Bus Speeds
|
Low
|
Medium
|
High
|
|
66/33
|
100/33
|
133/33
|
|
68/34
|
103/34
|
135/33
|
|
75/37
|
105/35
|
138/34
|
|
80/40
|
110/36
|
140/35
|
|
83/31
|
112/37
|
144/36
|
|
90/30
|
115/38
|
150/37
|
|
95/31
|
124/31
|
155/38
|
| |
130/32
|
160/40
|
| |
|
166/41
|
Since the MB is native
socket-370, it supports the Celeron PPGA, Celeron FC-PGA and the Pentium 3
FC-PGA processors. Do yourself a favor: even if you pick up the Iwill as a
replacement board, go for the P3 solution. The fun begins after you surpass
the 133MHz mark. Can you imagine owning a car so fast you have trouble finding
enough road for it? This MB has FSB's all the way to 166MHz. While not the
highest in the land, when was the last time you heard of somebody running
stable at over 166MHz? When testing began, I toyed with the possibility of
hitting the FSB brick wall. Didn't happen, but I got close.
The Intel Pentium !!!
700E FC-PGA Processor
Nothing earth shattering
about this chip. Except that it was made in the 22nd week of 2000 and that
means not only is it new, but it has the greatest possibility of reaching
high speeds as Intel's plants officially churn out 933MHz parts. At stock
voltage and speed, the chip runs very cool, say 73-75°F. Also at default
settings, the power dissipation is a paltry 18.3 watts and current peak is
a reasonable 14 amps. However, extrapolating from those figures (peek at Intel's
datasheet) leads to a thermal solution of 25.8 watts and a current draw of
20 amps for the 1Gig mark. Since most 235-250 watt power supplies poop out
at 22 amps for the +5 volt line, make sure you run this combo with an Athlon
approved 300 watt unit or larger. My personal suggestion is a Sparkle/PowerMan
300 watt supply as that is exactly what I used for the tests.
Techworks 128MB PC133
SDRAM
Just when
you think you've heard of all the possible memory distributors, another pops
up that appears new. A quick glance at the Techworks site reveals that they
have been around for a few years and dedicate their products for higher end
solutions. (Update) This strip had the
tried and true Infineon 7.5nS rated chips and appears to run in a CAS2
or 3 configuration. SiSoft reports this strip as "CL3 PC133U-333-542"
but the Iwill BIOS accepts a "SDRAM Cycle Length" of 2 all the way
to 140MHz FSB. The slower CAS3 or SDRAM 8nS setting must be chosen for FSB's
144MHz and above. This memory was rock-solid stable: then again so was the
entire combo...(End of update)
The GlobalWin FKP-32
Heatsink Fan
Exactly the same unit
as reviewed in the Celeron 533A@880 combo, the heatsink is designed to fit
crowded MB's. It's rather large and tall and gets the job done. The fan does
an equally great job at cooling. Rated at 26CFM, you hear every foot of it,
but that's the price you pay for top notch air movement. The nifty fringe
benefit of all that air flowing around the CPU is that the FKP-32 naturally
cools everything the general vicinity. Noticeably cooler are things like the
RAM strips, the VIA chipset itself and the bottom of AGP video cards.
The Need For Speed
DOS tests, if they don't
do anything else, at least save the operating system load so you don't corrupt
all that precious data. They can be a good indicator of just how high a system
can go without strain. Then, shave off 5-10% of the maximum attainable speed
and nearly 100% of the time, total stability in Windows is assured without
endless, time consuming reboots.
DOS
Tests
|
FSB
(MHz)
|
Speed
(MHz)
|
Vcore
(Volts)
|
Chip
Temp (F)
|
Case
Temp (F)
|
|
133
|
933
|
1.65
|
84
|
71
|
|
144
|
1008
|
1.65
|
86
|
71
|
|
150
|
1050
|
1.73
|
87
|
71
|
Note that these DOS tests
were completed with the side cover in the "off" position so as to
better reach the "clear CMOS" jumper. Also note the low case temperature.
The case in question is the excellent InWin S500 (not A500). The airflow design
is totally superior to anything I've experienced to date. Most of the time,
the case heats to a figure at least 15-25°F above the ambient air temp
and sits 5-10°F below the chip temp. The S500 circulates air so well (with
no additional fans, not even a case fan), that the interior case temp is barely
above the ambient air temp as noted in the Win98SE tests.
