Super PI 1.1

The next test we chose to use was the venerable Super PI. Developed in 1994 by the Kanada Lab at the University of Tokyo, Super PI has been and remains to this day one of the simplest and clearest ways to test your computer’s shear processing power. The one drawback with this program is that it only shows time results to a precision of seconds instead of tenths or even hundredths. However, with the results we’re about to show you, it doesn’t really make a difference. As has become common practice, the specific test we are reporting is the ‘1M’ test, or a test to see how fast your processor can calculate the value of pi out to one million decimal digits.



When you consider that the 3.0GHz Intel Pentium 4 we often use for our benchmarking pounds out the 1M calculation in a blazing 42 seconds, numbers like 15 and 16 seconds go from being impressive to absolutely astounding. When we benchmarked, albeit unauthorized and unsanctioned, a Core 2 Duo machine at E3 this year, the fastest we were able to get Super PI to calculate 1M decimal digits was 19seconds. However, as a result of being able to spend a bit more time with the Core 2 Duo, we were able to get that time down to 15seconds. That number is pretty impressive for sure, but let us assure you: you ‘ain’t seen nothing yet.