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PCs Break the 700-MHz Barrier

Intel and AMD continue their dizzying duel to produce the fastest CPU--and this time, you can feel the performance difference.

  

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AMD Athlon 700MHz (OEM)

Seven is the lucky number for power PC buyers: Intel Pentium III-733 and AMD Athlon-700 processors fuel the fastest systems we've seen. But the megahertz jump tells only half the story.

In recent months, Intel has rolled out some PIII speed increases that looked good in the advertisements but didn't make productivity apps work much better. Case in point: PIII-550 systems ran those apps just 5 percent faster than the average PIII-500 machine, while PIII-600 systems ran them just 4 percent faster than a typical PIII-550 PC. Neither gain was noticeable. Thanks to a design improvement, however, the newest PIII chips give everyday apps a potent shot of adrenaline. In addition, the new PIIIs recapture the speed crown from AMD's Athlon processors.

The new PIII processors, which are code-named Coppermine, come in a confusing variety of mix-and-match options, from 733 to 500 MHz, with 133- or 100-MHz system buses and several main memory options. We tested a Micron PIII-733 home machine with 133-MHz virtual channel SDRAM, and an HP PIII-667 corporate desktop with PC-800 RDRAM. For a peek at AMD's best, we evaluated a Compaq home system carrying the 700-MHz Athlon and PC-100 SDRAM.

We saw some eye-popping performance gains. What's more, Micron's and HP's new power machines are surprisingly good values. The loaded Micron speed champ costs just $2377--a price we'd call lucky even if it didn't end in sevens.

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