4s at reasonable prices in a few months.  (2 Ghz will likely be the highest clock speed P4 that will fit in all current P4 Motherboards. )

[Sancho]

Does Aces High make much use of SSE or 3dnow for performance improvement?

[bloom25]

Here's another one: http://www.tech-report.com/reviews/2001q4/athlonxp/index.x?pg=1

I doubt Aces High itself uses either SSE or 3dNow, though video card drivers do have both 3dnow, SSE, and SSE 2 code.  (If AH uses standard x87 floating point code the Athlon's lead over the P4 would be even larger, since the P4 is pretty weak with non-optimized FP code.)