Intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz: Does the prophecy hold true?

Gaming Performance

Quake III Arena has long been a favorite of the Pentium 4, and the latest release does nothing to change that.  The 1.7GHz P4 offers close to a 20% advantage over the Athlon at 1.33GHz, but don’t let Quake III Arena be the only judge of performance for you.

The picture changes dramatically in UnrealTournament, where the 1.7GHz Pentium 4 takes a 7% backseat to the Athlon.  This 7% penalty isn’t obviously as great as the gap we saw under Quake III Arena, but it is to show you that there is no clear performance winner in all categories yet.