And so we come to the end of yet another Intel Pentium III review. However, after going through the CPU for two days of benchmarking and customer comments, I can tell you this. The Pentium III 600 is not a particularly big deal. Sure, it's fast, but what do you expect? It's a 600MHz PIII, 'fast' is its middle name anyway. Spending $700+ for something like this is not a very good idea at this time because this CPU will be just another PIII in a couple of weeks. Oh, and if you think you can overclock this CPU then you're going to be disappointed, because the reality is that this CPU can't do more than 660MHz, and you're going to need a motherboard that has a 110MHz FSB just to get that far. This isn't a perfect world, so (as you'd figure) the average Slot 1 board doesn't feature this particular FSB, leaving you with an FSB of either 103MHz or 112MHz. So now you're looking at 618MHz at 103, which is really not worth the bother, and don't even think about 112MHz because the PIII 600's stability at 672MHz is like 50%. Of course, you may get it safely up and running by using some exotic cooling solution, but that's just it, the average person doesn't usually tend to take off into the wild blue yonder when comes to providing cooling and you need more than a usual heavy-duty cooling system. So in the world of overclocking, the PIII 600 is a big disappointment.

If you seriouly have your heart set on getting to 600MHz, then get a PIII 550 and overclock it to 616MHz using a 117MHz FSB. This is quite simple and you only have to spend about $550 for this CPU. Then again, if you're a budget user, you also get the option of the PIII 450 -which is a great CPU capable of 526MHz with a 117MHz FSB. But I also would like to remind you folks that the Celeron 500 is now out at $200, which definitely means nobody should forget about the Celeron family just yet.

But getting back to the Pentium III 600- well, I know that there are many users who prefer running their CPUs at default speeds and don't particularly care about all this overclocking stuff. If you're such a user, and you really really want the fastest CPU in the market and you can afford to spend $700+ on it, then the PIII 600 may well be what floats your boat. Keep in mind that the CPU market will be very crowded with newcomers featuring frequency speeds in excess of 600MHz very soon. So think very carefully before spending this much on a CPU which will have a very short-lived performance lead. And that's the truth, folks....