Intel is now saying the Pentium II/450MHz part has limited availability and that means the end of the line for the entire PII family. The chip giant has relentlessly pushed the Pentium III family into its place during the course of this year, and that process will be complete within the next few weeks, according to reliable sources. Over the weekend, we reported that the Pentium III/450 will have five chip companions when it enters DodoLand shortly. An Intel representative said: "We've said that the Pentium III shipments will cross over in Q3." That is likely to be the closest we're going to get to a confirmation until it happens. Some accounts, which we cannot yet confirm, suggest that the Pentium III will drop to $305/1000 in the near future. The news also means that our RegMark™ benchmark, which compared the Pentium II to the Celeron family, also shuffles into the gulag. (Celeron trashes Pentium II in new RegMark™ tests) But we have a replacement for the RegMark™, and doughty reporter Pete Sherriff is compiling a new comparison between Celerons and Pentium IIIs called RegMark99™. Intel of course, is continuing to develop the Celeron family, but there is some confusion over when the 100MHz front side bus (FSB) version arrives. According to our local UK representative, this will "definitely not" arrive until next year. This, of course, contradicts Intel's own slide on its very own site which suggests Q3 for the beasties. ®