Intel Pentium III 800 & 750 "Coppermine"

Conclusion

Like the Athlon 800, the Pentium III 800 will begin shipping sometime early next year (most likely in January). But will it be the CPU for you? Currently, the 133MHz FSB Pentium IIIs are not worth the upgrade to if you currently have a BX setup. You're much better off sticking with your current setup and adding a 100MHz FSB Coppermine if you're really looking to upgrade your CPU.

The i820 and i840 platforms would be good foundations for a 133MHz FSB Pentium III system if it weren't for the steep cost of RDRAM, which is currently the only reason those two platforms don't get a recommendation here. At $1000 per 128MB, RDRAM is entirely too expensive for even a high-end user to user to justify the need for. VIA's Apollo Pro 133A chipset is the only alternative to 820/840 and for the price, it is a very attractive one, since you can re-use your old PC100 or PC133 SDRAM and still receive better than average performance.

Your best bet still is to stick with the BX platform for now, we would've never imagined that we'd be giving that recommendation over the i820 just a few months ago. It's funny how times change.

For more information on the new Pentium III 800 & 750, have a look at Sharky Extreme's review of the CPUs.