AMD Processors

[Eagle]

OK, I'm through with intel. Someone explain the choices of AMD processors to me and which is which and whats the difference (Duron, Athlon/XP/MP/etc.)

I dont have time to wait on new processors that are always on the horizon so dont suggest it. My computer is dead. I think its the motherboard thats the problem (its the only thing I havent tried switching with another) and I'm not buying a new motherboard unless I buy a new processor and I want it fixed NOW. Sooo, only existing processors available for sale now please.

[Eagle]

I'm also looking for an Asus motherboard to go with it. (I wont have anything but an ASUS so dont bother) Any model suggestions. Preferably one that will take SDRAM and DDR so I dont have to buy new memory.... YET.

[Eagle]

Originally posted by Eagle
I'm also looking for an Asus motherboard to go with it. (I wont have anything but an ASUS so dont bother) Any model suggestions. Preferably one that will take SDRAM and DDR so I dont have to buy new memory.... YET.

Well, I cant find one that takes both 32-pin and DDR. I may have to settle for another brand cause I dont know if I can afford new memory.

[2bzy4ne1]

the only ASUS boards that have support for both types of ram that i've seem aren't for AMD processors.

[Acorn]

Asus only? I suppose tis best to go with what you are familiar with, and Asus are decent boards. I just bought a comp recently and went with a generic board - ECS I think - works great, there doesn't seem to be much difference between my Abit board, Asus board, and the new ECS preformance or features wise (well, the ECS has C-Media-notworthbotheringwith sound but..) motherboards are getting closer and closer together, giving no distinct advantage with one chipset over another, unless you need certain over-clocking features.

Ok, here we go:

Note that Athlon's seem to run much hotter than pentiums, as such I reccommend a good fan.
< Fan Reviews >
I found this to be helpful. You'll also want some Arctic Silver 3, naturally, to get the best heat transfer between the heatsink and the cpu.


CPUs: AMD, instead of going from K6-2 to Athlon to something else, used the popular name Athlon with extensions. You basicly have your different types and you went right through the list.

Duron: Cheaper, less on-die cache. been a long time since I've researched one of these. Slowest, not the best you'll find for games - compare it to Intel's Celery. Don't go with this unless you are really buget tight or don't need anything but internet/word processing.

Athlon (Classic): Don't consider this, few problems with the chip AMD solved later. Less features.

Athlon (Thunderbird): 800-1.4GHz I think. Fixed the problems with the orig chip, less heat, new features. Went out of date.

Athlon (Xp): This is the current, the only one you should look at getting. Naming scheme is weird - 2200 = 1.8GHz, 2100 = 1.73Ghz, ect. Xp's use a slightly different structure, allowing them faster clock speeds. These get good reviews every second place you look.

Ahtlon (MP): I think... athlon Multi-Processor. For servers and heavy load computers. To expensive.

As for what to buy: Since you want DIMM and DDR... Sis735 chipset will do, I'm not really farmiliar with any other chipsets that allow DDR/DIMM without slowdowns. My ECS has the Sis, works great. I'll have to check and see if Asus provides a like motherboard. For the processor, the best bang for the buck IMHO is the Ahtlon 1.73 (Athlon 2100). Its priced usually 25-50$ less than the Athlon 2200, and "only" 70mhz slower.

www.newegg.com provides competitive prices, and *perfect* service for them. www.pricewatch.com for price compares, and www.resellerratings.com for reviews of dealers.

Hope that didn't just repeat what you already knew, will research motherboards later.

[Eagle]

Thx for the info. I'm dead set on thermaltake fans as well so thats covered. I had already been looking at pricewatch and I figured that was what I needed. But I wanted to make sure since I dont have much experience with AMD. I'll proably go with something a little lower than 2100 cause as it is I'm going to end up taking a student loan out to cover it, but I need my computer or my classes are worthless anyway.

[Dabba_Deh]

Actually, the naming of the Athlon XP processors makes a lot of sense. XP 2100=Performs As good OR BETTER than a PentiumIV 2.1ghz processor. 2200=Better than 2.2ghz Pentium.

And the Sis735 thing...I have that chipset. It supports pc133 sdram, 266mhz DDR, and has a 266mhz maximum FSB. A nice board, have never had speed or stability problems with it.

And the XP 1600+ processor is extremely cheap now. About $100 canadian for it. If I were you, I would buy a MB that supports a 2100 or so processor, and put a 1600 or 1700 in it to save money. It's not like there are games you can't play on that processor, but that are only playable on one that is 200-300 mhz faster. It's what I did, and I'm glad I did it. n64 games are a perfect 60fps @ 1024x768 resolution [Monitor limitation], and all my PC games run great. Even GTA3 runs full speed @ 1024! Anyhoo, I'm sure you don't care much anymore...So I'll leave it at that.

[Eagle]

Originally posted by Dabba_Deh
Even GTA3 runs full speed @ 1024! Anyhoo, I'm sure you don't care much anymore...So I'll leave it at that.

Well, after installing XP, GTA3 ran at full speed on my 1 gig Intel on highest settings.