Changing the multiplier on an Athlon seems like an awful lot of trouble. Why shouldn I just buy an Intel processor?
There are a multitude of reasons to go with an Athlon over a Pentium III. First, there is the fact that, clock speeds being equal, the Athlon will beat the Pentium III in just about any test you can throw at it. See our review of the Athlon at Ars for a performance comparison. Second, while changing the multiplier on an Athlon isn’t much fun, it is at least possible. Information on how to change the multiplier on a bus-locked Intel processor isn’t publicly available. With an Intel chip, you’re stuck with manipulating bus speed–a less than ideal solution. Finally, there is the fact that, subjectively speaking, Athlon chips seem more overclockable than the newest Intel chips. AMD designed the core of the Athlon with high clock frequencies in mind, and it appears they succeeded. A number of people have reported taking Athlon 500’s up to over 800 MHz with nothing more than a good heat sink/fan combo. The biggest clock frequency increase we’ve heard of for an overclocked Athlon is a rumore
