3d Studio Max 7
We start our test series with 3d Studio Max 7, the computer-generated picture software. The first of two scenes uses a classic Raytracing-type result based on the « Architecture » scene of specAPC. 
Whether clocked at 3 GHz or 3.6 GHz, the cache contribution isn’t significant enough to be measured. It’s impossible to have a reliable figure with these frequencies as there can be a 1 second margin of error for this benchmark. The P4 6xx doesn’t improve performance and for a similar price has inferior performances to the P4 5xx. Despite being clocked at 3.73 GHz, the new Pentium 4 EE doesn’t have better performances than the previous Northwood, which is much more comfortable with this type of application.
Developed by
Studio PC, the second scene mainly uses radiosity, an effect that has a more realistic lighting effect and is slower. 85% of this scene is based on this type of effect.
This time there is a performance difference between the P4 6xx and the P4 5xx, which is quite small indeed at +1.2% at 3 GHz, and +0.5% at 3.6 GHz. The new Pentium 4 Extreme Edition is 5.7% faster than the previous version.
Maya 6
With Maya 6 we also used two scenes provided by Yann Dupont of 3 DVF, whom we thank for their use. The first one uses the Maya Software engine and the second, the Mental Ray.
There is a slight improvement with this bench: +0.7% at 3 GHz and +0.5% at 3.6 GHz. Here, the Northwood architecture used by the Pentium 4 EE 3.46 GHz provides the best results. It is 7.1% faster than the new and very expensive Extreme Edition.
This time it’s the opposite. The new EE improves performances by 10%. The 6xx performances are comparable to the 5xx. For an equivalent price the 6xx is once again less efficient.
