Benchmarks I
As is the norm now, I'll start off with SiSoft SANDRA's benchmarks. This time I'll include the CPU as well as the memory benchmarks.
You can see the appreciable gain going from 2266MHz to 3GHz. The increase is linear, just as one would expect. The Athlon XP does well in this test for a processor with such a comparative low CPU clock speed.
The Athlon XP is actually running the memory asynchronously at 166MHz on the MSI KT3 Ultra2. The problem, however, is that it can't utilise it due to it being hindered by a 133MHz processor bus. The advantages or being able to run memory at 176MHz is evident in the higher scores posted by the 3GHz CPU.
How does the increased speed translate into performance gains in our first practical benchmark, Pifast?. Only one way to find out. Pifast simply calculates the constant Pi to your chosen number of decimal places using the quickest method possible. A fast processor and oodles of bandwidth are the keys here. 10 million decimal places was chosen as the test.
Sheer CPU and memory grunt, derived from 3GHz, more than eradicates the XP's 10 second lead over the stock 2.26GHz P4. That time of 74.64s is the fastest I've seen. I'm sure a 2GHz XP with a high FSB could challenge and possibly beat that time, though.
