by Bubba "Masterfung" Wolford

  Finally, I decided to run the V3 with its native Glide API to see if it could better its D3D scores. To my surprise, it did not:

WW2 Fighters: Glide

For every game I have ever played on a 3dfx card, Glide scores have always been better than those of D3D. Early on in the Falcon 4.0 beta, my D3D scores were superior to Glide but when the game shipped, the API's switched and Glide became the superior API. Will 3dfx even continue using the Glide API? Apparently, they are discussing that possibility right now.

One benchmark that everyone can use to test his or her computer with is SiSoft Sandra 99. I find it to be a great utility to test everything from your CPU to memory to CDROM speeds. It is a free download for the regular version. The PRO version has to be registered and offers more options and a considerable amount of tweaking. I recommend trying it. Let's see the scores from Sandra 99 for our two machines, looking at the CPU benchmark first:

The CPUs are both 600 MHz. The only difference between them is the front side bus (FSB). No surprise that their scores are virtually identical.

I am using PC133 RAM in my personal machine. The RIMMS on the Camino motherboard are 168 pin but they have different notches so there is no way to fit in a DIMM. I tested the PC100 RAM and PC133 RAM on my machine (System 1) while the 600B and Camino was sporting its RIMM of PC800 RDRAM (System 2). The results are predictable:

Let's move to the UDMA 66 stuff for the hard drives. Again, I am using Sisoft to test the two drives:

Click to continue

The UDMA 66 throughput is indeed making the benchmarks run faster. You can also see that the faster 18.0 GB Expert drive is faster than the 9.1 GB Expert drive. Both are 7200 RPM so they are plenty fast right from the start.

3DMark99 MAX Pro

3Dmark99 has become a stapled benchmark for most all video hardware. So, let's see how these two computers perform against each other:

Well, the Camino system is clearly making a little ground here. Changing the Diamond Viper V770 Ultra from AGP 4x to AGP 2x shows a loss in some speed. The transfer of textures is making a difference here. While the gains are not enormous yet, as time goes on and we see more games take advantage of what AGP 4X can offer, the gains will get larger. In addition, the 600B with its superior 133 MHz bus could also be making a difference. Again, they are not large but nevertheless, still present.

Conclusion

Clearly this system is very fast. Do doubt about that but the question is, are the 600B processors worth your money? Well, if money is no object and you are looking for the fastest Intel CPUs out then these processors are your choice! If Coppermine is hitting the streets and you are looking for a processor that would be cheaper while still being able to get up to speed by purchasing a 133 MHz bus system, these processors would be perfect.

You can save some money by getting a 533B or 600B while still picking up a Camino motherboard. That way you are all set to upgrade to Coppermine when the prices drop to a level you are comfortable with down the road. Of course, other choices are the attractive Celeron's or lower-end Pentium III 450, 500 or 550 MHz.

As AMD continues to increase the clock speeds, the competition level is great for consumers and our wallets. Right now is just a good time to be buying a new PC. A new generation of video cards is dawning along with a new generation of CPUs. What more could any PC gaming buff ask?

Note: 3dGameGuage is the property of CGW, WW2 Fighters is an Electronic Arts title.

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