Benchmark Marathon: 65 CPUs from 100 MHz to 3066 MHz @ THG

ToshiroOC · Feb 18, 2003, 05:16 AM

Opinions on what constitutes "adequate computing speed" vary greatly from one user to the next. While one person may be perfectly content with an old Pentium 133 system that stores stamp club membership details in a DOS program in "real-time mode", there is another group at the other end of the scale - video fans who must have the latest and greatest and who will clamor for more and more Gigahertz and gigabytes. This is an extreme comparison, it's true, but it reflects the broad spectrum of computers in use today and their users' opinions about the adequacy of their systems. With this thought in mind, we have been delving into a subject that occupies the minds of anyone buying a new PC, especially 'upgraders': what performance improvement can be expected when replacing processor X with processor Y? As the entire architecture of the PC (memory, chipset, and platform) has changed over the years, we have tried to present a uniform view under Windows XP.

Before some overly critical observers voice their opinions, we would like to explain more about the benchmark tests we carried out at the Tom's Hardware lab - the biggest test we have ever undertaken. For our comparison of 65 processors we used 13 CPU platforms configured as they would have been at the time of their introduction. We looked at several platforms in detail.

--By Frank VÃ¶lkel and Bert TÃ¶pelt, source: THG

Article can be read here.

Vampyromaniac · Feb 18, 2003, 09:17 AM

how does XP evenrun on a pentium 100

ToshiroOC · Feb 18, 2003, 09:54 AM

Either very slowly or with a mite of photoshop

nForcer · Feb 18, 2003, 04:29 PM

Anything will run with enough RAM. I even got 98 to run on a (non FPU enabled) 486 processor. How? Installed 98 on a seperate machine then swapped the drives. I'm willing to bet they did the same. My greatest accomplishment was getting 2000 Adv Server running on a Cyrix 120Mhz (128MB EDO RAM). And it boot/ran faster than a PII 300 machine I had running 2000 Professional. So I let it run as my file server till the max HD support killed me!

Matth · Feb 18, 2003, 05:47 PM

For several of the Win9x family, SETUP /NM will allow hardware minimum to be ignored.

I'll read it later...

Maybe it'll also answer such eternal questions as:

What makes more difference - faster CPU or more RAM
Just how MUCH faster is a system with DDR
How much do onboard shared memory graphics sap the performance

(later)
Read it, not that useful, and VERY slow.

May be of interest to anyone upgrading, too see how much more they can expect, but the reasons are not analysed.

The point which interested me, was the 1200 (B) Athlon at 200 FSB, being beaten by a 1000 (C) at 266

Feb 18, 2003, 05:16 AM	#1
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	Benchmark Marathon: 65 CPUs from 100 MHz to 3066 MHz @ THG Opinions on what constitutes "adequate computing speed" vary greatly from one user to the next. While one person may be perfectly content with an old Pentium 133 system that stores stamp club membership details in a DOS program in "real-time mode", there is another group at the other end of the scale - video fans who must have the latest and greatest and who will clamor for more and more Gigahertz and gigabytes. This is an extreme comparison, it's true, but it reflects the broad spectrum of computers in use today and their users' opinions about the adequacy of their systems. With this thought in mind, we have been delving into a subject that occupies the minds of anyone buying a new PC, especially 'upgraders': what performance improvement can be expected when replacing processor X with processor Y? As the entire architecture of the PC (memory, chipset, and platform) has changed over the years, we have tried to present a uniform view under Windows XP. Before some overly critical observers voice their opinions, we would like to explain more about the benchmark tests we carried out at the Tom's Hardware lab - the biggest test we have ever undertaken. For our comparison of 65 processors we used 13 CPU platforms configured as they would have been at the time of their introduction. We looked at several platforms in detail. --By Frank VÃ¶lkel and Bert TÃ¶pelt, source: THG Article can be read here.

Feb 18, 2003, 09:17 AM	#2
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	how does XP evenrun on a pentium 100 __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Feb 18, 2003, 09:54 AM	Thread Starter #3
ToshiroOC Unbiased. Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 4,812 Rep Power: 0	Either very slowly or with a mite of photoshop __________________ [img][/img] [color=White]Peace be with you, Joe.[/color] Driverheaven Staff Member (Supermoderator)

Feb 18, 2003, 05:47 PM	#5
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	For several of the Win9x family, SETUP /NM will allow hardware minimum to be ignored. I'll read it later... Maybe it'll also answer such eternal questions as: What makes more difference - faster CPU or more RAM Just how MUCH faster is a system with DDR How much do onboard shared memory graphics sap the performance (later) Read it, not that useful, and VERY slow. May be of interest to anyone upgrading, too see how much more they can expect, but the reasons are not analysed. The point which interested me, was the 1200 (B) Athlon at 200 FSB, being beaten by a 1000 (C) at 266 Last edited by Matth; Feb 19, 2003 at 03:12 PM.

Feb 18, 2003, 04:29 PM	#4
nForcer Twice the fun! Join Date: Jul 2002 Posts: 1,404 Rep Power: 0	Anything will run with enough RAM. I even got 98 to run on a (non FPU enabled) 486 processor. How? Installed 98 on a seperate machine then swapped the drives. I'm willing to bet they did the same. My greatest accomplishment was getting 2000 Adv Server running on a Cyrix 120Mhz (128MB EDO RAM). And it boot/ran faster than a PII 300 machine I had running 2000 Professional. So I let it run as my file server till the max HD support killed me!