There are three processor related features that seem to affect performance
on any operating system:
1- Processor Speed
2- L1 and L2 Cache
3- Bus Speed
The raw processor speed is a good measure of overall processor performance.
Cache on the other hand, can dramatically affect the performance of a processor.
The PIII has a larger cache, and thus will be a better performer.
Likewise, bus speed seems to have a rather noticeable affect on performance.
The PIII uses a 133 mhz bus speed, while the Celeron typically operates at 66
or 100 mhz bus speed.
You have to take into account what the computer may be used for.
If you are building a FreeBSD workstation to use as a web cruiser,
a Celeron will probably be fine. If you are a programmer and you plan
on doing a lot of C code compiling, you probably want to go with a PIII.
In either case, I recommend you use a fast hard disk drive and quite a bit
of memory if you want good performance out of FreeBSD.
