Components Overview

CPU

In our original chipset comparison article, we chose 600MHz as the default clock speed. For this article, we bumped the clock up to 750MHz.

With the new clock speed, all systems are running under the same conditions, specifically the front side bus is operating at 100MHz and the CPU clock multiplier is set at 7.5x.

This evens the field considerably, especially for the older BX and AMD-750 chipsets. Both VIA chipsets represented here are capable of running the memory bus at 133MHz while the front side bus operates at 100MHz.

For performance numbers with the memory bus at 133MHz, please refer back to original product reviews for the K7V and MSI-6309. If we receive enough requests from readers, we'll set up the test systems again with the memory bus at 133MHz while the FSB is left at 100MHz.

With the higher CPU clock speed, we were curious to see if the advertised benefits of RAMBUS RDRAM and the 820 chipset begin to appear.

The argument has been made that as we approach (and exceed) 1GHz, the benefits of 820 and RAMBUS will be more apparent. Let's also not forget that today's games and applications still don't show the true potential of the latest hardware technology: AGP 4X being a good example.

Graphics

Back in February we paired all systems with the Voodoo3 3000 AGP graphics card. This time we decided to use NVIDIA's GeForce 256 for its performance.

In addition, recent price drops have made the GeForce more affordable for most gamers. GeForce cards with conventional SDRAM can be frequently found for under $170 and even some 32MB DDR cards for under $250. With NVIDIA's next product (codenamed "NV15") on the horizon we expect prices to continue to fall in the immediate future.

Another reason we decided to use the GeForce 256 is increased compatibility with the chipsets represented here. In the past the 750 chipset has had problems with the GeForce 256, these issues have since been resolved with newer driver releases from NVIDIA as well as newer steppings of the 750 chipset.

These newer steppings (specifically 5 and above) not only bring increased AGP compatibility with GeForce 256, they also add a new feature that was disabled on older versions: Super Bypass. With Super Bypass memory latencies between the chipset and CPU have been reduced, we've found this can make a significant improvement in system performance.

Chances are good that if you purchase an AMD 750 motherboard today the stepping of your chipset will support Super Bypass. We received our K7 Pro back in January, and it's based on the sixth stepping of the 750 chipset.