Wasn't that deep? What in the world is philosophy doing on a technology-related web site? We're talking about Intel's Celeron 533MHz PPGA processor today, the last in the family of CPUs based on the .25-micron process and 66MHz front side bus speed.

Intel has released so many processors this year that it is hard to keep track of them all. With the move to the i820 chipset, Intel is phasing out the 66MHz front side bus, which means 66MHz FSB processors have got to go as well. Before the sad farewell however, we are seeing one final 66MHz offering. Why? There is always room for more power in the budget market. Let's face it, there are more levelheaded families who would like a fast system that won't break the bank versus megahertz-hungry SSE speed demons.

Gone are the days of the Slot 1 form factor, as all of Intel's Celeron CPUs are being mass-produced in socket form. The Celeron family remains with us in the PPGA form, with the L2 cache integrated (a good move). Overclocking enthusiasts that swore by the Celeron 300A, 366 and 400 won't necessarily be appreciative of the 'locked' nature of the Celeron 533, but hopefully there should still be some margin for overclocking (although we can't expect much from a multiplier of 8.0). Let's first take a look at the features carried over from previous models.

So what features of the Celeron 533MHz resemble its predecessors? Only the clock speed differs, meaning that no new features are present, but it also means that the architecture is solid and the manufacturing process is as good as it will get.

PPGA Form Factor

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