CPU Scaling Analysis, Part 2: Intel Pentium III Scaling and Upgrading

Test Setup

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Test System
CPU Intel Pentium III 733, 800, 866, 933 MHz
Motherboard Asus CUSL2, Intel 815E ChipsetBIOS 1006
RAM 128 MB PC133 SDRAM, 7ns (Wichmann Workx) CL2
Hard Disk IBM DeskStar 75 GXP, DTLA307030, 7200 rpm
Graphics Card nVIDIA GeForce 2 Ultra64 MB DDR-SDRAMnVIDIA GeForce 2 GTS32 MB DDR-SDRAMnVIDIA GeForce 2 MX32 MB SDRAM
Operating System Windows 98 SE 4.10.2222 AWindows 2000 Professional 5.00.2195 SP1
Benchmarks and Setup
Office Applications Benchmark BAPCo SYSmark2000
OpenGL Benchmarks Quake III ArenaRetail Versioncommand line = +set cd_nocd 1 +set s_initsound 0Graphics detail set to 'Normal', 640x480x16Benchmark using 'Q3DEMO1'SPECviewperf 6.1.2: Advanced Visualizer and Lightscape
Direct3D Game Benchmark Mercedes Benz Truck RacingDefault Direct 3D Settings
Screen Resolution 1024x768x85, 16 Bit1280x1024x75, 16 Bit for SPECviewperf 6.1.2
DirectX Version 8.0a

Sorry about the missing Pentium III 1 GHz - unfortunately I did not have this CPU when I ran the benchmarks. However, as you will see later, this is by no means crucial because ultimately the graphics card has a greater impact on 3D-performance than the processor.

Patrick Schmid
Editor-in-Chief (2005-2006)

Patrick Schmid was the editor-in-chief for Tom's Hardware from 2005 to 2006. He wrote numerous articles on a wide range of hardware topics, including storage, CPUs, and system builds.