Test System #1

• Intel Pentium III 1GHz
• Intel Vancouver 820 motherboard with BIOS 86A.0022.P08
• 128 MB RDRAM non-ECC. (assume PC-800)
• NVIDIA TNT2 Ultra
• NVIDIA driver V.4.12.01.0377 .
• Maxtor 54098U8 hard disk
• Windows 98 Second Edition with DX 7.0 installed.

Test System #2

• AMD 1GHz Athlon
• ASUS 7VX KX133 Motherboard
• NVIDIA TNT2 Ultra
• 128MB VC133 Memory
• IBM Deskstar 34GB DMA/66
• Integrated Sound (Vibra 16)
• Allied Telesyn AT2700TX

Test System #3

• AMD 650, 700, 750, 800, and 850MHz Athlon
• Gigabyte GA-7IX AMD 751 Motherboard
• NVIDIA TNT2 Ultra
• 128MB HSDRAM Memory
• Western Digital Expert 18.1GB DMA/66
• Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live!

Test System #4

• Intel 667, 700, 750, and 800MHz Pentium III
• Intel VC820 i820 Motherboard
• NVIDIA TNT2 Ultra
• 128MB PC800 RDRAM
• Western Digital Expert 18.1 DMA/66
• Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live!

UPDATE:
Since posting this review we have been asked by many readers why we did not run the 1GHz Pentium III CPU on an SDRAM platform. The decision to run benchmarks on an RDRAM platform only was made because the OEMs we have spoken to have all stated that they will be offering the 1GHz CPU in very limited quantities based upon an 820 platform with RDRAM. From now until Q3, to our knowledge, there will not be any Pentium III's 1GHz machines selling with SDRAM. Therefore we felt the decision to only run the benchmarks on an 820 platform with RDRAM.