The Last Pentium III (PCGH-Retro, August 26)

…2001: The Pentium 4 is slowly picking up speed: On August 26, 2001, Intel launched two new models based on the Willamette core that work at 1.9 and 2.0 gigahertz and are therefore significantly faster than the first models. Another new chip that is also coming out that day is more interesting for many customers, one with technology that is actually long outdated: the Pentium III with a Tualatin core. The Tualatin is the last Pentium III before Intel fully focuses on the P4. Manufactured using the 130-nanometer process and with a sophisticated architecture, it runs fast, cool and economical – many consider it a better alternative to the Pentium 4, although its design is still based on the old Pentium Pro from 1995. And this old technology is supposed to prevail later: five years later, Intel buries the P4 including the Netburst architecture again, it clearly missed its clock target of 10 gigahertz – its successor, the Core 2, is again based more on the Pentium III. But even before that, the Pentium III with the Tualatin core, clocking the highest at 1.4 GHz, was called “the king” by enthusiasts.

In our 2011 survey after the most legendary Intel CPU, however, the Tualatin-based Pentium III also has only a few votes.