Over the following pages we will run the AMD Athlon 64 4000+ processor though PCstats standard set of gaming and performance benchmarks. There are a wide variety of gaming and synthetic benchmarks here to illustrate what kind of performance boost users can expect from this latest, fastest, 64-bit processor.

In addition, PCstats benchmarked the processor on motherboards based on both nVidia and VIA's latest socket 9393 chipsets; the nVidia nForce 3 Ultra and the VIA K8T800. As consumers await the immanent launch of nVidia's nForce 4 PCI Express chipset, these extra chipset-oriented benchmarks will soon become very useful for comparison's sake.

Since the AMD Athlon 64 3800+ runs at the same 2.4GHz clock speed as the newly released Athlon64 4000+, we have also included its benchmarks. In this way, any visible benefits from the doubling of the L2 Cache will come to light.

PCStats Test System Specs:

system 1 system 2 system 3 processor: intel pentium 4 540 athlon64 3800+ athlon64 4000+ clock speed: 16 x 200 mhz = 3.2 ghz 12 x 200 mhz = 2.4 ghz 12 x 200 mhz = 2.4 ghz motherboards: gigabyte 8anxp-d, i925x msi k8t-neo2 fir, k8t800 pro msi k8n neo2 platinum, nf3 ultra msi k8t-neo2 fir, k8t800 pro videocard: msi rx800xt-vtd asus ax800xt asus ax800xt memory: 2x 512mb crucial ballistix pc5300 2x 512mb corsair twinx3200xl pro 2x 512mb corsair twinx3200xl pro hard drive: 80gb seagate sata hdd 80gb seagate sata hdd 40gb wd special ed cdrom: msi x48 cd-rw/dvd-rom msi x48 cd-rw/dvd-rom nec 52x cd-rom powersupply: vantec stealth 470w vantec stealth 470w vantec stealth 470w software setup windowsxp build 2600 intel inf 5.02.1012 catalyst 4.9 windowsxp build 2600 via 4in1 4.53 catalyst 4.9 windowsxp build 2600 intel inf 5.02.1012 catalyst 4.6 detonator 61.77 benchmarks SYSmark 2004 Business Winstone 2002 Content Creation 2002 SiSoft Sandra 2004 Super Pi 1.1 Hexus piFast 4.1 POVray 3.1g Cinebench 2003 ScienceMark 2.0 Beta PCMark04 3DMark2001 3DMark05 Comanche 4 X2: The Threat AquaMark3 UT2003 UT2004 Doom 3 Build 1.0.1262

Note: All Overclocking tests were performed on the VIA K8T800 motherboard because it exhibited the best performance results in our tests.

SYSmark 2004	Source: Bapco

SYSmark 2004 is BAPCo's latest revision of the mainstream office productivity and Internet content creation benchmark used to characterize the performance of the business client. It is based on a foundation of extensive research into emerging usage models and computing trends and incorporates the latest benchmarking methodologies to evaluate platform technologies. SYSmark 2004 contains scientifically designed workloads that represent the range of activities that an office productivity or Internet content creation work may encounter. In addition with extensive validation across multiple platforms, users can be sure of a consistent and reliable performance comparison.

SYSmark 2004 - Benchmark Results
Internet Overall:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	232
Athlon64 3800+	222
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	225
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	222
3D Creation:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	221
Athlon64 3800+	220
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	219
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	220
2D Creation:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	280
Athlon64 3800+	244
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	268
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	244
Web Publication	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	202
Athlon64 3800+	205
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	195
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	205
Office Overall:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	200
Athlon64 3800+	212
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	201
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	212
Communication:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	189
Athlon64 3800+	217
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	206
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	218
Document Creation:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	207
Athlon64 3800+	226
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	217
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	226
Data Analysis:	Points	Ranking
Pentium 4 540 (3.2 GHz)	204
Athlon64 3800+	194
Athlon64 4000+ (NF3)	182
Athlon64 4000+ (VIA)	194

The results for the Athlon64 4000+ systems show that there is a definite ceiling to how much of a boost standard productivity apps will get from today's fastest processors. The Athlon64 4000+ has virtually no advantage over its older sibling, or even the 3.2GHz Intel offering here, something which is not borne out in the other benchmarks. Of the two chipsets, Sysmark apparently performs quicker on the VIA chipset for the most part.