Thinkpads Forum

I have a PC300GL (6563-99U) with a Slot 1 PIII 733/256/133 and WIN98SE. While this computer runs all my stuff very nicely, I am thinking about "future proofing" it with a faster processor. I can get a Slot 1 PIII 1000/256/133 for $50, or a Socket 370 PIII 1200/256/133 + Powerleap converter for about $120. Any opinions on whether it's worth the extra $70 for another 20% improvement in processor performance?

I temporarily installed a 1200 + converter from another computer and it worked fine, although the BIOS interrupted the boot since it didn't recognize the CPU ID number. I then basically replied that it's OK and then it continued the boot and worked perfectly. (I have the latest BIOS available.)

If you can't find the 1.2 chip on ebay for less than $100, I'd go for the 1ghz proc. The $120 price tag just does not seem worth it. That'd be 140% (or somewhere around there) extra cash for what would in theory be a 20% increase in performance.

Hey, if and when you upgrade, would you want to possibly make a deal for the 733mhz PIII?

I can get the 1200 chip for $60, with another $60 for the Powerleap converter.

As for my 733 Slot 1, I'll probably hang onto it, but you can buy one for around $19 from these guys: www.compgeeks.com It's used, but I've bought a number of used processors from them and ALL have been fine.

It's your call, but I'd take the slot one chip. 200 extra megahertz is not really that much, especially if you have an OS older than XP, then the difference probably won't even be noticeable.

What'd I do is look on the internet for benchmarks comparing the two chips.

I have a PC300PL in the basement (6892-4NU 500Mhz PIII with 448Mb of RAM). I put a PowerLeap 1.4Ghz celeron upgrade in this box. Since everything else (cache, memory, disk, front-side bus) is the same, I did not see a huge leap in performance. I did the upgrade to run VMware 4 (and now 5) and it does that very successfully, so the upgrade was worthwhile from that perspective.

I got much more bang for my buck with a Dothan upgrade and 7200-rpm disk drive upgrade to my T41 ThinkPad.

... JD Hurst

Thanks for the advice/comments, Gentlemen. I will probably go with the 1.0 GHZ Slot 1 processor.