How does your CPU compare?

It's been said that the best thing about standards is that there are so many of them. The same can be said of computer performance benchmarks. The trick is to find one that closely matches the way you use your computer, and includes the processors you're interested in. TomsHardware.com is a great resource for processor comparison, but the quantity of material can be rather daunting.

What if you just want a quickie comparison between similar (or dissimilar) processors? Check out PassMark Software's CPU Benchmarks charts! 5 easy-to-read yet comprehensive comparisons of old and new processors. Lots of interesting results to ponder.

Look at the Low-End CPU Benchmarks chart, for example. Notice that the result for the AMD Sempron 3000+ (PassMark=357) is almost the same as for the AMD Athlon 2600+ (PassMark=355). These very similar processors have different numbers because AMD compared them against different Intel processors: The Sempron processors are numbered to match Celeron processors, whereas the Athlon processors were numbered to match Pentium IV processors.

Another interesting comparison on the Low-End CPU Benchmarks chart is the Mobile Intel Pentium 4 at 2.66 GHz (PassMark=363) with one of its successors, the Intel Celeron M at 1.60 GHz (PassMark=365): The Celeron M has virtually identical performance at 40% lower clock speed! That shows how much better processors with the "M" suffix are than their predecessors with the Mobile Pentium 4 nomenclature.