The New VIA Cyrix III: The Worlds First 0.15 Micron x86 CPU

Gaming & Professional OpenGL Performance

We typically associate Expendable with memory bandwidth. In fact, it is because Expendable is so memory bandwidth intensive that we include it in our benchmarks. However, the extra memory bandwidth that the Cyrix III has as a result of its 133 MHz FSB when compared to the Celeron does not give it the edge here. We can only attribute this to very poor processor performance that is essentially holding the FSB speeds back.

It is not surprising that the Cyrix III performs the slowest in all the SPEC viewpref tests. As an entry level OpenGL workstation, using the Cyrix III would almost be crazy. Even the Celeron 566 MHz, a chip which we have previously criticized for its poor SPEC viewpref performance, beats the 667 MHz Cyrix III. Professionals dependent on applications such as Pro/Engineer and AutoCAD would only be hurting themselves by choosing the Cyrix III as a workstation CPU.