3D Mark 2001SE

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3D Mark is one of those benchmark apps that will eat up as much processing power as it can. Benchmarks were run at default 1024x768, as I felt 640x480 is getting to be fairly pointless. The Northwood "B" easily pulls away from the Northwood "A", demonstrating that in fact, FSB is king.

Quake 3 Arena

It's getting old, I know, but Quake 3 is still a decent benchmark for almost anything. For motherboards and CPUs, we run at the lowest settings and fire away. It's interesting to note that the RDRAM system is faster than the stock DDR setup, since their FSB speeds are equal.

Jedi Knight 2

Jedi Knight is still a Quake 3 engine game, but heavily modified. It's extemely taxing, but like Quake 3, the Northwood "B" scores another victory.

Final Words

We didn't include any AMD benchmarks for a couple of reasons. The main reason is I haven't received the latest Thoroughbred CPU yet. Secondly, from the dozens of reviews I've seen, the speed crown has pretty much been handed over to Intel this time.

Does this make the Northwood "B" the best choice for speed freaks? Not necessarily. For this amount of horsepower, you're gonna have to pay for it. The Athlon on the otherhand does perform closely in benchmarks, and you'll be hard pressed to notice much in the "real world". Of course, as any AMD fanatic will tell you, they're a heck of a lot cheaper.

I do in fact own an Athlon XP 2000+, and although there is a substantial clock speed difference, the 2000+ does quite well. However, that being said, there isn't any doubt that the Northwood "B" is the fastest CPU to pass through our labs.

Pros: Fast.

Cons: Expensive. Not the best price/performance ratio purchase.

Bottom Line: It's bloody fast, but it ain't cheap. Power users with no budget should seriously give it a look. More cost conscious buyers should look to the cheaper Northwood "A", or even better, an Athlon.

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