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AMD
Athlon 1.33
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Author : Martyn
Date : 2nd October 2001
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3DVelocity would
like to thank AMD UK and especially
Theresa Zimmer for their help and courtesy in providing this
CPU for review.
Part
Three: The Test Setup
Having
been using the 1Ghz Athlon chip for sometime now I was keen
to dicover what kind of performance was available from this
near top clock-speed chip.
The
testbed was based upon these specifications:-
The
chip in question (1.33Ghz Athlon 266fsb type 'C')
Iwill KK266+R
SDR motherboard.
256MB Crucial
PC133 Cas 2 Memory (One stick).
ATI 64MB Radeon
VIVO (Retail)
AMD Approved
300w Power Supply
45GB IBM 75gxp
ATA 100 Hard drive
Cyberdrive
16x12x40 CDR/W
Taisol AMD Approved
HSF (Temps read with Via Hardware Monitor @ 30 idle / 38 load)
Windows 98 OS.
Part
Four: 3D Performance.
The
Athlon / Duron based systems have really become the 'gamers
choice' of late, let's see what this speedy chip can achieve
as we test it in two very popular benchmarks.
Firstly
Madonion.com's
3Dmark 2001 for DX 8 performance and ID's popular first person
shooter, Quake 3 Arena for Open GL.
3DMark
2001
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3DMark2001
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640 x 480
16bit
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800 x 600
16bit
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1024 x 768
32bit
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1600 x 1200
32bit
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Athlon 1.33
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4500
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4154
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3414
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2116
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(Results
expressed in '3DMarks')
The
processor performed amazingly well in this tough 3D benchmark,
for its price bracket on the market the Athlon is again showing
it is not only a high-end solution but also a true value solution
too. It complemented the Radeon well and some huge frame rates
where obtained particularly in the 'Dragothic' game test and
the 'Lobby' game test. Gamers needn't worry about the longevity
of the chip, in today's fast paced market it will stand the
test of time quite well and when the time comes to upgrade you
will surely appreciate the low price of these chips.
Lets
move on to Quake 3 to see if the Athlon has and trouble with
Open GL.
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Quake 3 Arena
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640 x 480
16bit
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800 x 600
16bit
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1024 x 768
32bit
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1600 x 1200
32bit
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Athlon 1.33
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132.8
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118.2
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80.5
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41.1
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(Results
expressed in frames-per-second)
The
Radeon based GPU's have never been quite as quick as the equivalent
nVidia based offerings but nevertheless the CPU pushed the card
all the way. Even with full details and high quality textures
enabled at 1600 x 1200 the card and chip combo retained fully
playable framerates while still looking absolutely fantastic.
If you are a demanding gamer then one thing is for sure; one
of the higher frequency Athlon chips will not disappoint.
Lets
move on to page three where the Athlon comes up against some
complex calculations.
Page
Three
>>>
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