Pentium Pro Hits 200

Itching to test the new Pentium Pro at 200 MHz, we benchmarked beta systems from ALR and Dell. The 200-MHz Evolution Dual6 has an ALR-designed motherboard that can hold two Pentium Pro processors. We tested a beta unit with dual 200-MHz Pentium Pros, each with a built-in 256-KB L2 cache. Befitting a workstation, the Dual6 uses ECC memory (up to 512 MB) and provides four PCI expansion slots (and four ISA slots). However, it doesn't have built-in SCSI or networking. For reliability, firmware m onitors system temperature, fan operation, and motherboard voltage. Equipped with a 1-GB hard drive, dual 200-MHz CPUs, 64 MB of RAM, and a 4-MB Matrox Millennium graphics card, the Evolutio n Dual6 should sell for around $8500 (ALR's street price estimate).

The Dimension XPS Pro200 is a faster version of Dell's 150-MHz system, with the same Intel motherboard and the same features. With the CPU at 200 MHz, it runs its memory bus at 66 MHz. A version with 512-KB level 2 cache will follow. Dell expects the price to be around $8000 for a model with 64 MB of RAM, 4-MB Number Nine Imagine 128 graphic card, 2-GB Seagate EIDE drive, 6X CD-ROM drive, and 17-inch monitor.

As we expected, our low-level BYTEmark CPU test puts the 200-MHz Pentium Pro one-third faster than its 150-MHz brethren (33 percent faster integer performance; 35 percent faster FPU performance). Application test results were slower than we expected for both systems, mainly on the Microsoft Word and Excel components of Bapco's SYSmark NT test. ALR's beta system came with a subpar hard drive (not the drive it will sell with, the company says). The Dell racked up slightly better numbers overall, but it could also use a faster drive to stay further ahead of HP's 150-MHz system. With these new fast machines, subsystem performance (hard drive, graphics, and memory) is more important than ever.

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Darwin Would Love This Evolution

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ALR's Evolution Dual6 steams along on dual 200-MHz Pentium Pro processors. Upgradable CPU voltage regulators allow upgrades to future lower-voltage versions of the Pentium Pro.