Micron Millenia MXE Rated Top Performer Among MMX Powered PCs March Issue of HomePC Tests Seven New MMX-Powered Personal Computers

Intel's much-anticipated Pentium Chip with MMX Technology has arrived, and consumers considering buying one should take a look at this month's issue of HomePC. In his cover story, MMX Power! The Fastest Multimedia PCs Ever, HomePC Senior Technical Editor Richard Fisco reviews seven MMX-powered PCs. The $3,287 Micron Millenia MMX, which boasts 512 KB of L2 cache, fast EDO DRAM and 16X CD-ROM, ranks first on his list.

According to Fisco, "Micron gave special attention to the Millenia MXE's graphics and video system. Its Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 graphics accelerator card equipped with an S3 ViRGE chip and 4MB of EDO DRAM aims to give you great-looking images and video in 3-D games."

HomePC's cover story answers consumers' questions -- What is it? How does it work? What kind of performance gain can I expect? -- about MMX technology. For example, HomePC found a 50- to 150-percent increase in speed with software optimized for MMX technology, as well as an 11- to 15-percent performance improvement with non-MMX programs.

HomePC's testers measured three key features of MMX technology vs. non-MMX technology: speed, enhancements and performance increase. To gauge speed gains, HomePC first used the 200-MHz Intel Pentium With MMX Technology that came in each PC, and then replaced it with a standard 200-MHz Pentium chip. To test enhancements built into the chip, testers used MMX-enabled Adobe Photoshop 4.4 and performed a series of graphics tasks using the filters in the software that have been programmed to take advantage of MMX. To test the performance increase users will see when working with non-MMX enabled programs, HomePC's testers used Doom, Encarta, Excel and Word tests.

HomePC Senior Technology Editor Richard Fisco is available to discuss issues related to Intel's MMX technology, including the latest PC's powered with the Intel Pentium MMX chip. For interviews, contact Leslie Dunbar at 516-562-7040.

Following are excerpts from testers' notes:

Acer Aspire Pentium 200 with MMX ($2,898): "Aspire includes an integrated ATI 3D Rage II graphics accelerator chip equipped with 2 MB of SDRAM, a new high-speed RAM that's faster than EDO DRAM. But even so, the PC came in at the bottom on almost all our tests. Part of the reason may be that the Aspire had only 256 KB of L2 cache, while most of the top scorers had 512 KB."

Compaq Presario 4784 ($3,148): "In our Doom test and all the MMX-specific tests, the Presario 4784 proved a top performer. But the performance of its 16X CD-ROM drive on our Encarta test was strictly middle-of-the-pack--and decidedly slower than that of the 16X CD-ROM drive you get with the Micron Millenia MXE."

Gateway 2000 P5-200 Family PC with MMX ($3,012): "The P5-200 Family PC With MMX was a speed demon on our MMX, Excel, and Word tests 'The 17-inch CrystalScan monitor features Toshiba's new MicroFilter Tube ... built-in, anti-glare protection makes viewing easy on the eyes.' 'The system provides excellent sound, thanks to the Ensoniq Soundscape Vivo 90 wavetable audio card and Altec Lansing ACS410 speakers and subwoofer' also includes a built- in EasyPhoto Scanner."

HP Pavilion 7370V ($3,548): "The Pavilion 7370V provides many of the features you'd want in a killer gaming system, such as an S3 ViRGE graphics accelerator chip on the motherboard with 2 MB or EDO RAM and an Orchid Righteous 3D video card with 4 MB of EDO DRAM. Another plus for gamers is the Logitech Thunderpad control pad -- it's similar to those found on Nintendo systems, so players should feel right at home with it."

Packard Bell Platinum 2240 ($2,699): "The Platinum 2240 emphasizes ease of use. You can run your programs from Navigator, a well-conceived Windows shell that looks like rooms in a house; to launch software, just click on program icons that sit on bookshelves. Another tool that makes the PC easier to use is the flat Media Select control panel, which can slide under your monitor or system case to allow quick access to many features. Lights on the panel let you know if you have phone messages or faxes waiting, and at a button's touch you can access the PC's telephony features (including voice mail), volume and mute controls, and more."

Quantex QP5/200 M-4 ($2,399): "This PC is built for speed. Features such as 512 KB of L2 cache and a Matrox Mystique graphics accelerator car with 2 MB of SGRAM help it finish near the top on all but the Doom and Encarta tests."

Reach HomePC via America Online (keyword: HomePC) or the Internet at http://www.homepc.com/.

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SOURCE: CMP Media Inc.

CONTACT: Leslie Dunbar of CMP Media, 516-562-7040 or ldunbar@cmp.com