Which CPU would you purchase?

[XanthouS]

Alrighty, I am in quite a dilema here. I'm looking to upgrade my CPU for the following reasons:


I have spare money for the first time this summer
I want to upgrade before Half-Life 2
All of my friends are upgrading (oh no...peer pressure...)


Right now I am running an AMD Athlon XP 1800+ OC'd to 1.64GHz on a Soyo Dragon Ultra KT333 (http://www.soyousa.com/products/proddesc.php?id=185) mobo. I was oringinally looking at the 2500 Barton ($95) but a few of my friends have told me that I would be better off with the 2400+ Thoroughbred ($80). The price is not an issue in my mind, they are both quite affordable and the $15 won't tip me either way. I'm just looking for gaming and video editing performance.

I know the 2400+ has a higher clock speed (2.0GHz, as opposed to the Barton's 1.83) but the Barton does have the larger cache and bus speed.

I would like to order my processor ASAP but first I want to hear your humble opinions on which processor I would be happier with.

[Mt_Goat]

My first question is are you upgrading the mobo also??? If not then the 2500 Barton would be a waste as your current mobo doesn't support it but does the 2400. If you are upgrading the mobo also, then go with the Barton and an Abit NF7-S. You could do the 2400 and an NF7-S for real close to 200 clams.

[Drisler]

2500+ bartons work in most, not all, KT333 boards.

I say go with the barton. Find out if you mobo supports it first.

[Stalker]

if you were goign to get the new mobo why would you get a 2400 and not a 2600 the nf-7 supports teh 333 fsb

[danball1976]

Get the Athlon XP2400 since it is newer, and should be able to use the 333FSB

[XanthouS]

My mobo supports the Barton, I wouldn't have listed it as an option if it didn't. And if you tell em which you think I should buy please give some reasoning behind your decision.

[Drisler]

Originally posted by danball1976
Get the Athlon XP2400 since it is newer, and should be able to use the 333FSB

You mean 2500+ right?

[Nosferatu]

i just recently bought a 2500+ Barton, love it. I got it because of the 512K L2 cache, which means you can get the 2500+ performance but not have to have the 2Ghz+ clock speed. I'm not into overclocking anything because i'm too paranoid about voiding my warranties, but I'm able to run my new PC and have it be much, much, quieter and also cooler than my old one which was 1/2 the speed. But I did purchase a Zalman CNPS6000-Cu HSF and a Enermax PSU that you can adjust the fans on for the new comp.

I'm happy with the 2500+ though, went from ~7000 in 3DMark2001 SE to ~11,900 without changing the videocard! GF4 Ti200 128MB AGP 8X. I gained almost 5000 points by upgrading the Mobo, CPU, and RAM (PC133 C3 to PC2700 C2).

Wooooo, sorry i'm going offtopic. I say: Get the 2500 Barton and be happy! :p

[Geeky1]

Both of my 2500+ CPUs are good for 2.25GHz (1 @ 1.75v, 1 @ stock) and one (the one that does 2.25 @ stock) is good for 2,370MHz. Get the 2500...