Quake 4 benchmark

Previous benchmarks with Turion 64 at 2200Mhz:
Re: Battle of the platforms: socket 754!

FEAR built-in benchmark. All details set to maximum except for soft shadows which nd22 disabled. FSAA 4x, Anisotropic 16x. Enabled HW audio mixing and EAX 2.0 since we have Audigy 2 ZS.

Previous benchmarks with Turion 64 at 2200Mhz:
Re: Battle of the platforms: socket 754!

We do not have screenshots as I do not know how to take them in FEAR.

• 1024x768 - min 50, avg 123, max 319, 100% above 40 fps
• 1280x1024 - min 48, avg 116, max 327, 100% above 40 fps
• 1600x1200 - min 46, avg 107, max 281, 100% above 40 fps

If we enable soft shadows with FSAA 4x, we get:

• 1600x1200 - min 39, avg 83, max 185, 96% above 40 fps

To enable SS, I used instructions from nd22 Re: Battle of the platforms: socket 754! . Simply enabling it in menu was not sufficient.

Crysis built-in 32bit benchmark. All details set to HIGH except for anti-aliasing quality which was set to 4x. First run is ignored (warmup), the remaining 3 are averaged.

• 1600x1200 - min 9.8, avg 29.7, max 45.3

Cinebench 2003 benchmark

Previous benchmarks with Turion 64 at 2200Mhz:
Re: Battle of the platforms: socket 754!

We got 8% boost over 2.2ghz in CPU benchmark

Conclusion: at 2.4Ghz you get about 8-9% boost in CPU performance over 2.2Ghz. All tested Turion CPUs - ML-34, ML-37, MT-40 worked at 2.2Ghz and 2.4Ghz but stabilizing Command Rate 1T proved to be tricky. You can buy any of them, preferably ML-34 to gain the 9x CPU multiplier. You do not need to waste 200 EUR on Clawhammer 3700+.

2x Kingston HyperX 1GB memory sticks could only run CR2 at DDR400, but at decent timings 2-3-2-6.
1x Kingston HyperX 1GB + 1x OCZ Platinum 1GB could run CR1 at DDR400 at 2.4Ghz

I tried briefly also other sticks like Kingmax, Apacer but those were less stable than Kingston HyperX.

You will probably need 2xOCZ Platinum/Titanium or Corsair memory to run at CR1 or use just one stick.

Turion 64 unlocked DDR 500 support in BIOS of Gigabyte GA-K8NE, but I do not have such memory to test it. Most likely DDR-500 will be stable only with 1 memory stick.

Nice results in FEAR. I am amazed that gtx 275 can not maintain a minimum of 40 FPS in FEAR with SS and AA despite being 3 generations ahead of the radeon I used!

s939 would probably do better, especially with a X2 CPU. We are already on the edge of s754 capabilities. Putting in a GTX 480/580 which I do have would be even more ridiculous. GTX 275 allows older nvidia drivers 1xx so they are a good fit for s754/s939.

I got hold of 2nd 1GB DDR400 stick of OCZP4001G and found out Turion 64 seems to have a big trouble with operating two of them. Memtest detects many errors at 18% (within about 5 minutes), regardless of command rate, timings (auto, manual), voltage. I inserted them multiple times. Individually, both OCZP4001G pass 15 minute memtest. It seems using a pair of these is only a good idea in s939 and can be very problematic in s754.

OCZ also produced a kit with part number OCZP4002GK, but those are just 2x OCZP4001G based on cpu-z.

Based on my observations I would recommend either 2x Kingston Hyperx DDR 400 (2x 1GB, with heatspreader) or mix 1x Kingston Hyperx DDR 400 with OCZ Platinum (OCZP4001G).

AlexZ wrote on 2026-05-18, 20:55:

s939 would probably do better, especially with a X2 CPU. We are already on the edge of s754 capabilities. Putting in a GTX 480/580 which I do have would be even more ridiculous.

When it comes to using AGP, yes, Socket 939 is a bit more interesting.
For PCI-E, dual-core processors and Windows XP, it’s easier to go for an AM3 Phenom II B-series.
There are fewer issues and the performance is better.

When it comes to AGP, Socket A, s754 and s939 are all sufficient for Windows 98 / early Windows XP. It's more about personal platform preference, newer PSU, small performance boost.

With PCIe, AM2+, AM3 can do a really good job with Phenom II in Windows XP/Vista/7. s939/AM2 is Windows XP only and s754 more of a curiosity.

List of games that work well with 2.2-2.4Ghz CPU, 2GB RAM and powerful PCIe GPU (GTX 260/275) in Windows XP, with maximum details in 1280x1024:

Racing Games

• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (2002) - still a classic NFS, great graphics for its time, better handling than NFS Hot Pursuit (1998) or High Stakes.
• Need for Speed Underground 2 (2004) - you only realize how much is missing in Most Wanted if you play this. It has much more depth.
• Need for Speed Most Wanted (2005) - well known for endless police chases and winning your car back. Later Carbon (2006) is too demanding for s754.
• Colin McRae Rally 2005
• TOCA Race Driver 3 (2006) - very realistic game, simulator

FPS

• Far Cry (2004)
• Quake 4 (2005) - all apps need to be turned off to save memory.
• FEAR (2005) - works well including soft shadows.

