Overclocking the FC-PGA Celeron

Let’s take a look at the cache data for both of these processors.

First the Pentium III 550E.

And once again, the Celeron 566.

Notice anything different now?  The Celeron features a 4-way set associative L2 cache whereas the Pentium III features an 8-way set associative L2 cache.  This gives us missing link number two which helps to explain the Celeron’s performance. 

But what does having a 4-way set associative L2 cache versus an 8-way set associative L2 cache actually mean?