3dMark scores for '98 Gateway G6-233, if anyone is curious.

All at 800x600, 16-bit for consistency. Running on original 15GB HDD which I assume is 5,400rpm.

**Pentium II 233MHz (stock)**

**32MB RAM (stock)**

**STB Velocity 128 4MB (stock)**

3DMark99 - 1200/2289 CPU

3DMark00 - DNF (insufficient RAM)

3DMark01 - DNF (insufficient RAM)

**Upgraded to 256MB RAM**

3DMark99 - 1235/2318 CPU (wash, +2.9%/+1.2%)

3DMark00 - 235

3DMark01 - DNF (insufficient RAM)

**Upgraded to ATi Rage 128 Pro 32MB**

3DMark99 - 1945/2314 CPU (improvement, +57%/-0.01%)

3DMark00 - 816 (improvement, +247%)

3DMark01 - 295

Next upgrade is either a Celeron 400 MHz (the fastest my Slot 1 mobo can support on current BIOS version) or a P2 333 MHz.

I have no clue if these scores are any good. The Sims seems to run smoother, as does SC3kU.

**UPDATE: new benchmarks with a PII-333. RAM is unchanged (256MB) and GPU is unchanged (ATi Rage 128 Pro 32MB)**

3DMark99 - 2601/3177 CPU (improvement, +33%/+37%)

3DMark00 - 1106 (improvement, +35%)

3DMark01 - 416 (improvement, +41%)

By these scores it's clear that the lower clock CPU was a bottleneck for the GPU. The two Pentium-IIs represent the performance bookends for the 66 MT/s FSB: the slowest Klamath and the fastest (for 66 FSB) Deschutes. I did get a Celeron 400, but my PC wouldn't POST with it. Oh well. I may still try to hunt one down, as the higher clock (though lower cache) may still mean a 10% or greater improvement in performance. Parts are relatively cheap, so may be worth it.

LEGO Island, SC3k, and The Sims all run noticeably smoother.

This has been a fun project, essentially taking my childhood computer (also a G6-233) and beefing it up. I even have a GeForce2 MX400 64MB GPU coming in the mail, which, aside from a better sound card to replace the aging Ensoniq card, will likely be the last upgrade to this PC. I'll update this post with the benchmarks for that, too.

**UPDATE: new benchmarks with a nVidia GeForce 2 MX400 64MB. CPU is unchanged (PII-333), RAM is unchanged (256MB)**

3DMark99 - 2536/3187 (wash, -2.5%/+0.3%)

3DMark00 - 2431 (improvement, +119%)

3DMark01 - 898 (improvement, +115%)