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CPU Benchmark Results...
The resulting Fast PC that I have is not overclocked in any way, shape or form. Before testing how your CPU and the rest of your system rates, there is something you should check.
Remember the first screen in the WCPUID that I told you we'd come back to? Well, here it is again:
If, under the name string, your processor isn't identified as the one that you bought, don't be alarmed. You most likely did get the right processor (for Sempron processors, they will show up as Athlon XP processors as AMD did not take the time to change this small item). However, look to the 'System Clock' box in the image above. This is what most likely is causing your processor to not be identifed correctly. Some motherboards require you to physically change the jumper pin settings; others require you to modify the settings in the BIOS. Consult your motherboard manual for the 'JP2' settings.
Specific processors require specific clock settings. Here's how each should be configured:
Now, on to the promised benchmarks. Install the Sisoft Sandra program, and open up the 'CPU Arithmetic Benchmark' section. Here's how my AMD 2600+ faired against the competitors:
With some very fine tweaking, my 2600+ could be brought up to meet, or slightly beat, the 'default' 2600+ processor benchmark. However, there are several other important things to note. One, notice how much better the 2600+ is over the Pentium IV 2.66 Ghz processor (which truly illustrates the similar performance available from Intel and AMD chips). Second, notice what little extra performance is derived from a 2800+ chip as opposed to a 2600+ chip.
System Benchmark Results
No matter how much one may want to think, a computer's performance is not strictly based on raw numbers alone (ie CPU speed). Overall performance is determined by comprehensively testing the system as much as possible. The test below is Sisoft's "CPU Multimedia Benchmark" (this is part of the program you should've already downloaded).
Multimedia Benchmark
This is the resulting test run for my CPU. Isn't it interesting how much better the Athlon benchmarks are compared to the Pentium benchmarks? This is just another example of Intel's hyped processors being comparatively worse than the opposing AMD version.
Again, you should notice how similar the 2600+ and 2800+ processors really are. The only real difference between the two processors shows up in another test.
Cache & Memory Benchmark
This is a pretty eye-catching graph. You'll notice that even the Pentium IV 1.8 Ghz "outperforms" the AMD 3000+. This however, is not as consequential as it appears to be on the graph. Here's an explanation on what L2 cache is and how it affects your computer. The short of it is, it explains that the L2 cache (which is exaggerated in this graph) doesn't matter in gaming and several other regular programs (it tends to matter much more in business-oriented programs, like large-scale databasing).
But this is not something for you to get hung up on and worry about; this is purely educational.
