Ballistics Report

Performance:

It's cheap, it's 400Mhz, what more could you ask for? Well, how about more overclocking? The 400's faster speed effectively limits its potential to 450Mhz at 75, 500Mhz at 83, or 600Mhz at 100. From our experience with the 400 slot-1 and prior tests with the identical 366, 550 appears to be a stable, reachable speed that the 400 simply cannot take advantage of. Other than that, it does its job as well or better than a corresponding Pentium II 400, at a lower cost. For those who absolutely need 550Mhz performance, go with the 366 instead.

Innovation:

Just like the 366 PPGA reviewed earlier, there is little in the way of innovation with the socket-370 package. However, a 400Mhz chip running at 66Mhz FSB holds some interesting possibilities, the best of which is greatly reduced cost for motherboard design. Since overclocking at 100Mhz may not be a viable option for most owners, a cheap LX-based board capable of clock speeds of 66, 75, and 83Mhz can be a great base for the Celeron 400. Being released as both Slot-1 and Socket-370 is also a plus, though I would imagine most would opt for the Slot-1 offering with a BX board, for the possibility of 100Mhz operation and easy upgrade path.

Price:

It's cheap - under $180 for either form factor, and it performs just like a P2. That's a mighty big plus in my book. Competition does great things to both performance and price, and Intel's push to fend off the imminent K6-3 is an expected move that benefits the end user regardless. Again, if you're aching for the highest MHz under the sun, save yourself a few bucks and go with the $130-140 366Mhz part instead.