The Intel Pentium II Overdrive Processor is not designed as an upgrade option for owners of Intel Pentium & Pentium MMX systems. This chip
is designed as an upgrade option for owners of Pentium Pro (Socket 8) systems. Intel do not aim to provide a Pentium II upgrade for owners
of Pentium & Pentium MMX systems. Intel aims this chip to be the last of its overdrive processors.
The Pentium II Overdrive comes in speeds of 300 or 333 MHz. The speed setting of this processor is dependant upon the clock speed of the
outcoming Pentium Pro processors. Pro's running at 150 & 180 MHz, use a bus speed of 60 MHz and so would get a setting of 300 MHz on the
Overdive. Pro's running at 166 & 200 MHz use a bus speed of 66 MHz and so would get a setting of 333 MHz. Owners of Pentium Pro's running
at 150 & 180 MHz need not be downhearted as they can simply set their motherboard to the settings of either a 166 or 200 MHz chip and get
a bus speed of 66 MHz allowing them to use the 333 MHz setting!
The Pentium II Overdrive will drop easily into the Socket 8 connector, and instructions are provided as to how to carry out this procedure.
It does offer a performance advantage over the Pentium Pro especially in single processor systems, even though the speed of the cache RAM
is slower than that of a Pentium Pro 200. Personally though I would be wary of using this chip in dual or quad processor machines,
especially if it was utilised in the server role. Apart from that the Pentium II Overdrive would make an excellent upgrade option for
owners of Pentium Pro systems.
Intel Pentium II Overdrive, Technical Data
| Processor |
Clock Speed |
Current Bus Speed |
Clock Muiltiplier |
| PII 300 |
300 MHz |
60 MHz |
5x |
| PII 333 |
333 MHz |
66 MHz |
5x |
Other Overdrive Processors at:
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