Performance Guide: Intel Pentium III

150 MHz FSB

The only way to speed up a 133 MHz processor is rising the system clock some more. Most motherboards offer 140, 142, 145, 150 and sometimes even 155 + 160 MHz bus speed. While most boards still run stable at 150 MHz, 155 MHz or more seem to be a problem for the chipset.

At this higher FSB speed, all components are being overclocked: CPU, chipset, controllers, graphics card and memory. If only one component fails, the system won't run stable any more. The following table will show you your options:

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Header Cell - Column 0 Multiplier133 MHz FSB150 MHz FSB
Pentium III 533/1334.0-600 MHz
Pentium III 550/1005.5733 MHz825 MHz 1
Pentium III 600/1006.0800 MHz900 MHz 1
Pentium III 600/1334.5-675 MHz
Pentium III 650/1006.5866 MHz975 MHz 1
Pentium III 667/1335.0-750 MHz
Pentium III 733/1335.5-825 MHz 1
Pentium III 800/1336.0-900 MHz 1

1 This setting might fail

Only the slower Coppermine CPUs for 100 MHz FSB can be recommended for overclocking, as the faster versions come with too high multipliers. The 650 MHz model would have to do 866 MHz at 133 MHz FSB or 975 MHz in case of 150 MHz FSB, which both is usually too much. As always, only with some luck you may get a CPU which tolerates this speed.

For detailed information, please check The 150 MHz Project, Part 1 and The 150 MHz Project, Part 2 .