PIII-866 Systems Pour It On

The 1-GHz CPU has grabbed the spotlight in the chip speed races, as both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices hit that mark this month. But when Intel jumped from 800 MHz to 1 GHz, it skipped a few spots, which it fills Monday. Making their debut are 850- and 866-MHz Pentium III CPUs, which will power systems that may prove more practical than the speed demon.

Dell is one of the first vendors with a system that supports Intel's new PIII-866, and PC WorldBench 2000 tests find it runs nearly as fast as the IBM 1-GHz Pentium III machine announced earlier in March. But the upcoming 850- and 866-MHz machines may offer a better balance of price and performance.

Dell's Dimension XPS B-866 earned 156 on PC WorldBench 2000. Despite the Dell's slower clock speed, that's extremely close to the scores reported earlier for 1-GHz systems. IBM's PIII 1-GHz Aptiva S Series GZ earned the top score of 165 on PC WorldBench 2000. Gateway's Select 1000, based on the 1-GHz Athlon, clocked in at 157; and the Compaq Presario 5900Z-1GHz, also Athlon-based, earned a similar score of 154. The Compaq Presario 59000Z-850, also powered by an Athlon CPU, scored 139.

But the Dell's CPU is not the only reason it's running so quickly. The system's main memory plays a role: The Dell and IBM systems both have 128 MB of RDRAM, or Rambus memory, which costs about 30 percent more than standard SDRAM. To date, RDRAM hasn't made much impact on our benchmark tests, but Intel says it will as CPU speeds climb. Our tests are starting to support that assertion.

All systems ran Windows 98 SE and the newest version of the PC World benchmark suite, which uses 11 applications, including Word, Excel, Netscape Communicator, Quicken, and PhotoPaint.

Price May Be Right

So the Dell Dimension XPS B-866 may win your price-performance prize, compared to 1-GHz models. The system tested is priced at $3679, with a PIII-866EB CPU and the Intel 820 chip set, which supports a 133-MHz front side bus. This configuration has a 30GB hard drive, 12X DVD-ROM drive, and a CD-RW drive. It has 4X AGP graphics, and ATA-66, an enhanced version of the IDE storage interface that can transfer data at a peak of 66 mbps, a step up from the standard 33 mbps.

Extreme power users may be tempted to ignore its cost to enjoy the Dimension XPS B-866's prowess in business apps and graphics. For the ultimate in video editing, 3D modeling, and gaming, you want the best graphics card and RAM you can find, if you can swallow the price.

Other systems tested were announced earlier in March: The Athlon-powered Compaq Presario 5900Z-1GHz and Presario 5900Z-850; the 1-GHz Pentium III IBM Aptiva; and Gateway 1-GHz Selection 1000, also running an Athlon CPU.

The 1-GHz Compaq costs the most at $3799, with a 10X DVD-ROM drive, a combination xDSL and 56-kbps modem, and a 40GB hard drive. IBM's Aptiva checks in at $3498 with an almost identical configuration. The more modestly configured Presario 5900Z-850, priced at $2564, costs $1235 less than the 1-GHz model but has a 20GB hard drive and a 40X CD-ROM drive instead of DVD-ROM drive. Note that the 850-MHz chip alone costs $400 to $500 less than the 1-GHz chip.

Gateway's $3308 Select 1000 Athlon 1-GHz system seems reasonably priced given its 30GB drive, 8X DVD-ROM drive, and CD-RW drive, and you can cut that figure down to $2999 if you forgo the CD-RW and choose less expensive speakers.