In line with early media speculation, AMD's new K6-III processor is arguably the company's first CPU capable of competing at the high end of the PC market. Augmenting its K6-2 design with a larger and partially faster cache, AMD has fashioned a CPU that performs nearly as well on common business applications as Intel's leading chip, the 500-MHz Pentium III.
Such performance is particularly impressive considering that the K6-III runs at lower clock speeds (400 or 450 MHz) than the Pentium III and sells to PC manufacturers for much lower prices. Backed by the Super7 motherboard platform, the chip poses a significant threat to Intel in the world of basic 2-D computing.
Yet the K6-III is not as proficient as the Pentium III when handling raw floating-point calculations. This problem is mitigated when the chip's 3DNow! instruction set is used -- as it is under our 3D WinMark test and other applications -- but the chip's 3-D performance is still a step behind that of Intel's CPUs.
With this, our first K6-III roundup, we examine the chip's basic architecture and its relative abilities, then review two inaugural 450-MHz K6-III systems: the Presario 5600s from Compaq Computer Corp. ($2,549 direct) and the Enthusiast 3 Daredevil from CyberMax Computer ($1,899 direct). Similar machines will soon be available from Polywell Computers and TigerDirect, two longtime AMD partners.