P4's Power Push
Intel's much-anticipated revamp of the Pentium 4 delivers a big L2 cache and a nice boost. But in our first system tests, Athlon XP PCs hold their own.Laurianne McLaughlin
Good news, Intel fans: In our tests the latest version of the Pentium 4 CPU (formerly code-named Northwood) generally offers better performance than the old P4s, and in some cases delivers a significant boost. But our first system tests of machines using the new 2-GHz and 2.2-GHz Pentium 4 chips showed that an AMD Athlon XP 1900+ comparison system ran business applications faster and held its own on many multimedia apps.
And given the price premiums typical of PCs using the latest Intel chips, the values available in Athlon XP units will be tough to beat.
We looked at new P4 systems from Compaq, Dell, and Hewlett-Packard, as well as a shipping unit from MicronPC equipped with AMD's latest chip.
Test Surprises
Just what can a system with the new Pentium 4 processor do for you? That varies widely by application.
The results turned in by the HP Pavilion 9905, configured with 256MB of DDR SDRAM and Windows XP Home, are especially instructive. We tested it with three different chips: a new Pentium 4 2.2 GHz, a new 2-GHz Pentium 4 2A GHz (Intel uses the "A" to distinguish the new CPU from earlier 2-GHz P4 chips), and an older Pentium 4 2 GHz. On PC WorldBench 4, which emphasizes productivity apps, the three systems earned very similar scores, so you probably wouldn't notice a difference while using Microsoft Office.
You would, however, detect a difference in Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1 and in AutoCAD. With a P4 2.2 GHz, the HP system finished our Photoshop tests 25 percent faster than it did using the older P4 2 GHz chip. We also saw a gain (of 16 percent) by the new P4 2A GHz CPU over the original 2-GHz chip on these tests. The boost was just as dramatic on the AutoCAD test: The HP with the P4 2.2 GHz shaved 92 seconds off the time of the unit with the P4 2 GHz chip. The P4 2A-based HP saved over a minute over the older P4 2 GHz-based PC. This pattern held true across our multimedia tests with the HP, too.
Results were less consistent when we compared the P4 2.2 GHz-based Dell and Compaq PCs with the MicronPC Millennia XP+ Professional. (All of these PCs ran Windows XP Professional.)
The MicronPC, equipped with AMD's Athlon XP 1900+ chip (which runs at 1.6 GHz) and 256MB of DDR SDRAM, posted a score of 119 on our PC WorldBench 4 test suite--that's 9 points higher than the Dell Dimension 8200, with a Pentium 4 2.2 GHz chip and 256MB of RDRAM. Though the difference in speed isn't huge (the MicronPC system performed 8 percent faster), you may notice it.
The Compaq Evo D300 had a score of 105; its use of fairly inexpensive SDRAM instead of faster but pricier RDRAM may have contributed to its marginally lower mark.
But with standard business apps, none of these systems performed much better than machines with slightly slower CPUs. The Dell unit scored 2 points above the average mark of three previously tested PCs with older P4 2 GHz chips, while MicronPC's Athlon XP machine earned only 4 more points on PC WorldBench 4 than an Athlon 1.4 GHz PC.
The results on our graphics apps and multimedia tests were mixed. The MicronPC unit did best on our AutoCAD and Photoshop tests. It shaved 25 seconds off the Dell's time in AutoCAD, and it was about 10 seconds faster than the Dell on each Photoshop test. But the Dell took top honors on the multimedia tests, albeit by smaller margins: Its strongest score, on the Windows Media video test, was about 8 percent (5 seconds) faster than the MicronPC system's.
Software patches designed to exploit features in specific hardware may net you better performance. Adobe's patch for Photoshop is geared for P4 PCs, but in our tests it produced improvements on the Athlon XP unit too. We saw virtually identical results on our multiple filters test, which stresses integer functions, but on our floating-point-intensive lighting effects test, the scores for the P4-based PCs improved by about 8 percent.
P4 Design Tweaks
Intel has not radically altered the new P4 CPUs. The most significant change is the new chip's.13-micron manufacturing process. This process produces chips that are both cooler and more power-efficient than the original P4s (built with a.18 micron process), allowing the new chips to run at 1.5 volts instead of 1.8 volts. The revised process also lets Intel pack more transistors into the chip--enabling a 512KB Level 2 cache, twice the cache of the original Pentium 4 CPUs--and delivers a cost savings because Intel obtains higher chip yields from the silicon than it did previously.
A new version of the 845 motherboard chip set debuts with the new P4 CPUs. The updated 845 lets P4 system makers use either SDRAM or faster DDR SDRAM (as in the HP Pavilion 9905) for main memory--a very welcome improvement. Released in August 2001, the original 845 chip set, which isn't upgradable to the new version, let vendors use SDRAM with the P4. Before that, vendors could pair P4s only with fast but expensive RDRAM. (Via Technologies released a controversial chip set for P4 PCs and DDR memory in late 2001.)
"DDR is going to be the best mainstream memory for the next two years," says Kevin Krewell, a senior analyst at MicroDesign Resources. Our testing backs that up, showing that DDR provides the best balance of price and power for most desktop PC buyers.
The Value Question
As any PC veteran knows, if you want a system carrying Intel's best-of-breed chip when it first arrives, you must pay a premium. The P4 2.2 GHz chips will cost PC makers about $300 more than Athlon XP chips and $200 to $300 more than older P4 2 GHz chips. That difference will appear in PC prices. The new P4 2A GHz chip should cost only about $20 more than the P4 2 GHz, though, so the price difference between old and new 2-GHz PCs should be small.