Combat Flight Simulators

• Falcon 4.0 Allied Force (2005) - most realistic flight sim you can run on s754
• Lock on (2003) + Flaming Cliffs (2005) - 2nd best flight sim you can run on s754
• Wings over Europe (2006) - easier to learn, but still great
• IL-2 Sturmovik 1946 (2006) + v4.15m patch - all apps need to be turned off to save memory. Best ww2 sim.
• Apache AH64: Air Assault (2003)

Strategy games

• Rise of Nations (2003)
• Age of Empires 3 (2005)
• Europa Universalis 3 (2007)

Others

• Silent Hunter 3 (2002) - probably the best sub sim if 3rd party mod is installed. Subsequent versions got too simplified.
• Sims 2 (2004) including all add-ons - music cuts off while loading, but then works fine
• Virtua Tennis 3 (2006)
• FIFA 2007
• NHL 2007

Basically racing and FPS games until 2005 and sports/strategy games until 2007. It covers most of Windows XP (2002-2006) period games. For 100% coverage of 2006 you would need s939 dual core. Single core s939 will not be sufficient unless OCed to high frequency.

AlexZ wrote on 2026-05-03, 17:22:

We do not have screenshots as I do not know how to take them in FEAR. […]
Show full quote

We do not have screenshots as I do not know how to take them in FEAR.

• 1024x768 - min 50, avg 123, max 319, 100% above 40 fps
• 1280x1024 - min 48, avg 116, max 327, 100% above 40 fps
• 1600x1200 - min 46, avg 107, max 281, 100% above 40 fps

If we enable soft shadows with FSAA 4x, we get:

• 1600x1200 - min 39, avg 83, max 185, 96% above 40 fps

To enable SS, I used instructions from nd22 Re: Battle of the platforms: socket 754! . Simply enabling it in menu was not sufficient.

There are many methods, here is what i do. I use Irfan view which is freeware.
1. open up Irfan;
2. press C;
3. select the capture area and the capture method
4. press control+F11 to capture as many screenshots as you like.

AlexZ wrote on 2026-05-03, 17:22:

We do not have screenshots as I do not know how to take them in FEAR.

Never had issues on NV/ATI with this method :
1) After benchmark end, press PrintScreen (PrtScr) key on keyboard
2) Alt + Tab, or just exit game and open MSPaint
3) Use Ctrl + V shortcut (or "Paste" option)
4) Save resulting file as .jpg or .png

Thanks, I will do it next time. I know that irfan view sometimes saves just black screen, that's why I don't use it for screenshots in games.

AlexZ wrote on 2026-06-03, 18:10:

List of games that work well with 2.2-2.4Ghz CPU, 2GB RAM and powerful PCIe GPU (GTX 260/275)

Perhaps next week, after tinkering with the spare power supply, I’ll post some benchmarks with the RX580 8GB.
And I’ll also write about a “sufficiently powerful PCI-e GPU”.
But for a slow single-core CPU, that’s hardly relevant...
It really doesn't make any sense to use more then DX9 graphics cards with the Socket 754 platform.
And that’s exactly why we all love it.

AlexZ wrote on Today, 13:59:

Thanks, I will do it next time. I know that irfan view sometimes saves just black screen, that's why I don't use it for screenshots in games.

When I see a black screen on paint, I use GIMP on provided .tga 😀 (I only saw it under Unigine Heaven and old drivers)

Well this thread is dangerous... just made me grab a 3400 🤣

Newcastle core. Somehow every time in the past decade or so I went looking for speed over 2000 or PR over 3000, the prices were whack. So I never bothered, stuck with boring 2800s and one 3000, so not terribly inspiring. Some 754 boards gathering dust that I didn't really buy so much as "have turn up" with other things. Was a skip-over platform for me in the day, apart from mobiles, used the heck out of two s754 laptops.

So yeah I was skimming this thread again and went to fleabay to see if anything reasonable was around, and saw a recycler listing for an Athlon64 that was a 3400 for $12 CDN, so I caved and bought it, it helped that they also had a i5-3570k under $20 to split the shipping with.

Boards are a bit of a mishmash, I guess the "nice" one is the K8N Neo, then I've got an ECS with the SiS 761. Then maybe a Via board sitting in a buried case, which I know needs a recap, because ripple is huge. Then I thought there was another PCIe board around somewhere that keeps getting forgotten 2 secs after I look at it. Possibly it has an ATI Xpress chipset, because I have two intel 775s with Radeon Xpress and I remember thinking about trying a head to head.

Graphics are a bit of a problem though, since the nicer seeming boards have AGP and I haven't got any late/high end AGP cards and I am not paying eBay prices for one. Best I can do is a R9600, unless I perform a miraculous restoration on a long broken R9800. Got a bit of a better range in PCIe, but might want to keep it near to period with a 7800GT or something. So if the AGP boards get going, they might be chugging along on "placeholders" until I get lucky with better AGP.