Performance and Benchmarks:
Alright let's get down to it. All benchmark tests were done at stock speed and with the system running as it does every day all day. I did not shut down any background applications or turn off any operating system services. Benchmarking was done with Sisoft Sandra 2004 and PCMark 2005.
First the results for Sisoft Sandra Arithmetic benchmark:
Results from Sisoft Sandra Multi-Media benchmark:
Sisoft Sandra Memory Bandwidth test results:
And finally results from PCMark 2005:
Benchmark numbers have never really impressed me as much as how the system feels in real world use. The Biostar K8M800 motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3000+ are replacing a 32-bit system that in terms of MHZ was actually running faster (12x200=2400MHz), but in real world use you would never guess it. The system just has a snappier feel to it and although both set ups are hindered by the bottle neck of the out dated ATA hard drives that only have 2 MB cache, the system still boots faster and is faster to load applications. The Athlon 64 3000+ also rips through Folding@Home work units in about 2/3 the times the older XP2400+ did even when it was overclocked to 2400MHz.
One thing I noticed and was a little surprised about was the limited memory bus speed. In the BIOS there are three options for the memory bus, 100MHz, 133MHz, and 166MHz. With the CPU running at 200MHz the system undoubtedly suffers a performance hit with the memory not running at the same bus speed.
One other item worthy of note is the performance of the Cooler Master heatsink / fan combination. With this system running Folding@Home 24/7 and ambient temperatures reaching as high as 29C, the highest the CPU temperature has reached was 44C, and this is with a fan you have to strain to even hear running at only 2300 RPM.
