New Cyrix SLOWER than old Cyrix!! (VIA Cyrix MII)

Member Name: vsiang

Product:	VIA Cyrix MII
Date:	07/07/00 (36 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Higher clock speed

Disadvantages: Slower than old Cyrix

Can you believe it? New CPU is slower than new CPU!!! This is exactly the case for the new Cyrix III. Cyrix is no longer "Cyrix" as in the days of Pentium 166 where it is product of a company called Cyrix. VIA bought Cyrix in 1999. Some months later, VIA bought another x86 CPU company called IDT, which makes the IDT WinChip. With is VIA marks it entrance to the x86 CPU market, competing with Intel and AMD.

At that time, Cyrix's next generation design was called Joshua, and IDT has their own next generation design as well. Since both designs now belongs to VIA, a decision has to be made on which one to use. As a result, Cyrix's design was rolled out first, then followed by IDT's. The thing is IDT's design can't beat Cyrix's. To add more confusion, both designs are dubbed VIA Cyrix III.

The current Cyrix III is based on Joshua design. Later version of Cyrix III will be based on IDT's design, which will boast higher clock speed. Tests shows that Joshua 400Mhz beats IDT 533Mhz!!! The reason VIA opt for IDT's design is that it could scale all the way to the 700Mhz region, which Joshua can't.

For more info, visit http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q2/000630/index. html

Good luck.

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