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May 10, 1999

New Chip, Similar Speed

Gateway, Sys Technology Pentium III workstations reliable, only slightly faster

By Logan Harbaugh

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ntel's Pentium III is noteworthy for four reasons. First, it supports higher processor speeds than the Pentium II--500 MHz now--and will support faster speeds in the near future. Second, it incorporates the Katmai instruction set, aimed at improving audio and video performance. Third, it supports a larger Level 2 cache--512 Kbytes, up from 128 Kbytes or 256 Kbytes in previous systems. Finally, the Pentium III supports a 100-MHz system bus, instead of 66 MHz.

I looked at two workstations powered by the new chips, one from Gateway and the other from Sys Technology Inc., to see what can be expected from Pentium III systems.

The most important performance improvements are still in the area of potential. The Pentium III's greatest improvements are the faster processor speed and larger Level 2 cache, the buffer between the CPU and memory. The larger cache will result in better performance with some operating systems and applications. It's more of an issue in servers, where CPU utilization is often high for extended periods.

The 100-MHz bus can speed communications between the CPU and system cards, but only if the cards are optimized for a 100-MHz system bus. It won't do anything for interfaces that don't need more speed, such as the keyboard, Universal Serial Bus, or even a 10/ 100-Mbps Ethernet card. The greatest applications for the 100-MHz bus will be video boards and input/output adapters that need the extra bandwidth, such as Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet, which aren't often found in workstations.

The Pentium III's new instructions could increase the speed of audio and video applications, but few apps support the instructions.

All that said, how much difference does the Pentium III make to the average business user? The answer: not much. A 450-MHz Pentium III isn't noticeably faster than a 450-MHz Pentium II, all else being equal. Other components--such as video card, hard drive, amount of RAM, and network interface card--could make a greater difference than an upgrade from a 450-MHz Pentium II to a 500-MHz Pentium III.

I recently received two new Pentium III systems: a Gateway E-4200 Pentium III/450 and a Sys Technology AX-500P3 Pentium III/450. Both are workstations rather than servers. The E-4200 came with Windows NT 4.0 Workstation installed and the AX-500P3 with Windows 98.

Gateway is a top-tier supplier to businesses and consumers, and Sys Technology is representative of smaller suppliers that often offer similar or even better quality and performance but are less well-known. Both offer good value for performance.

Both systems are oriented toward high-end desktop business applications. They include quality 19-inch monitors and high-performance video cards with 16 Mbytes of video RAM, sound cards and good speakers, and 10/100 Ethernet cards installed. They are both strong contenders for a standard business system. Both are well-made, with excellent quality components, and high-end display subsystems, as well as solid construction that should yield excellent reliability.

Gateway E-4200
The Gateway E-4200 is a 450-MHz Pentium III system with 128 Mbytes of RAM, a 17-Gbyte hard disk, and an ATI RAGE 128 video adapter with 16 Mbytes of video RAM. It includes a 32x CD-ROM, Creative AudioPCI sound card, keyboard, mouse, and Gateway brand 19-inch monitor (18 inches viewable). NT 4.0 Workstation is installed. The system comes with Intel LANDesk.