The PCs we tested represent a good sample of what you'll find at various prices. All have ethernet, and only the Compaq Evo D300 lacks a modem. The Compaq is also the least expensive unit here, providing the top-of-line Intel CPU in a no-frills, corporate configuration with a 40GB hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, and a 15-inch monitor, all for $1656.
Aimed at home PC enthusiasts, the HP Pavilion 9905 offers an attractive package with both a DVD+RW and a DVD-ROM drive, an 80GB hard drive, an NVidia GeForce3-based graphics card, and a 17-inch monitor. It costs $2349 configured with the P4 2 GHz CPU, $2379 with the P4 2A GHz, and $2499 with the P4 2.2 GHz. The 2A model is the best deal: You get the extra L2 cache for less than top dollar.
The $3179 Dell Dimension 8200 is a bit pricey, but it delivers 256MB of RDRAM, an 80GB hard drive, both a CD-RW and a DVD-ROM drive, an NVidia GeForce-based graphics card, Turtle Beach audio, and a 19-inch monitor.
The MicronPC unit offers a sweet deal at $1707. Though it does use NVidia GeForce2 MX 400-based graphics instead of the newer GeForce3, it has a CD-RW drive, a 19-inch monitor, and a 40GB hard drive.
Wise Buys
Looking ahead, AMD plans to move to a.13-micron manufacturing process by midyear. This will let it add more L2 cache to its Athlon XPs, though it may elect not to do so because of cost pressures.
Later this year, Intel should release a new high-end system chip set, in RDRAM and DDR SDRAM versions, that supports a 133-MHz system bus "quad-pumped" to 533 MHz; this should provide a major speed boost for data flowing to and from the CPU. Today, the system bus runs at 100 MHz, quad-pumped to 400 MHz.
We can give power-PC buyers this advice: The new Pentium 4 systems are certainly powerful and can handle your toughest jobs. But they fail to deal a finishing blow to Athlon XP-based PCs, and--for now--they offer less value for your money. If you work with video or must have an Intel-based system, consider a P4 2A GHz PC instead of a P4 2.2 GHz unit. You'll get similar performance, and you may save a couple hundred dollars.
| Buying Information |
Intel Pentium 4 2A GHz and Pentium 4 2.2 GHz Great boost for tasks such as graphics editing and video encoding, but not office apps. |
| Buying Information |
Compaq Evo D300 (Preproduction unit, not yet rated) Nice price for a no-frills, Pentium 4 2.2 GHz corporate system. Street: $1656 |
| Buying Information |
Dell Dimension 8200 (Preproduction unit, not yet rated) A good but costly performer with a generous feature set. Street: $3179 |
| Buying Information |
HP Pavilion 9905 (Preproduction unit, not yet rated) Great graphics, but a $2379 P4 2A GHz unit performs similarly. Street: $2499 (P4 2.2 GHz) |
Test Report: Athlon XP PC Best on Business Apps...(chart)
| System | Processor | Operating system | Level 2 cache | Memory | PC WorldBench 4 |
| Compaq Evo D300 | Pentium 4 2.2 GHz | XP Professional | 512KB | 256MB SDRAM | 105 |
| Dell Dimension 8200 | Pentium 4 2.2 GHz | XP Professional | 512KB | 256MB RDRAM | 110 |
| MicronPC Millennia XP+ Professional | Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6 GHz) | XP Professional | 256KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 119 |
| Average of three systems | Pentium 4 2 GHz | XP Professional | 256KB | 256MB RDRAM | 108 |
| One system | Athlon 1.4 GHz | XP Professional | 256KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 115 |
| HP Pavilion 99051 | Pentium 4 2.2 GHz | XP Home | 512KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 108 |
| HP Pavilion 99051 | Pentium 4 2A GHz (2 GHz) | XP Home | 512KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 106 |
| HP Pavilion 99051 | Pentium 4 2 GHz | XP Home | 256KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 102 |
| One system | Pentium 4 2 GHz | XP Home | 256KB | 256MB RDRAM | 106 |
| Average of two systems | Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53 GHz) | XP Home | 256KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 118 |
Test Report:...But Pentium 4 Systems Have Edge in Multimedia Apps (chart)
| System | Processor | Operating System | Level 2 cache | Memory | Musicmatch Jukebox 7 (seconds) | Windows Media Encoder 7.1: Audio file (seconds) | Windows Media Encoder 7.1: Video file (seconds) | AutoCAD (seconds) | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1: Lighting effects (seconds) | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1: Multiple filters (seconds) | Unreal Tournament 4.36 (fps; higher is better) |
| Compaq Evo D300 | Pentium 4 2.2 GHz | XP Pro | 512KB | 256MB SDRAM | 21 | 66 | 68 | 389 | 65 | 80 | 63 |
| Dell Dimension 8200 | Pentium 4 2.2 GHz | XP Pro | 512KB | 256MB RDRAM | 21 | 63 | 62 | 360 | 61 | 78 | 74 |
| MicronPC Millennia XP+ Professional | Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6 GHz) | XP Pro | 256KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 23 | 64 | 67 | 335 | 52 | 67 | 65 |
| HP Pavilion 99051 | Pentium 4 2.2 GHz | XP Home | 512KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 21 | 64 | 65 | 363 | 62 | 78 | 73 |
| HP Pavilion 99051 | Pentium 4 2A GHz (2 GHz) | XP Home | 512KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 23 | 68 | 69 | 391 | 67 | 86 | 72 |
| HP Pavilion 99051 | Pentium 4 2 GHz | XP Home | 256KB | 256MB DDR SDRAM | 23 | 72 | 73 | 455 | 78 | 94 | 69 |