Best value Pentium III?

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
Hi guys,

I need to know what's the best value Pentium III processor money can buy. I'm only interested in the 100Mhz variations. By value I mean most performance per your given country's currency. I think it's the 800Mhz version, would the 850Mhz version offer anything worth paying quite a bit extra for? This would be backed up by 512MB PC133 RAM either way.

Thanks in advance to all who answer.

 

thorin

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
7,573
0
0
Going from 800 to 850 will not give you much of a performance boost, especially if you are backing it with .5gb of ram.

The extra 50MHz might equate to an extra 3-5 FPS (Max) in Q3A.

Thorin
 

Sukhoi

Elite Member
Dec 5, 1999
15,341
102
106
Just curious...but why are you getting a 100 MHz FSB PIII if you have PC133 RAM?

Out of the 100 MHz PIII's I'd say the 800E is probably the best bang for your buck, with the 833EB being the best 133 MHz FSB based PIII.
 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
I understand. The reason is because I have a dual processor motherboard that only supports 100Mhz Coppermine CPU's. PC133 RAM because it will work at 100Mhz anyhow at 2-2-2 timings and offer the best bandwidth throughput. I'm tempted for the fastest but paying 20% more for the 850% version seems too much for the 50Mhz gain or 3 seconds less time it takes to render a 3D MAX image.
 

SUOrangeman

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
8,361
0
0
FYI, there is no 833, but the 733 is considered the best non-o/c value these days for the 133MHz FSB.

-SUO
 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
Would an 800Mhz version be able to reach 1Ghz if overclocked? It seems possible but my overclocking experiences date back to the Pentium/MMX and Pentium II chips so I need to update myself on the numbers which can be obtained by the newer generation of processors.

Adam
 

Sukhoi

Elite Member
Dec 5, 1999
15,341
102
106
Your chance of getting an 800E to 1000 MHz is pretty low. If you want to overclock, I'd suggest a 700E cB0 to 933 MHz.
 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
I see, how would the overclocking business look on other Pentium III's such as the 850, 866, 933 and 1Ghz models. Has anyone reached some result worthwhile saying? Would I be wrong saying a 1Ghz will do 1.13Ghz without a problem?
 

Sukhoi

Elite Member
Dec 5, 1999
15,341
102
106


<< Would I be wrong saying a 1Ghz will do 1.13Ghz without a problem? >>



You'd be VERY wrong. :) Heck, Intel can't even get their processors to 1.13 GHz. The highest you're going to get a cB0 Coppermine to in general is 900-100 MHz max.

The 133 MHz FSB based processors are very bad for overclocking because of how high the FSB is set before you even start changing anything. For overclocking a PIII I'd suggest a 650E, 700E, or 750E.
 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
Do correct me if I'm wrong but the reason Intel recalled the 1.13Mhz version was due to the differences in how it is made. Copper interconnects or something I heard. I know that the 1Ghz version is completely unharmed and uses a slightly different process which should mean it could overclock higher. I don't know, for now I'm checking out the prices. I've even asked Dell if they can supply a bare spec 1Ghz P3 and 512MB RAM, they maybe able to provide the goods I want (not a full system) cheaper than if I was to buy it all on the high steeet.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,681
136
Given the brief description of your motherboard, I doubt that it was built with much in the way of overclocking features. By that I mean adjustable Vcore and FSB selections, also adjustable pci/agp/fsb ratios. With FSB selections above 100 available, you may obtain a mild overclock; without it, you are just out of luck. What motherboard are you referring to, anyway?

I agree with you that the 850 isn't worth it. The price/speed ratio scales pretty well up to 800, then takes a big jump. I seriously doubt that you would see much difference between any processors in the 700- 800Mhz range. The rest of the system starts to be a bottleneck at those speeds.
 

hans007

Lifer
Feb 1, 2000
20,212
18
81
if you aren't gonna o/c a 750 or 800 probably is the best value. Only a little more than a 650 or 700
 

Mears

Platinum Member
Mar 9, 2000
2,095
1
81
I can get my 650E cbo up to 946 stable at Cas2. I'm going to try and run the core voltage through the slocket instead of the bios and see if I can get it higher though.
 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
This is not in reference to the board stated above, any board, even those that have all FSB settings upto 200Mhz from Abit. I'm just seeing which version is the best. To eliminate as much bottleneck as possible the system will have 512MB of PC133 CAS 2 RAM to aid it along. I guess everyone is hoping to break that 1Ghz barrier and I'm one of them.
 

DDad

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,668
0
0
Geforce:
&quot;Do correct me if I'm wrong but the reason Intel recalled the 1.13Mhz version was due to the differences in how it is made. Copper interconnects or something I heard. &quot;
You're wrong- Intel will not go to copper until they change to a .13 die. The recall was due to several reports of bad processors- and problems running some of the stabilty tests. If I recall correctly, Tom's Hardware was able to find a flaw using a Linux stabilty test. This was verified by the guys at HardOCP- and the chip was recalled the next day
 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
I see. I've heard a guy get a 1Ghz upto 1200Mhz so it seems it is specific to the way they made the 1.13Mhz model (slight alterations) since the 1Ghz model surpasses 1.13Ghz and maintains 100% stability.
 

Homerboy

Lifer
Mar 1, 2000
30,890
5,001
126
Being that he says his MB supports up to 100Mhz PIII's I don't think OCing will be a alid option for him.

 

GFORCE100

Golden Member
Oct 9, 1999
1,102
0
76
I know that board supports only 100Mhz P3's. Changing a board isn't a problem. I could easily get a 815 Solano2 chipset motherboard.
 

Wooster

Golden Member
Oct 21, 1999
1,463
0
76
Which Pentium III is best to break the 1GHz barrier with best price and stability? I heard P3-750 have higher chance to do that but you have to bump up 2V in core to OC. I am thinking to stay with 133 FSB and not over it. Anybody experience with it?