What's the Fastest PC of Them All?
Michael J. Miller, Editor-In-Chief
PC Magazine
As 1999 winds down, the PC industry is not quite where it thought it would be. As late as September, we assumed that a majority of new fast systems would rely on three technologies: the Intel 820 core-logic chip set (code named Camino), Rambus DRAM (RDRAM) memory, and the 733-MHz Pentium III processor. Yet a delay in the rollout of the 820 has left RDRAM without a platform. Moreover, the new AMD Athlon processor has proved a potent competitor for the fastest Pentiums, giving PC makers an alternative to Intel.
The result: an unusually diverse crop of high-end PCs in our annual fast PC buying guide. Collectively, the 51 PCs we tested use six different CPUs, three different chip sets, three different memory types, two different bus speeds and 10 different graphics engines. As a group, these machines are the fastest x86 PCs ever tested by PC Magazine Labs. The average performance for typical business applications is about 80 percent ahead of the average for the power-user Pentium II machines we tested one year ago.
WHO NEEDS THESE SYSTEMS?
Web and multimedia content developers, for starters, as well as graphics professionals who rely on image-editing and desktop publishing packages for their livelihoods. The increased productivity afforded by a faster system makes the investment worthwhile. Business and corporate professionals who want to maximize the useful life of their PCs should also look here. Spending the extra money now could mean an extra year that the PC can remain in service, which lowers total cost of ownership.
733-MHZ IS FAST!
The 733-MHz Pentium III has again given Intel a slight performance advantage over AMD in most business applications. The chip not only clocks faster than previous Pentium IIIs but also uses a faster cache design as well. During testing , two 733-MHz systems outperformed four Athlon/700 PCs by roughly 7% on our Winstone tests. That doesn't mean the Athlon/700 is slow. AMD's latest CPU uses a half-speed L2 cache, but with a larger primary cache and more effective core technology, it compares favorably with Coppermine running most any software.
THE 820 CHIP SET
Judging by our tests, the delayed 820 chip set is quite adept at handling multiple data streams, and when it reaches the market, it's likely to please those who like to run intensive background tasks (such as Internet downloads and virus scans) under Windows. Otherwise, the 820 chip set is little different from the Via Apollo Pro133A. Yes, the 820 supports RDRAM, but there are less expensive memory technologies capable of comparable performance on mainstream applications. For instance, the Micron Millennia Max PIII 733/133 uses 133-MHz Virtual Channel memory, which is not only cheaper than RDRAM but also lower-latency.
COOL GRAPHICS ENGINES
Another technological leap debuting in the systems reviewed here is in the graphics engine. The fast PCs from Compaq and Micron use the GeForce 256, the first mainstream 3-D chip to integrate transform and lighting (T&L) hardware. Also offering a 256-bit rendering engine, the GeForce performed better on ZD 3D Graphics WinMark than any other PC graphics chip ever tested. Look for the GeForce to be adopted by more PC makers this winter.
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