P4 Bests Athlon
Pricey Intel-based PC Edges past AMD.Laurianne McLaughlin
Intel has finally done it: A computer based on its fastest Pentium 4 processor has beaten a comparable system using AMD's top Athlon XP chip in PC World's benchmark tests.
A system with the new 2.53-GHz P4 (up from 2.4 GHz) and using Intel's new, faster 533-MHz frontside bus--the crucial pipeline that transports data between the CPU and applications--edged past a PC with AMD's Athlon XP 2100+ chip by two points in our PC WorldBench 4 test suite. (The 1.73-GHz 2100+ uses a 266-MHz frontside bus.)
The catch? A 2.53-GHz P4-based computer will cost you as much as $500 more than a comparable Athlon system. That's serious cash for a performance difference you'll be hard-pressed to notice, judging from the initial results of our tests with two PCs from the same vendor.
Intel's latest rollout pushes P4 PCs past Athlon XP systems, but AMD isn't standing still. It will soon introduce an Athlon XP processor using a.13-micron manufacturing process that it says delivers better speed and performance than chips made with the older.18-micron process can achieve.
Still, Intel-only buyers will want the new combination because it does offer a slight performance boost. In fact, even prospective buyers looking at a 2.4-GHz PC should seek one that has the new bus (labeled the 2.4B), because Intel is not charging extra for it. (The 2.26-GHz P4 also has the bus.)
Do pick a 533-MHz-ready chip, but don't expect big performance gains. We saw only one application spike with the new bus. As Intel speeds up the P4 and adds support for faster memory, however, the 2.4B bus could play a larger performance role.
To support the faster bus, Intel has revamped its system chip sets, introducing higher-quality integrated graphics and USB 2.0 support to some. For the details, see "Fast Bus, Same Fare."
P4 Tops Tests
To compare the latest CPUs of each chip maker, we pitted a preproduction Falcon Northwest Mach V system carrying a 2.53-GHz Pentium 4 CPU and 256MB of 266-MHz DDR memory against a nearly identical preproduction Mach V with a 1.73-GHz Athlon XP 2100+ chip and 256MB of 333-MHz DDR RAM. Each PC ran Windows XP Professional and included an NVidia GeForce4-based graphics card that held 128MB of DDR RAM.
The P4-based Falcon system earned a PC WorldBench 4 score of 121, edging past the Athlon-based Falcon's 119; you wouldn't notice that difference in most applications. Our multimedia tests were nearly a wash: Each PC won three tests, and the seventh ended in a tie, although the P4 PC offered a slight advantage to digital multimedia users.
Each Falcon system came in a pricey aluminum case with a fancy paint job that is geared toward buyers who want looks as well as performance. However, at $2975, the P4 PC (with a 17-inch monitor) still costs $500 more than the Athlon unit with the same monitor. Two points just isn't much bang for an extra $500.
Get On The Bus
To see how much the new bus actually affects performance, we looked at preproduction systems from Gateway and Hewlett-Packard that supported both the 400-MHz and the 533-MHz bus speeds.
We examined a $2113 Gateway 700S with Windows XP Professional, 256MB of PC 800 RDRAM, and an NVidia GeForce4-based graphics board with 128MB of DDR RAM. We tested it twice: with a 2.4-GHz P4 and a 400-MHz bus, and with the same chip and a 533-MHz bus. With the faster bus, the PC earned a score of 115; with the slower bus, it earned a score of 114--an imperceptible difference.
Then we tested a $1784 HP Pavilion 752 configured with Windows XP Home, 256MB of 266-MHz DDR RAM, and an NVidia GeForce3-based graphics card carrying 64MB of DDR RAM. Each chip/bus combination earned the identical score of 115.
Both HP and Gateway say our test PCs will ship exclusively with the new bus by June. However, the bottom line is that the bus didn't help the P4 PCs run productivity applications faster in our tests.
Also worth noting: A similar HP Pavilion 702 system based on the Athlon XP 2000+ chip edged past both of our 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 PCs, earning a score of 117. This $1464 HP machine--configured nearly the same as our P4 Pavilion--would save you over $300.
AutoCAD Advantage
We gave intel's new 533-MHz frontside bus an additional chance to strut its stuff in our multimedia benchmark tests. Unfortunately, we saw only one score improve--in the AutoCAD test.
Using the new bus, the Gateway completed the AutoCAD test in 321 seconds; using the older bus, the same system took 330 seconds. Likewise, the HP finished with times of 318 seconds and 328 seconds, respectively.
While that is a boost--albeit a fairly modest one--the new bus provided no significant improvement in other tests.
