• SEC Slot-1 Interface - Single Edge Connector Slot-1 Interface, this is the cartridge type interface the Pentium II uses, although a bulky design we'll begin to see much more of it in the future

• DIB - Dual Independent Bus, this feature, originally introduced with the Pentium Pro, allows the CPU and L2 cache to operate simultaneously at equal or near equivalent clock speeds.

• Immense heat dissipation requiring a special 1LB+ Heatsink or Heatsink/Fan combo

• Multiprocessor support for up to 2 Pentium IIs (say that one three times fast!) =)

Lets take a look at where the Pentium II is and where its going:

Look familiar? It should, Intel originally planned for the Pentium II, then known as the Klamath to be offered in 3 different flavors: a 200MHz, 233MHz, and 266MHz version. However early benchmarks indicated that a 200MHz Klamath would easily be overshadowed by a 200MHz Pentium Pro and even a 200MHz K6. By the time Intel realized this they had already sent the specifications for the Klamath to many motherboard manufacturers, which explains why on May 5th (the introduction of the Pentium II) we could already order chips and motherboards for our new high powered systems.

With a bit of tweaking, Intel managed to get their Klamath up to a whopping 300MHz without dropping the fabrication size, they dropped the Pentium II MMX name on it and introduced it on May 5, 33 days after the introduction of AMD's K6. Intel didn't feel like stopping there, lets take a look at some of their plans for the future:

The Pentium II will eventually die out at 450MHz, but it will not go out without a bang. The Pentium II 350, 400, and 450 will all run using the upcoming 100MHz bus speed present only on the 440BX chipset (nope, not the LX as originally expected) which, along with the 350MHz+ Pentium IIs, will be released in the first half of next year.

Also making its debut mid next year will be Intel's true successor to the Pentium Pro, a 450MHz chip, with 512KB, 1MB, or 2MB of L2 cache running AT CLOCK SPEED. This processor, when coupled with the upcoming 450NX chipset will be able to support four processors as well as the 100MHz bus speed. Along with that will be a mobile Pentium II boasting a fabrication size shrink as well as a physical shrink so it can be used in laptops. Here's a small preview of what's to come:

The Deschutes should eventually hit 900MHz with a 150MHz or 300MHz bus speed, however next year it will most likely max out at 550MHz. The 600MHz should experience a small fabrication shrink to about 0.18 micron, and it, like all of the other Deschutes processors, will use a new SEC known commonly as Slot-2. It will be longer, and have more connectors that Slot-1 so we can expect another massive heatsink design from Intel in the near future.

Windows 95 Performance of the Intel Pentium II - FPU Mark 98

NOTE: 1 - 75MHz Bus x 4.0

Raw Intel Pentium II Performance - Wintune 97 Scores

Intel Pentium MMX Windows 98 Real World FPU Tests - Truespace3 Render Times

The performance of the Pentium II under Windows 98 was highly anticipated by me, and although I expected it to perform just a little bit better than it did, I am thoroughly satisfied with it. Unlike the previous two chips, the Pentium II is quite a bit faster under Windows 98 than under Windows 95, which is mainly a cause of its very strong 32 bit performance (which also explains its excellent Windows NT performance).

Notice that the Business Winstone score only increased by about 0.6 points, not really a huge difference and if I ran the tests a few times more I'm sure that gap would decrease in size.

Windows NT Performance of the Pentium II

NOTE: 1 - 75MHz Bus x 4.0

Here, the Pentium II is showing off its buff performance, therefore taking some of the attention off of the price of the chip. Under NT4, the Pentium II can't be touched by any processor, regardless of clock rate. At 250MHz, the K6 doesn't come near the Pentium II - 233. A 300MHz K6 will probably reach the speed of a Pentium II - 233 under Windows NT, however it would be nearly impossible to top the performance of the Pentium II - 300.

Intel Pentium II Real World FPU Tests - Truespace3 Render Times

Intel Pentium II Gaming Performance - WinQuake Framerates

Here you can see the amazing performance increase of the Pentium II over the K6 and even the Pentium MMX. The Pentium II has taken the torch from the Pentium Pro as the new Quake Champ. If you are really into Quake and DOS Gaming (need I mention the upcoming Hexen 2 which is based on the Quake 2 engine) the Pentium II is a must have. Now if Intel could only drop the price of it a few hundred dollars, it would be the perfect chip. At 640 x 480 the Pentium II 300 boasts performance unheard of when using even a Pentium Pro. The Pentium II - 300 performs like a P250MMX with a Monster 3D under Quake. The Pentium II is truly an amazing chip, it has exceeded all of my expectations...oh and one more thing...it is FAST!!!

With the Pentium II, once you break the 200MHz barrier, everything seems to fly. As you can see, the difference in frame rates between the Pentium II - 166 and 200 is huge, while the difference between the frame rates between the Pentium II - 233 and 266 is nearly nothing. Where as the K6 at 250MHz gives a huge performance increase over the K6 at 233MHz, it still cannot compete with the Pentium II at 166MHz.

Intel Media Benchmark

Well, thanks to a great person (FastChip24) who forwarded me the Intel Media Benchmark, I posted some results.

This comparison chart just shows you the increase in Integer and FP performance of the Pentium II over the Pentium Pro, and the Pentium MMX. A Pentium II - 300 gives you about a 73% increase in raw Integer performance over a Pentium MMX 200 or a Pentium Pro 200 and a 63% increase in raw FP performance.

Conclusion

Right now the Pentium II is aimed at the power hungry desktop market, it provides excellent Windows NT performance, and provides the fastest Windows 95 performance on the market today (even though it is just a tad bit faster than a K6 or 6x86MX). However I don't really recommend the Pentium II for a person running only 95, the K6 is a much better and much more affordable option. If you have the money, the Pentium II is worth it, but don't expect it to kill the K6 or 6x86MX under Win95...because it simply doesn't.