Looks like a glitch or defective CPU.
Even a 1,3Ghz P4 has faster SSE Score then a 733Mhz P3.

I really hope it's a glitch and not a defective cpu. PerformanceTest benchmark seems to be unreliable at times to be honest. I mean looks at this physics test:

My very first cpu AMD K6-2 beats the crap out of any cpu existing today when it comes to physics 😀
I should use some other benchmarking software i guess.

Indeed; also use other benchmarks. If you'd like you can compare with benchmarks I did here using a Pentium 4 'Willamette' 1.7GHz with single-channel DDR RAM. You can download most of my the benchmarks I used here.

If you still have unusual low results: check if your CPU is running at 1.7GHz (use CPU-Z) and look at the actual clockfrequency. The CPU namestring will always say 'Intel(tm) Pentium(tm) 4 1.7GHz' or like that regardless the actual clockfrequency. Also check RAM settings and verify that the cooling is sufficient. If the cooler is mounted incorrectly the CPU will overheat which causes the Thermal Throttling to kick in. This mechanism protects the CPU from burning and will let you continue using your PC; but at a very slow speed 😉. Search on the 'net for the application 'Throttle Watch' to monitor wheter your CPU is throttling or not.

Did Williamates CPUs had Thermal Throttling already back then?
Well, this test is the only odd test of all tests i've done on this machine. Even all other cpu tests on PerformanceTest benchmark this Pentium 4 scores way higher than the Pentium 3 733Mhz, so i figure this is only a glitch. Oh and CPU-Z also shows everything as it should be if i remember correctly.
This machine scores about 7200\7400 3dmarks on 3Dmark2001.

You've got some really nice charts there! I might remove this machine from storage and bench it again!

Yes, Willamette was Intels' first CPU with Thermal Throttling 😀.

One could argue the Pentium OverDrive had it in 1995, but it was not triggered by thermal conditions directly. If logic in the CPU did not detect a rotating fan it would lower the internal clock of the CPU to prevent overheating.

I remember being fascinated by thermal throttling when the P4 was around. Prior to that, CPUs used to just turn off the power if they overheated and before those they just used to let the magic smoke out. It used to be some pretty funny colors sometimes, bound to be good for your health.

Thandor wrote:

If you'd like you can compare with benchmarks I did here using a Pentium 4 'Willamette' 1.7GHz with single-channel DDR RAM.

If you'd use Quake 1.06 and demo1 would be better to compare with other existing benchmarkings. Why you've stopped on P2 266 MHz I don't understand.