As you can see, the K6-III and K6-III+ on this system have no major differences in core because the benchmarks simply scale with CPU speed, be it the PLUS core or not. This is because the cores are virtually identical. The only difference is the manufacturing process used, the addition of PowerNOW, and 3DNow+ instructions (same set the AMD Athlon Carries). As a matter of fact, the K6-III+ is virtually the same as the first K6-2 400MHz chip, with the addition of 256KB of L2 cache. The whole K6-X line is based off of this core, with minor additions throughout the ages.
After 7 days of running at 600MHz, I have not had any problems with the machine what so-ever. In truth, it actually “feels” faster than my Dual PPGA Celeron machine running at 550MHz. For $58.98, I feel that a 600MHz upgrade for those users stuck in the Super Socket 7 days is a wonderful deal, whether or not you’re looking for more FPS out of your favorite game, or a faster and more responsive computer to run your favorite Office Suite. The only downfall of the K6-X+ line is that it’s made explicitly for laptops systems, and therefore can be hard to get in Socket 7 PPGA format, and even harder to find a motherboard that will support it. Fortunately, most motherboards with the most recent BIOS will work just fine with this CPU, as they will identify it as a K6-III.
Conclusion
If you are looking to upgrade your system to use the PowerNOW feature of the K6-X+ line, you’re pushing your luck. In order to use PowerNOW, the BIOS must support that feature, and because all SS7 BIOSs were made before the K6-X+ was even thought off, you’re not going to get the wonderful Power Saving features of PowerNOW on your desktop. On the lighter side of things, PowerNOW does enable extended battery life for notebook computers, meaning a better deal at a lower cost for those Notebook users.
Overall, if you’re looking to upgrade your Socket 7, be it your main machine, or one you’re going to pull out your closet and turn into a server, this is the CPU upgrade for you.
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