computer components & hardware - Slowest Athlon 64 humbles fastest P4 in gaming

This article has been copied from http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=13187

Slowest Athlon 64 humbles fastest P4 in gaming
(And for around $150 less at the checkout)

GERMAN HARDWARE Web site Hard Tecs 4U has published one of the first reviews
of the AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor.
This new model runs at the same 2 GHz frequency as the flagship product, but
does so with 512 KB of level two cache, which is half of what the 3200+
model has. Cheapest Price Watch price has it for $214, which is $156 less
than the $370 3.2 GHz P4.

I've condensed the gaming benchmark results for just the Athlon 64 3000+ and
the 3.2 GHz P4.

3D Mark 2K1 @ 640x480
Athlon 64 3000+ - 21,075
P4 3.2 GHz - 19,382
Athlon 64 won by 8.7%

3D Mark 2K1 @ 1024x768
Athlon 64 3000+ - 18,924
P4 3.2 GHz - 17,587
Athlon 64 won by 7.6%

Comanche 4 @ 1024x768
Athlon 64 3000+ - 60.63
P4 3.2 GHz - 62.46
P4 won by 3.0%

Quake 3 @ 640x480
Athlon 64 3000+ - 462.2
P4 3.2 GHz - 454.6
Athlon 64 won by 1.7%

Quake 3 @ 1024x768
Athlon 64 3000+ - 389.0
P4 3.2 GHz - 370.2
Athlon 64 won by 5.1%

Serious Sam @ 640x480
Athlon 64 3000+ - 248.6
P4 3.2 GHz - 195.4
Athlon 64 won by 27.2%

Serious Sam @ 1024x768
Athlon 64 3000+ - 161.2
P4 3.2 GHz - 134.6
Athlon 64 won by 19.8%

Return to Castle Wolfenstein @ 1024x768
Athlon 64 3000+ - 139.3
P4 3.2 GHz - 138.0
Athlon 64 won by 0.94%

Unreal Tournament 2K3 @ 1024x768
Athlon 64 3000+ - 71.28
P4 3.2 GHz - 60.89
Athlon 64 won by 17.1%

As you can see, Athlon 64 won eight of the nine benchmarks, and one of them
by 27%. For those who need superior gaming performance than a 3.2 GHz P4,
but at less cost, these benchmarks indicate that the Athlon 64 3000+ is the
way to go.

It was a smart move on AMD's part to release this device at the same
frequency as its sibling, but with half the level two cache, as it still
betters the P4 in the very important world of gaming.

AMD deserves some credit here. It has brought to market a processor that has
half the theoretical memory bandwidth and 37.5% less frequency than the 3.2
GHz P4, and it is still a gaming winner.

For those that have been waiting for the cheaper Athlon 64s to arrive, you
can now have your cake and eat it. µ