Testbed and Overclocking

Overclocking

We would have preferred the 650E instead of the 600E, but beggars can't be choosers. The 600E's 6X multiplier will require very high FSB (front side bus) speeds. The chip needs a 133MHz FSB just to reach 800MHz! The 650E would be able to get up to 866MHz with the same 133MHz FSB. Enough complaining, let's get to the overclocking.

We pulled out our trusty Abit BE6-II, an Abit FC-PGA to PPGA slocket converter, a Golden Orb cooling fan, and our Radio Shack thermal compound. The first processor we tested was disappointing to say the least. The chip could only get to 672MHz (6 x 112MHz). As you may recall, all three of our original P3-600E engineering samples could overclock above 700MHz. The processor's poor overclock was disturbing, but not surprising since we already had the sinking feeling that the new chips might actually be marked at the correct speed grades.

Saddened by the results of the first overclocking attempt, we moved on to the second processor. We're glad to tell you that the second processor performed much better than the first. We were able to get the chip up to a healthy 858MHz with an astounding 143MHz FSB. The system wasn't quite stable at 870MHz, and after a little testing with a faster CPU we determined that the video card wasn't the problem -the CPU had reached its limits. We were worried that our GeForce DDR wouldn't be able to handle the overclocked AGP bus, but the card held up admirably at 95MHz (143MHz FSB x 2/3 AGP).

Test System

Intel Pentium 3 600E@600MHz(6 x 100MHz)
Intel Pentium 3 600E@858MHz(6 x 143MHz)
Abit FC-PGA to Slot-1 adapter
Abit BE6-II motherboard
Apacer 128MB PC133 SDRAM

Western Digital Caviar ATA-66 hard drive

ASUS V6800 GeForce 256 32MB DDR
Driver version: Detonator 5.16

Windows 98 SE

Benchmarks

3DMark2000 - 800x600x16
3DMark2000 - 800x600x32
3DMark2000 - 1024x768x16
3DMark2000 - 1024x768x32
3DMark2000 - CPU Marks

Quake 3 Retail - 512x384 Fastest, Normal, High Quality
Quake 3 Retail - 640x480 Fastest, Normal, High Quality
Quake 3 Retail - 800x600 Fastest, Normal, High Quality
Quake 3 Retail - 1024x768 Fastest, Normal, High Quality
Quake 3 Retail - 1280x1024 Fastest, Normal, High Quality

Nocturne - 512x384x16
Nocturne - 512x384x32
Nocturne - 640x480x16
Nocturne - 640x480x32