Intel Pentium III-450 Review

Written: May 9, 1999
Written by: Moto®
Price: $380 - $450US ESP
Ship Date: Available Now

The Intel Pentium III-450 is the "slowest" of the new Pentium III line of Intel Processors. Currently Pentium IIIs come in 450Mhz and 500Mhz ratings with a 550Mhz coming next month. There is really no difference between the 450 and 500 other than multiplier settings and price. Both units look the same and uses the same 4ns cache ram.

The PIII-450 I have for testing is a retail unit, made in Malaysia. It carries the product code BX80525U450512ESL3CC. The CPU is packaged using the SECC2 form factor. This has a plastic backplate and an open front face. The thermal plate that is used in SECC cartridges like the old Pentium II is no longer there. This allows the heatsink to make direct contact with the CPU core, making for better cooling.

The heatsink looks just like the heatsinks used in the retail Celerons but it's held in place by 4 one way plastic pins. The stock heatsink has 13 fins and a weak 8CFM fan. I guess this is better than the first shipping Pentium III heatsinks. Those didn't even come with a fan! This heatsink is a pain to remove. You will need a good pull with a pair of pliers to remove the one way pins, most likely breaking them in the process.

The CPU core is no longer capped with a metal slug. The heart of this processor is now clearly visible. It's just 1 centimeter across. The new Organic Land Grid Array on which this processor is based on runs much cooler than the Plastic Land Grid Array that is used by older Pentium II's and Celeron's. The Pentium III-450 is built on the .25 micron process and uses 2 volts of power, the same as the Pentium II's and Celeron's.

The main difference between the Pentium III and PIIs/Celerons is the new SSE instruction set. This is a set of 70 new instructions to enhance your 3D gaming and net surfing experience. So far there are no games and very few applications that takes advantage of SSE. Quake 3 will be among the first game to use the instructions. id software, makers of Quake 3, claims that when SSE is used, it can provide up to 25% performance increase in the game.

The Pentium III-450 also comes with Intel® Processor Serial Number, an electronic number added to every Pentium III processor. Some consider this an invasion of privacy because it can be used to track your net surfing and buying habits. Luckily you have the option of turn off the electronic number.

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