Desktop Performance Test Setup and Benchmarks

This content was originally featured on Amdmb.com and has been converted to PC Perspective’s website. Some color changes and flaws may appear.

While knowing the application performance of the Opteron 144 processor coupled with the NVIDIA nForce3 chipset is important, and the focus of this piece, I know many of you are wondering how the Opteron performs when it comes to desktop applications and games. With that in mind, I decided to put the nF3 platform to the test with our standard test setup and barrage of benchmarks.

The only major change in the setup of the configurations was the change in the video card selection. The NVIDIA Quadro FX 2000 card was replaced with our current choice in graphics hardware, the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. This allowed an equal footing when comparing the Opteron to the Athlon XP and the P4 setup using the Radeon card as well. Also, for these tests, the memory was dropped down to 1 GB MB instead of 2 GB, using two sticks of Corsair’s XMS3500 memory for dual channel motherboards, as the nF3, nF2 and Canterwood boards are all dual-channel.

AMD Opteron 144 Test System Setup
CPU 1 x Opteron 144 Processors @ 1.8 GHz
Motherboards NVIDIA nForce3 Professional Reference Platform
Memory 2 x 512MB Corsair Micro Registered DDR DRAM
Hard Drive 80 GB 7200 RPM IBM EIDE
Video Card ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Video Drivers Catalyst 63.68
Operating System Windows XP w/ Service Pack 1

AMD Athlon XP Test System Setup
CPU 1 x Athlon XP 3200+ Processor @ 2.2 GHz
Motherboards Asus A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 Ultra 400 Motherboard
Memory 2 x 512MB Corsair Micro DDR DRAM
Hard Drive 80 GB 7200 RPM IBM EIDE
Video Card ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Video Drivers Catalyst 63.68
Operating System Windows XP w/ Service Pack 1

Intel P4 Test System Setup
CPU 1 x Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz (HyperThreading enabled)
Motherboards Chaintech 9CJS 875 Motherboards
Memory 2 x 512MB Corsair Micro DDR DRAM
Hard Drive 80 GB 7200 RPM IBM EIDE
Video Card ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Video Drivers Catalyst 63.68
Operating System Windows XP w/ Service Pack 1

The benchmarks we will go over in the preview of AMD64 desktop performance include:

Quake III
3D Mark 2001: SE
PC Mark 2002
SiSoft Sandra 2003
AIDA32
Cachemem
Content Creation Winstone 2001-2003
Business Winstone 2001-2002

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