The Quickest Guide to AMD Processors...Ever.

MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
edited March 2009 in Science & Tech
"What Athlon do I buy?" To begin to answer that question here is a compiled list of all the current platforms and brief outlines for each including my personal recommendations for what's hot and what's not.

Read it here
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Comments

  • Cygnus_x_1Cygnus_x_1 New Jersey
    edited November 2004
    EXCELLENT write up.... :thumbsup::thumbsup:

    quick, and to the point...
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited November 2004
    It's all Thrax's work this time. :)
  • edited November 2004
    The subject interrest me. Is it possible to add the Athlon XP M in the review ?. (I hope desktop PC will support this kind of CPU in a near future, in order to reduce power used).
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    The Athlon XP-M is already desktop-compatible. It can be used on any Socket A motherboard.
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited November 2004
    do socket 940 chipsets still need registered RAM? If so that could do with mentioning as it bumps up the cost of a system and has performance implications...

    Other than that a good write up, concise and informative :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Yes, it requires registered memory. Good thought!

    10. Unique to the Opteron platform is the necessity for registered memory. Such memory comes at a price-premium and has a minor performance impact. However, the stability of the Opteron-based system due to data parity and a more rigorous QC process on most registered DIMMs offsets the price gains and slight performance loss.
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited November 2004
    Nice Guide. :thumbsup: You might want to add the Abit KV8 Pro and the AV8 to the Socket 754 & 939 mobo choices as an alternative to the DFI.

    Xbit Labs Sempron 3100+ Overclocking
    pg14 As for the gain you receive by overclocking the Sempron 3100+, we enjoyed a performance growth of about 25% by clocking our sample at 2.52GHz (40% frequency boost). Thanks to that, the overclocked Sempron 3100+ could outperform the Pentium 4 3.4GHz as well as the Athlon 64 3400+ by about 5% in average.
  • edited November 2004
    You forgot to mention the mobile athlon XPs, mobile Athlon 64 and the Athlon 64 DTR.
  • deicistdeicist Manchester, UK
    edited November 2004
    The DTR is mentioned under the socket 754 Athlon 64s, the mobile athlon XPs (as far as I know) are just pre-selected Bartons with the clock stepping enabled. Could do with mentioning that under the Athlon XP section I guess...

    dunno about the mobile A64s though...
  • floppybootstompfloppybootstomp Greenwich New
    edited November 2004
    Excellent guide Thrax, gets to the meat of the matter without being overblown.

    Only thing that made me think a little was choice of motherboard for Socket A. I think I'd take the DFI NFII Ultra B over the Abit NF7-S 2.0, but that's just me :)
  • CyrixInsteadCyrixInstead Stoke-on-Trent, England Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Yep, brilliant guide Thrax.

    I was soon to be building a system with the Duron and it's a long time since I've seen any info abot it, but looks like I'll wait a bit now...

    BTW ever thought about becoming a journalist & writing guides for a living??

    ~Cyrix
  • edited November 2004
    Great article! I'm interested to know where the DDR2 comment comes from? Has any chipset vendor said they're interested in moving from DDR? Or is it simply inevitable?
  • edited November 2004
    It's pretty much inevitable, DDR2 (in theory at least) offers much higher speeds than DDR and both intel & AMD (well, VIA & nvidia) have committed to moving to the new standard in future chipsets. Currently though DDR2 isn't really offering much above and beyond DDR, it's more what it's expected to offer in future that has people excited.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Yep, brilliant guide Thrax.

    I was soon to be building a system with the Duron and it's a long time since I've seen any info abot it, but looks like I'll wait a bit now...

    BTW ever thought about becoming a journalist & writing guides for a living??

    ~Cyrix

    I have, but I've never seen something even remotely close to an opportunity regarding it. That would actually be my dream job.
  • edited November 2004
    Couple of comments:

    - Since you mention SMP, you should include the Athlon MP - the only Socket A SMP supported

    - What about the Socket 940 Athlon64 FX? It should be noted that the only difference between Opteron 1xx and FX-5x (e.g. Opteron-150 / FX-53) is the unlocked CPU multiplier.

    - The 64-bit CPUs (Athlon 64, FX, Opteron) all support 16-bit protected mode execution state, if Micro$oft doesn't want to support it w/ the LoseDoze XP 64-bit Edition.
  • edited November 2004
    One quick note all semprons have 256k l2 cache http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_11599_11604,00.html for reference as does the fact i've used the 2200 and 2400 in systems and they both definetely have 256k l2
  • edited November 2004
    There are a couple of mistakes in the socket A Sempron section.

    1. All Sempron socket A processors have 256Kb L2 cache except:-
    2. The 3000+ which has 512Kb L2 and is not mentioned.
    3. The 3000+ is a Barton core (2000MHz/512Kb/33Mhz).

    [url=]http://139.95.253.213/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=36,E=0000000000181574915,K=7205,Sxi=3,Case=obj(5080)[/url]


    Aussie
  • edited November 2004
    Your commentary is excellent - maybe you could modify the article and do the comparison of various processors using a table? That's a quick and easy way to summarize the parameters under scrutiny.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Here's to hoping the higher ups make the necessary corrections! :D
  • edited November 2004
    That was great article Thrax
    i have already built two systems. your article will be helpful when i next build a system
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited November 2004
    Great job Thrax!
  • edited November 2004
    Good clear information...... just waht the Doctor requested.

    Thanks

    Teek
  • edited November 2004
    As some viewers already have pointed out, all Semprons have a 256 kB L2 cache.

    - Tapio Nuutinen
  • edited December 2004
    8. Best motherboard to date? Arguably, the Tyan Thunder K8W (S2885). Supporting:

    Up to two AMD Opteron™ processors
    Eight 184-pin 2.5V DDR DIMM sockets for up to 16GB (400/333/266/200)
    Four 64-bit (3.3V) PCI-X slots; one 8X AGP / AGP Pro110 slot
    One GbE LAN controller; integrated FireWire controller
    Serial ATA controller (option); integrated audio
    SSI EEB v3.0 footprint (12"x13"; 304.8x330.2mm)
    Tyan has positioned itself, yet again, as a world-class provider of quality enterprise/workstation products. This motherboard makes my heart race.

    I'm not sure if IWill's DK8N was out when this was writted but it's the best dual opteron board around a step below the new boards with PCI-E.
  • edited December 2004
    one hell of *good* information on one page :)
    *bowing before the author*
  • edited December 2004
    Hey would an athlon xp-m 1500+ work in a socket a motherboard? or do only the newer xp-m's work on socket a boards?

    thanks,
    -Ryan
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2004
    It'd work.
  • edited January 2005
    would the amd sempron run on my socket a motherboard running at 266 mhz fsb
  • edited March 2005
    'Tyan has positioned itself, yet again, as a world-class provider of quality enterprise/workstation products. This motherboard makes my heart race.'

    Seen the k8we. Yowza. Great page, btw.
  • edited April 2005
    hello
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