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Intel Ships 400-MHz Systems on 100-MHz System Bus

New system bus speed cuts out bottlenecks.

By Brian McWilliams, PCWorld   

NEC, Dell, Micron, HP, even CompUSA introduced desktops with the new 440BX chipset. Prices range from about $2000 to well over $3000 for a fully loaded 400-MHz box.

At a time when sub-$1000 PCs are taking the market by storm, such high-cost heavyweights may seem an anachronism. But the BX machines give you a lot of bang for the buck.

According to benchmark tests by the PC World Test Center, the new 350-MHz machines earned an average WorldBench 98 score of 192, while the 400-MHz PCs raced along with a score of 205. That%squots 21 percent faster than a 333-MHz Pentium II and 29 percent faster than a 300-MHz PII.

As Gateway 2000%squots senior communications manager, Chad Benson, puts it: %dquot[With] the 400 you can get a relatively high-end configuration, with 128MB of RAM, a 10GB hard drive, and DVD ... for under $3000.%dquot

Benson says the new processors are available now in the company%squots business, home, and server lines. Benson says the faster bus means that cranking up the chip%squots clock speed does not give diminishing returns, as was the case previously.

Jim Penheune watches the consumer market for the Yankee Group. He says the new BX machines will warm the hearts of heavy multimedia users and gamers, though he also believes they%squotre overkill for most home or business applications.

%dquotWhen do you begin to hit the wall in added benefits?%dquot Penheune asks. %dquotWhen the low-end, sub-$1000 PCs first started, there was really a significant difference between the high end and the low end ... but that gap closed up very quickly, so it%squots hard to target the tangible benefits you get for spending more.%dquot

Bargain hunters who don%squott need the fastest box available will soon see healthy price cuts on the 300-MHz and 333-MHz Pentium II systems. Intel today reduced OEM pricing on those chips by more than $100.