How New Pentium IIs Measure Up

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April 15, 1998 (12:00 AM EDT)

By Mark Spiwak,

Intel has upped the performance ante once again with its Pentium II line of central processing units (CPUs) and support circuitry. The company unveiled Wednesday the 440-BX, a new motherboard chip set that supports a 100-MHz system bus rather than 66 MHz. Just as important, Intel is bringing out 350-MHz and 400-MHz processors to be paired with the new chip set.

The CRN Test Center examined five systems that use the new chips. All systems were tested using BapCo's Sysmark32 benchmarking suite, at a resolution of 800 x 600 in 16-bit color.

AST Bravo 400
The Windows 95-based 400-MHz AST Bravo comes in a sleek desktop configuration that is a bit too cramped for easy servicing and upgrading. The motherboard is loaded with 64 megabytes of dual in-line memory module (DIMM) memory, one Industry Standard Architecture slot, and four peripheral component interconnect slots with the ISA slot and one of the PCI slots sharing bracket space. The motherboard also has one accelerated graphics port slot, but was configured to use on-board ATI Rage Pro video. Audio circuitry is also built into the motherboard. The motherboard features a single universal serial bus port and a network interface.

The AST system is IDE-based, with a 6-gigabyte IBM hard drive and Toshiba 32X CD-ROM drive. A rubber housing, called Silent Drive, keeps the hard drive quiet. The system's only external 3.5-inch bay is occupied by the floppy drive, the only internal 3.5-inch bay is filled by the hard drive, and one of its two external 5.25-inch bays houses the CD-ROM drive.

The AST Bravo's performance was disappointing, registering with Sysmark32 an overall score of 421. Even with its 400-MHz CPU, the AST system was beat on some of the test categories by the 350-MHz NexTrend and even a 333-MHz Hewlett-Packard that was tested for comparison purposes. The AST might have done better with improved video hardware, a faster hard drive, and Win NT as an operating system.

Bravo 400

Price: $2,799

Warranty: three years, parts and labor

Distributors, Master Resellers: Ingram Micro, Merisel, Micro United, Tech Data, Databit, Lexacon, CIC Systems, Computer Specialists, Basin Office Systems, GE Capitol, Inacom

Compaq Deskpro 400
Compaq's 400-MHz Deskpro with 64 megabytes of memory came in a large desktop case that comes apart for easy servicing. A riser assembly housing four PCI slots, two ISA slots, and a single AGP slot fits into a single slot on the motherboard. The AGP slot houses an ATI Rage Pro AGP graphics card. Extra screws stored in unused holes in the chassis are a nice touch.

A cage containing the drive bays tilts up and away for easy access. The system came with a 6.4-GB Ultra-ATA Maxtor IDE hard drive and Panasonic IDE CD-ROM drive. Sound and two USB ports are built into the motherboard. Compaq adds a 56-kilobit-per-second modem and a 10/100BaseT PCI network adapter. The Compaq earned middle-of-the-road scores, with none of them being the highest or lowest in the roundup. The overall Sysmark32 score was 467.

Deskpro EN Series 6400X/6400/CDS

Price: $2,800

Warranty: three years parts, one year labor

Distributors, Master Resellers: Avnet, Comark, CompuCom, EDS, Entex, Gates/Arrow, GE Capital, GTSI, Inacom, Ingram Micro, Merisel, MicroAge, Pioneer-Standard, Synnex, Tech Data, Vanstar, Wyle

Authorization Requirements: None

DTK APRI-80M/P400
DTK always offers a good combination of price and performance, and the 400-MHz APRI-80 is no exception. The DTK system has a 10,000-rotation-per-minute (rpm) Seagate Cheetah small computer system interface (SCSI) hard drive and a 32X Toshiba SCSI CD-ROM drive, both controlled by an Adaptec Ultra-Wide PCI SCSI adapter. It is also loaded with 128 MB of 100-MHz DIMM memory. There is plenty of room for expansion in the midtower case with three external 5.25-inch bays, two external 3.5-inch bays, and a single 3.5-inch internal bay.

The DTK motherboard features three ISA slots and four PCI slots, plus a single AGP slot taken up by a Matrox Productiva G100 AGP graphics accelerator with 4 MB of memory. Two USB ports are built into the motherboard, and DTK supplies an add-on network adapter card. The DTK system was the second-fastest in the roundup, with an overall Sysmark 32 score of 477.

DTK APRI-80M/P400

Price: $3,399

Warranty: two years parts and labor

Distributors, Master Resellers: Distributes direct to systems integrators and value-added resellers

Authorization Requirements: None

NexStar-350BX and 400BX
NexTrend initially sent in a 350-MHz system that seemed slow when compared with a 440-LX based 333-MHz Hewlett-Packard system. (The 350-MHz NexStar scored 418 on Sysmark 32, while the 333-MHz Hewlett-Packard scored 422).

NexStar-400BX
In place of the 350, NexTrend sent in a 400-MHz system. To ensure that the NexStar-400BX was fast, NexTrend outfitted it with a 10,000-rpm Seagate Cheetah Ultra-Wide SCSI hard drive, Adaptec Ultra-Wide SCSI controller, and STB Velocity 128 AGP graphics accelerator with 4 MB of memory. The system's Tyan motherboard was loaded with 64 MB of memory and built-in sound. NexTrend added a 32X Toshiba IDE CD-ROM drive, U.S. Robotics 56-Kbps modem, and 3Com 10/100BaseT network adapter.

The only problem engineers had with the NexStar-400BX was it would not boot until the network adapter was pulled. Obviously, the card was added after the system was configured, and Win NT would not boot with the unrecognized card in place. Regardless, the NexStar-400BX is the fasted PC-compatible system ever examined by the Test Center, with an overall Sysmark 32 score of 485.

NexStar-350BX and 400BX

Price: $3,099, $2,899

Warranty: one year

Distributors, Master Resellers: Distributes to systems integrators and value-added resellers

Authorization Requirements: None

Commentary
Performance scores for the two fastest systems (the DTK APRI-80M/P400 and the NexStar-400BX) were close, so engineers have a tough time choosing between them. The DTK has a SCSI CD-ROM drive and 128 MB of memory, but the NexTrend won the performance honors by a nose.

One thing is clear: CPU speed and bus speed are not the only determining factors for system performance, because the 333-MHz Hewlett-Packard scored better than the a 350-MHz system and better than one of the 400-MHz systems.

Resellers should be wary of stocking up on BX-based computer systems because some of them might not be any faster than systems they are already carrying. However, resellers can be sure both the DTK APRI-80M/P400 and NexStar-400BX will knock the socks off just about anything else.