The faster bus speed doesn't matter much on most applications now, but that situation could change in the future, says MicroDesign Resources senior analyst Kevin Krewell.
"The lack of a 'pop' [from the] bus speed increases is due to memory bandwidth limitations," he says. Future technologies could end that.
The most significant future improvement could be in PCs that use PC 1066 RDRAM or DDR-333 with dual-channel support, Krewell says. Intel has yet to validate PC 1066 for the 850E chip set, however, and it hasn't even announced support for DDR-333 yet.
Your Next Move
Analysts expect Intel to remain dominant in chip speed this year. But for computer users who are more impressed by system performance than by chip speed, AMD-based PCs should continue to be the better value.
Intel-only PC buyers should consider a system with a 2.4-GHz P4 (with 533-MHz bus support) instead of one with the 2.53-GHz chip. While our 2.53-GHz Falcon offered the best score at 121, the comparable--if less flashy--2.4-GHz Gateway PC trailed by a scant six points, giving the Falcon a mere 5 percent advantage. Even if the Falcon's fancy case is replaced with a standard one--dropping the price to $2314--the Gateway still saves you about $200.
Going forward, the competition for top performance marks should keep the battle between Intel and AMD interesting. Plus, the rivalry should help keep downward pressure on PC prices, which means that--even if you can't afford to buy now--speedy and well-priced systems shouldn't disappear anytime soon.
by Laurianne McLaughlin
Test Report: 2.53-GHz P4 System Catches AMD Rival
| System | Processor | Operating System | Frontside bus speed (MHz) | PC WorldBench 4 | Musicmatch Jukebox 7 (seconds) | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1: Lighting effects (seconds) | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1: Multiple filters (seconds) | AutoCAD (seconds) | Windows Media Encoder 7.1: Audio file conversion (seconds) | Windows Media Encoder 7.1: Video file conversion (seconds) | Unreal Tournament 4.36 (frames per second) |
| Falcon Northwest Mach 5 | 2.53-GHz Pentium 4 | Windows XP Pro | 533 | 121 | 18 | 52 | 67 | 299 | 56 | 55 | 99 |
| Falcon Northwest Mach 5 | 1.73-GHz Athlon XP 2100+ | Windows XP Pro | 266 | 119 | 22 | 48 | 61 | 298 | 62 | 63 | 99 |
| Gateway 700S | 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 | Windows XP Pro | 533 | 115 | 19 | 56 | 72 | 321 | 64 | 60 | 74 |
| Gateway 700S | 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 | Windows XP Pro | 400 | 114 | 19 | 56 | 71 | 330 | 65 | 61 | 74 |
| HP Pavilion 702 | 1.67-GHz Athlon XP 2000+ | Windows XP Home | 266 | 117 | 23 | 50 | 65 | 315 | 63 | 63 | 72 |
| HP Pavilion 752 | 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 | Windows XP Home | 533 | 115 | 19 | 58 | 71 | 318 | 59 | 59 | 71 |
| HP Pavilion 752 | 2.4-GHz Pentium 4 | Windows XP Home | 400 | 115 | 18 | 58 | 72 | 328 | 59 | 60 | 69 |
Fast Bus, Same Fare
System chip sets--the unglamorous supporting characters on a motherboard that keep a PC's show running--continue to be a key part of an informed buying decision, and in some ways Intel's newest chip sets differ significantly from their predecessors. Among four new chip-set options, you'll find some with built-in support for USB 2.0 and others with Intel's latest integrated graphics.
The new 850E chip set (replacing the 850) ships only on P4 systems with PC 800 RDRAM memory. This chip set supports both the new 533-MHz frontside bus and the older 400-MHz bus, but doesn't bundle USB 2.0 support or integrated graphics. Since RDRAM ships in only the most expensive of today's high-end systems, few buyers would want integrated graphics anyway. However, the lack of integrated USB 2.0--the new standard that over-optimistically promises speeds of up to 480 mbps compared with 12 mbps on the older USB 1.1 standard (see "USB 2.0's Real Deal," April)--means that vendors must spend a little more to add this feature separately.
Intel's 845E and 845G chip sets (replacing today's 845) are the ones you'll see in most mainstream PCs. These work with DDR memory (alternatively, vendors can choose PC-133 SDRAM for the 845G) and include support for USB 2.0. Both also support the P4's 400- and 533-MHz bus.
Better Graphics
The 845G chip set differentiates itself by offering Intel's latest integrated graphics technology, which saves the PC maker the cost of a separate graphics card--a savings they generally pass along to buyers. But because this chip set also supports a separate AGP 4X graphics card, a PC vendor--or buyer--can add such a card later.
