Intel Pentium III E "Coppermine" (Slot-1)

By now it does seem like the Pentium III E is much more than just another Pentium III but what platform do we run it on? The beauty of the 100MHz FSB Pentium III E processors is that they can be run on the good ol’ BX platform, but what about the 133MHz FSB Pentium III E CPUs?

Intel’s 820 chipset was supposed to be the launch chipset for the Pentium III E but due to a show stopping bug found by Dell, the chipset, at the time of publication, has yet to be released to the public.

We gave Intel a call and got an update as to the status of the i820 chipset. According to Intel the i820 chipset will make it out this year. The problem was apparently due to layout issues with i820 motherboards and 3 RIMM slots. The solution will most likely be to ship motherboards with only 2 RIMM slots, which is a bit disappointing from the point of view of expansion.

Intel insists that the issue was not related to the chipset or the RIMMs themselves; rather, it was solely a layout related problem. Regardless, the issue has been identified and it has been taken care of. So if Intel holds true to their word we should see the first i820 motherboards hit the streets before the end of the year.

But if you don’t feel like waiting, VIA’s Apollo Pro 133A is here today and works just fine with the Pentium III E at the 133MHz FSB.

Click here for detailed descriptions of all of the tests run.
Click Here for a detailed description of the four visual test modes used in the Quake 3 tests.