Math.Pow vs multiply operator (performance)

Question

Anyone knows if multiply operator is faster than using the Math.Pow method? Like:

n * n * n

vs

Math.Pow ( n, 3 )

Answer 1

I just reinstalled windows so visual studio is not installed and the code is ugly

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;

public static class test{

public static void Main(string[] args){
    MyTest();
    PowTest();
}

static void PowTest(){
    var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    double res = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < 333333333; i++){
        res = Math.Pow(i,30); //pow(i,30)
    }
    Console.WriteLine("Math.Pow: " + sw.ElapsedMilliseconds + " ms:  " + res);
}

static void MyTest(){
    var sw = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    double res = 0;
    for (int i = 0; i < 333333333; i++){
        res = MyPow(i,30);
    }
    Console.WriteLine("MyPow: " + sw.ElapsedMilliseconds + " ms:  " + res);
}



static double MyPow(double num, int exp)
{
    double result = 1.0;
    while (exp > 0)
    {
        if (exp % 2 == 1)
            result *= num;
        exp >>= 1;
        num *= num;
    }

    return result;
}
}

The results:
csc /o test.cs

test.exe

MyPow: 6224 ms:  4.8569351667866E+255  
Math.Pow: 43350 ms:  4.8569351667866E+255 

Exponentiation by squaring (see https://stackoverflow.com/questions/101439/the-most-efficient-way-to-implement-an-integer-based-power-function-powint-int) is much faster than Math.Pow in my test (my CPU is a Pentium T3200 at 2 Ghz)

EDIT: .NET version is 3.5 SP1, OS is Vista SP1 and power plan is high performance.