Intel compares the graphics power of the 845G chip set to that of an older, mainstream graphics processor, the GeForce2 MX200. Although the gaming and graphics crowds have moved to more sophisticated and expensive graphics cards based on chips such as the GeForce3 and GeForce4, Intel is betting that the 845G will deliver enough graphics power to satisfy cost-conscious middle-of-the-road PC buyers.
The 845G systems use what Intel calls Dynamic Video Memory Technology. In previous integrated-graphics systems, the Intel processor claimed a chunk of the system's main memory for graphics use. In the new scheme, software applications and Intel's graphics driver software can have on-the-fly conversations with the operating system to discuss how much system memory should be dedicated--up to 48MB--for a graphics processing chore.
The final new chip set, the 845GL, appears in Celeron systems only. It has the same integrated graphics technology as the 845G, but with no graphics card upgrade path.
Most PC vendors will phase out the older chip sets in favor of the new ones relatively quickly, but if you want to ensure that you get the latest technology, check before you buy.
Also, Intel isn't charging anything extra for the new chip sets, so don't let a PC vendor charge you a premium for a PC that uses one.
New 1.7-GHz Celeron: A Bad Buy
In its latest move to woo budget PC buyers, Intel has ratcheted up the clock speed of its Celeron processor from 1.3 GHz to 1.7 GHz and pumped up the frontside bus speed from 100 MHz to 400 MHz. But based on PC World's exclusive tests of a PC using the new Celeron, you should avoid it: This chip is all bark and no bite.
The new Celeron uses the same core as older Pentium 4 chips. But Intel decided to ship this processor with a scant 128KB Level 2 cache, half the size of the L2 cache of previous Celeron and older P4 chips (newer P4s have a 512KB L2 cache).
The 128KB L2 cache evidently hindered the speed of the preproduction 1.7-GHz Celeron system we tested, an $849 Gateway 300S: It managed a meager score of 83 on our PC WorldBench 4 tests. A comparable 1.7-GHz Pentium 4 system--with the same integrated graphics--ran more than 12 percent faster, earning a score of 93.
The CD-RW drive, monitor, and speakers on our $1253 P4 test system, a preproduction Gateway 500, were better than those on the 300S. But when configured just like the 300S except for the CPU, the 500 sells for $1028--only $179 more.
In addition, the 1.7-GHz Celeron system actually performed worse than older Celeron machines that PC World has tested: A comparable 1.3-GHz Celeron system from Dell earned a score of 92, and similar 1.2-GHz Celeron PCs from Gateway and HP logged scores of 89 and 90, respectively.
It Sounds Fast
Intel decided to go with the 128KB cache size in order to deliver the 1.7-GHz Celeron at a desired price point, says spokesperson George Alfs.
Analysts say consumers should not be amused.
"I think Intel's handling of [this] Celeron represents a complete disregard for its customers," says Kevin Krewell, senior analyst at MicroDesign Resources. "The 128KB of L2 cache is simply Intel crippling the processor's performance to make the latest Pentium 4 look better. It would be like going to a car dealer and finding that the economy car has only half the cylinders enabled."
At the same time that 1.7-GHz Celeron systems ship, you'll also see PCs based on a new version of the old-style Celeron running at 1.4 GHz. Although it uses the old 100-MHz frontside bus, it retains the 256KB Level 2 cache, so PCs powered by this chip should outperform systems equipped with the new 1.7-GHz Celeron, Krewell says.
Bottom line: If you want a sub-$1000 system based on a Celeron, the 1.4-GHz chip looks like the smarter option. Before you buy either one, however, shop around for sub-$1000 systems based on Intel's older P4 chips or AMD's Athlon processors. Most of them will easily outperform computers running on either flavor of the Celeron.
Test Report: P4 Versus Celeron
| SYSTEM | Processor | PC WorldBench 4 | Musicmatch Jukebox 7 (seconds) | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1: Lighting effects (seconds) | Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1: Multiple filters (seconds) | AutoCAD (seconds) | Windows Media Encoder 7.1: Audio file conversion (seconds) | Windows Media Encoder 7.1: Video file conversion (seconds) | Unreal Tournament 4.36 (frames per second) |
| Gateway 500 | 1.7-GHz Pentium 4 | 93 | 26 | 78 | 102 | 436 | 77 | 77 | 25 |
| Gateway 300S | 1.7-GHz Celeron | 83 | 30 | 108 | 129 | 717 | 86 | 86 | 22 |
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