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		Intel's Pentium III 700. It is certainly not new, but it is becoming rather affordable, going for roughly $140 in the US. The price gap between 700MHz and 800MHz parts is disproportionately big compared to that of the 600MHz and 700MHz parts. Small wonder that after the P3-550E, the P3-700 has become the next hot favourite of overclockers. Additionally, the advent of the cB0 processor stepping is rumoured to greatly increase the overclocking potential all Pentium IIIs. Let's see how hard a cB0 P3-700 can really be pushed. Before diving in, I will give readers the benefit of the doubt in terms of familiarity with overclocking. The speed of a processor is the product of the front side bus (FSB) and the processor multiplier (or CPU to bus speed ratio). The P3-700 utilizes a 100MHz FSB and a multiplier of 7, thereby giving 700MHz. Overclocking used to be a much easier process, as you could change both the FSB and multiplier. However, Intel implemented multiplier-locking on all processors since the Pentium II 400. While this seemed like a fatal blow to overclocking, it does have an unexpected benefit, which I will cover in another article. In order to overclock, we can only alter the FSB, which is an uncomplicated process nowadays since jumperless FSB settings are the norm. On more dated motherboards, such as 440LX and early generation 440BX boards, FSB alterations can still be done, but it involves switching jumpers or at least adjusting DIP switches. What does all this trouble ultimately lead to? You getting a faster system for less moolah, if you can avert disasters such as burning out your CPU, or letting the mystical blue smoke out of something in your system. But don't worry, this is only in extreme cases...

Test Setup

This is an excellent example of fill-rate limitation. Even with a big increase in central processing power, the frame rates for higher rfesolutions stay exactly the same. The limit of the TNT2 Ultra has been reached, and not even pairing it with a 1.5GHz Pentium IV would increase the frame rate.

Aaargh! Only managed to hit 933MHz (7 x 133). Nothing would coax the system into even POSTing beyond that speed, not even 1.85v. However, this can probably be attributed to the TNT2 Ultra used, since I have yet to see one run at higher AGP speeds than 89MHz. Oh well, looks like I'll be left out of the mile high, er... I mean, 1GHz club.

Intel's price cuts in the past few months have lowered the P3-700 to a very affordable price. With just a little overclocking (105MHz FSB), you can get a P3-733 at a $18 discount. Boosting the FSB to 115MHz nets you a P3-800 for $35 less. Being more aggresive, you should be able to attain 868MHz (124MHz FSB) easily, and you save $82 on a P3-866. Now here's the kicker. If you manage to push it to 933MHz (133MHz FSB), you get a P3-933 for half price!

Granted, users with VIA Apollo Pro or i815/i815e-based motherboards, which have the 1/2 AGP multiplier, will find this an easier task. However, the 440BX (eg. the P3B-F used in this review) has also shown itself capable of running out of spec at a FSB of 133MHz, provided your RAM and graphics card are up to snuff.

If you're looking for a powerful upgrade for your existing system, definitely consider the P3-700. PC-133 RAM is not really necessary, unless you are aiming for FSBs higher than around 112-115MHz. If you're interested in building a whole new system and want to stick to Intel, the P3-700 is also an excellent choice. A P3-700 setup with a good i815e motherboard (eg. ASUS A7V or MSI i850 Pro) and PC-133 SDRAM would definitely be a good step toward binary bustin' hardware lovin'.