CPU question

V

void

Haven't really looked at CPUs in a few years, and now I notice that AMD CPUs
are measured by some number in addition to GHz. For example, I see:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (2.08GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2.17GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2.20GHz)

What do the 2800, 3000, and 3200 mean? I notice that Intel CPUs do not use
these numbers. Thanks.
 
C

Conor

Haven't really looked at CPUs in a few years, and now I notice that AMD CPUs
are measured by some number in addition to GHz. For example, I see:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (2.08GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2.17GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2.20GHz)

What do the 2800, 3000, and 3200 mean? I notice that Intel CPUs do not use
these numbers. Thanks.
It refers to the speed an original Athlon would have to operate at but
it is also an indicator of the equivalent Intel P4.


--
Conor

Greedo shot first. Greedo ALWAYS shot first. You did not see Solo shoot
first.
It never happened. Never, ever. Not in any version. Remember: Greedo
shot first.
 
R

Ruel Smith

Haven't really looked at CPUs in a few years, and now I notice that AMD
CPUs
are measured by some number in addition to GHz. For example, I see:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (2.08GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2.17GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2.20GHz)

What do the 2800, 3000, and 3200 mean? I notice that Intel CPUs do not
use
these numbers. Thanks.

Well, officially, it's the speed the original Athlon would have to operate
at to achieve the same performance. Unofficially, it's to compare against
Pentium 4 speeds, since AMD is not on the MHz is everything trip.

Basically, (though they'll never own up to it) it's to infer that a 3200+
runs equivelent to a 3.2 GHz P4 or better, hence the "+". Though that once
held true, it really hasn't held up after speed increases over time, as a
3200+ is about as fast as a 2.8 or 3.0 GHz P4, depending on the benchmark.
However, it's a wonderful bargain compared to the pricey P4.

My first system I built was a P4, and I recommended to all of my friends
that have never built a system before to start with an Intel system.
However, recently I built this very XP system I'm writing from, and I'll
never build anything but AMD in the future...
 
M

Magnusfarce

I've built a fair number of Intel systems, but hardly any AMD. You make it
sound like AMD systems are harder to put together. Is that so and in what
ways are they trickier?

- Magnusfarce
 
J

Jan Alter

I've built a fair number of Intel systems, but hardly any AMD. You make
it
sound like AMD systems are harder to put together. Is that so and in what
ways are they trickier?


Hi,

At one time AMD were a bit more precarious to assemble by the heatsink
attachment. One would use a flat bladed screwdriver to press the heatsink
clamp onto the CPU socket retainer. It required a fair amount of pressure
over a small area to slip the retaining clamp over the clamp retaining
finger on the CPU socket. One slight slip of the screwdriver could break the
retainer hook or send the blade of the screwdriver into the motherboard for
a possibly lethal gash to the tracings.
Today AMD has come up with a secure design to attach the clamp and HSF
that makes it easy to retain everything.. Relatively speaking it's nearly
the same putting an Intel and AMD system together.
 
R

Ruel Smith

Magnusfarce said:
I've built a fair number of Intel systems, but hardly any AMD. You make
it
sound like AMD systems are harder to put together. Is that so and in what
ways are they trickier?

Well, in the past, the heatsink was trickier to mount and the CPU's have
their dies exposed, which could be damaged while installing the heatsink.
The Athlon 64 now is proctected like the P4.

It used to also be a big problem with seedy supply houses that would hard
overclock lesser OEM CPU's and sell them at a higher price. This was
enabled by the dies being exposed. Since the heatsink AMD supplied was so
crappy, there was little reason to buy a retail package version.

Also, I was a little put off by reports of higher numbers if DOA Athlon
builds. It was even talked about in Maximum PC when I did my first build,
where they mentioned that it was not uncommon to fire up an Athlon build
the first time and get nothing at all. According to the article, P4 builds
tended to make it through without much drama.

There have also been issues with chipsets. AMD only made a few chipsets of
their own. Some chipsets have had issues in the past, particularly some
earlier Via chipsets. I believe just about all of that is now fixed. Intel
chipset systems tend to be the most stable and hassle-free. That's not
saying you'll have a problem with a Via, SiS, or nForce chipset, but that
you're just less likely to have one with Intel.

Now, some users have varying experiences, but it made me change my mind, at
the time, to get a P4 board and CPU instead of the Abit KR7A that I was
lusting after. AMD has come a long way from being a fringe, budget player
in processors to be the force that's leading the direction future CPUs are
going.

I've since built an Athlon XP system because I wanted to build on a tight
budget and didn't want anything to do with a Celeron. I've been pleasantly
surprised how well it went. I'm so impressed with the performance/price
equation that I'm now going to build AMD for my next build sometime in a
year from now.
 
O

Overlord

Yeah but lately Intel has been getting into it's own squirrely model numbers
game.


Haven't really looked at CPUs in a few years, and now I notice that AMD CPUs
are measured by some number in addition to GHz. For example, I see:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ (2.08GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3000+ (2.17GHz)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (2.20GHz)

What do the 2800, 3000, and 3200 mean? I notice that Intel CPUs do not use
these numbers. Thanks.
~~~~~~
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root@localhost
postmaster@localhost
admin@localhost
abuse@localhost
postmaster@[127.0.0.1]
(e-mail address removed)
~~~~~~
Remove "spamless" to email me.
 
P

Papa

There is no difference at all in the assembly procedures, nor is one more
difficult to assemble than the other. Both Intel and AMD require a small dab
of heat transfer paste between the CPU and the heat sink/fan combo (read the
instructions that come with the CPU), and both are connected to the
motherboard in the same manner. Of course, for either Intel or AMD, you MUST
select a compatible motherboard.
 

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