How does Atom perform compared to Pentium III?

**Hashim** · 03-02-2010

Hello, I have Sony Vaio netbook which is powered by Intel Pentium-III 850Mhz processor and 256MB of System RAM. The Netbook has Windows XP installed on it. The performance of the Netbook is very good for the application which it is used for. Recently the netbook developed some problems due to which it is not starting. I am confused between buying a new netbook powered by Intel Atom processor or to repair the existing notebook therefore I want to know How does Atom perform compared to Pentium III? Any suggestions to this topic are more than welcome. Thanks in advance.

**Bon-Z** · 03-02-2010

Intel Atom is a latest processor which is recently launched by Intel for small computers like Netbooks. Being a latest processor, Atom is fabricated using latest technology which surely makes it better than the earlier Intel processors. Intel Pentium 3 processor was released about 7 years back hence it is relatively old processor. Therefore It would be better to buy a new netbook which will be powered by Intel Atom processor than repairing the old Pentium 3 dependent netbook.

**Gonzo** · 03-02-2010

I would like to share some facts about Intel pentium 3 processor and Intel Atom processor so that the comparison will become more meaningful and helpful. Intel Pentium 3 processor has FSB of 133Mhz while Intel Atom has FSB of 533Mhz which is more than twice of pentium 3. The Cache memory of the Intel Pentium 3 processor was upto 128KB while Intel Atom processors start with a cache memory of 512KB. By looking at the facts which I have mentioned it is clear that the Intel Atom processor is better in performance as compared Intel Pentium 3 processor.

**Pugsly** · 03-02-2010

Buying a new Netbook with is powered by a latest processor means buying all the latest devices associated to it. The new netbook powered by Intel Atom processors would come with atleast 2gb of system RAM and hard drives with more RPM. More system RAM and faster hard drives means faster performance of the computer as compared to your old netbook which has 256mb of RAM. Hence Instead of repairing the old netbook you can buy a new netbook which would be surely faster in performance.

**Regina** · 03-02-2010

The Intel Pentium processor which you have mentioned is currently out of order while the Intel Atom processor is just launched and many of its variants are being launched. The architecture of the new Intel Atom is far more advanced as compared to the old Intel pentium processor hence Atom will surely beat the Intel pentium 3 processor. The Instruction sets which are used by the Intel Atom processor are new and are more bandwidth efficient than instruction sets of the Intel pentium processor. Due to this reason the Intel Atom processor can perform better while executing high CPU usage applications.

**Simond** · 03-02-2010

The added advantage of using a netbook which is using a latest processor is that it has improved graphics adapter. Having a netbook powered with the latest graphics adapter is that it helps a lot while running high graphics applications without any problem. Intel Atom processor based netbooks come with Nvidia Ion graphic card which is specially designed to work with Intel Atom processor.