3DMark2001 is the latest installment in the 3DMark series by MadOnion. By combining DirectX8 support with completely new graphics, it continues to provide good overall system benchmarks. 3DMark2001 has been created in cooperation with the major 3D accelerator and processor manufacturers to provide a reliable set of diagnostic tools. The suite demonstrates 3D gaming performance by using real-world gaming technology to test a system's true performance abilities. Tests include: DirectX8 Vertex Shaders, Pixel Shaders and Point Sprites, DOT3 and Environment Mapped Bump Mapping, support for Full Scene Anti-aliasing and Texture Compression and two game tests using Ipion real-time physics. Higher 3DMark scores denote better performance.

3DMark 2001 Benchmark Results
	AthlonXP1900+	3DMarks	Ranking
1.	1.6 GHz	8225
2.	1.8 GHz	8734

3DMark just craves the faster CPU/FSB and delivers 500 points just for overclocking! 3DMark is known to crave the extra memorybandwidth/CPU power and heck, with this 1900+, it helped me get over 10000 3DMarks with the Ti500 overclocked!! = )

Return to Castle Wolfenstein	Source: ID Software

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is a relatively new game benchmark. However, RTCW takes up where Quake III left off and continues to form the basis of the first person shooter system stressing that QIII has become a hallmark for. Based upon the Quake III engine, RTCS is obviously going to be quite taxing on even a top end system. Higher numbers denote faster frames per second (FPS), and hence, better performance.

RTCW (640x480 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
	Processor	(FPS)	Ranking
1.	1.6 GHz	51.5
2.	1.8 GHz	54.9

RTCW (640x480 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
	Processor	(FPS)	Ranking
1.	1.6 GHz	131.8
2.	1.8 GHz	142.1

RTCW (1024x768 atdemo6) Benchmark Results
	Processor	(FPS)	Ranking
1.	1.6 GHz	49.9
2.	1.8 GHz	53.1

RTCW (1024x768 atdemo8) Benchmark Results
	Processor	(FPS)	Ranking
1.	1.6 GHz	128.9
2.	1.8 GHz	137.5

RTCW says the exact same thing as 3DMark2001. It just can't get enough of the XP1900+. When it's overclocked, the atdemo6 (which is more CPU limited then anything else) shows about a 7% performance gain.

Conclusions:

With a retail price hanging just above $400CDN, it's still about $80 less then the closest "official" Intel counterpart, and about $230 less then the 2 GHz P4 which the XP1900+ can compete with on equal terms for the most part - and that says a lot!

As we can see, the AthlonXP is simply a monster when it's dealing with professional 3D applications as is indicated in the SPECviewperf benchmarks, it simply spits out all the data you throw at it and smiles back. In the POVRay test, the XP1900+ flexes its muscles with it's powerful FPU.

In terms of office-based applications, the AthlonXP 1900+ IS super fast, however it's not really noticeable to the average user because those environments are mainly user limited more then anything else.

In the game benchmarks, again, the AthlonXP 1900+ processor shows that it's really in it's own in terms of performance. 3DMark says this time and time again and RTCW confirms with the spectacular performance.

The best part is, with the release of the AthlonXP2000+, the 1900+ will be dropping in price, and even more affordable!