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January 18, 2000
Web posted at: 11:18 a.m. EST (1618 GMT)

by Michelle Campanale-Surkan

(IDG) -- Driven by beefier new processors from AMD and Intel, systems on this month's power chart live life in the fast lane. The Dell Dimension XPS 700r, powered by a Pentium III-700 CPU and running on Windows NT, sets a new PC WorldBench 98 record -- and it debuts at number one. CyberMax's AMD Athlon-700-based Enthusiast A700W takes second place on the strength of swift performance, robust features, and an affordable price.

What does the PC WorldBench 98 score mean?

It's a measure of how fast a PC can run a mix of common business applications as compared to our baseline machine, a Gateway PMMX-200 configured with 32MB of RAM, a 2GB hard drive, and 512KB of secondary cache. A PC that scores 200, for instance, is twice as fast as the baseline system.

Is a true 1-GHz desktop just around the corner?

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As processor speeds gallop toward the gigahertz (1000-MHz) mark, you may wonder which vendor will reach that milestone first. In recent weeks, systems like the Sys Performance 700A and the CyberMax Enthusiast A700W, which sport AMD's 700-MHz Athlon processor, impressed us with their performance. Then came Intel's new Pentium III-733 chip. The Micron Millennia Max 733, based on that processor, is the fastest Windows 98 PC we've seen. So how far are we from a gigahertz CPU? In one sense, we're already there.

The aptly named KryoTech firm uses refrigeration to supercool its systems' processors so that they outpace their rated clock speeds. The company began shipping Super-G, a supercooled 1-GHz computer, on December 1, 1999. Unfortunately, the components required for cooling the processor make for a very heavy PC -- around 60 pounds instead of 15 to 20.

Meanwhile, other vendors are pursuing more traditional avenues in their quest to break the 1-GHz barrier. "We will provide high-performance processors -- for all users -- that don't require expensive add-ons [like refrigeration]," says Intel spokesperson George Alfs. For its part, AMD supports supercooling -- but like Intel, it doesn't endorse overclocking. "There's no easy way to go about overclocking our systems anymore," says AMD spokesperson Drew Prairie, whose company has changed its chip design to make the chips difficult to overclock. Stay tuned.

Top 10 power PCs for February 2000

1. Dell Dimension XPS T700r: $2659; PC WorldBench score of 373, Pentium III-700, 128MB of RAM, 256KB L2 cache, 20.4GB hard drive, 17-inch monitor, Windows NT 4.0, Diamond Viper V770 Ultra graphics board with 32MB of RAM, 4X CD-RW drive, V.90 modem, network card, Iomega Zip 100 drive.

2. CyberMax Enthusiast A700W: $2299; PC WorldBench score of 288, AMD Athlon-700, 128MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 27.3GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98 SE, 3dfx Voodoo 3 3500 TV AGP graphics board with 16MB of RAM, 8X DVD-ROM drive, V.90 modem, Iomega Zip 100 drive.

3. Compaq Prosignia 330 PIII-550: $2111; PC WorldBench score of 246, Pentium III-550, 128MB RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 20GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98, Diamond NVidia Vanta graphics board with 16MB of RAM, 12X-52X CD-ROM drive, V.90 modem, Iomega Zip 250 drive, Microsoft IntelliMouse.

4. Quantex SM600 SE: $2099; PC WorldBench score of 260, Pentium III-600, 128MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 18GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98, NVidia RIVA TNT2 Ultra graphics card with 32MB of RAM, 8X DVD-ROM drive, V.90 modem, network card, ergonomic keyboard, Microsoft IntelliMouse.

5. IBM PC 300PL: $2081; PC WorldBench score of 232, Pentium III-500, 128MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 13GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98, S3 Trio Voodoo3 2000 Interactive graphics board with 16MB of RAM, 17X-40X CD-ROM drive, network card, Iomega Zip 100 drive, Microsoft IntelliMouse.

6. Micron Millennia Max 600: $2301; PC WorldBench score of 254, Pentium III-600, 128MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 13.6GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98 SE, NVidia GeForce 256 graphics board with 32MB of RAM, 8X DVD-ROM drive, V.90 modem.

7. Polywell 800K7-650: $2295; PC WorldBench score of 277, AMD Athlon-650, 128MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 27GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98 SE, Diamond Viper V770 graphics board with 16MB of RAM, 6X DVD-ROM drive, V.90 modem, Iomega Zip 100 drive, Logitech three-button mouse.

8. Axis Systems Orion 100A DVD: $2207; PC WorldBench score of 241, Pentium III-550, 256MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, 22GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98 SE, Diamond Viper V770 graphics board with 32MB of RAM, 6X DVD-ROM drive, 4X CD-RW drive, V.90 modem, Iomega Zip 100 drive, Microsoft IntelliMouse.

9. Micron Millennia Max 733: $2769; PC WorldBench score of 309, Pentium III-733, 128MB of RAM, 256KB L2 cache, 20.5GB hard drive, 19-inch monitor, Windows 98 SE, NVidia GeForce 256 graphics board with 32MB of RAM, 8X DVD-ROM drive, V.90 modem.

10. Sys Performance 600A: $2299; PC WorldBench score of 345, AMD Athlon-600, 128MB of RAM, 512KB L2 cache, two 9.1GB hard drives, 17-inch monitor, Windows NT 4.0, Matrox Millennium G400 DH graphics board with 32MB of RAM, 17X-40X CD-ROM drive, network card, scroll mouse, RAID and two hard drives.