What Athlon64 Processor am I buying.

[Donald McTrevor]

I have a problem in that most PC's advertised don't
give the full spec on the processor, of instance it will say
Athlon64 3200+ or something, however this is not really
a good enough description, as they seem to come in various
guises with different caches, and with 'fancy' name such as
Newcastle etc.. also they don't tell you the number of pin's
on the processor/socket which is important.

I guess the short answer is that it's the cheapest cr*pest
model which fits that description.

Is there an easy guide to recent AMD processors which explains
all the names rtc....

 

[Cuzman]

Donald McTrevor wrote:

" Is there an easy guide to recent AMD processors which explains all
the names rtc.... "


Here are a couple of keys to the models. They may not teach you much,
but I'm sure they'll be helpful:

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-amd-athlon-64-microprocessors
http://www.thedigerati.us/info/amdcpuchart.html

If you look at the following two processors you will see that they have
the same clock speed, but have very different performance ratings:

754 3200+ 2.2GHz 512KB 130nm Newcastle
939 3700+ 2.2GHz 1MB 90nm San Diego

So why do two processors with the same clock speed have such different
performance ratings (3200+ Vs 3700+)? Well, the general rules-of-thumb are:

- Socket 939 has an improved memory controller over socket 754.
- Socket 939 offers dual-channel RAM operation.
- The 90nm process is more efficient (and runs cooler) than 130nm.
- 1MB of L2 cache is better than 512KB.
- For socket 754, the newer 130nm Newcastle core is better than the
130nm Clawhammer.
- For socket 939, the newer 90nm Venice and San Diego cores are better
than both the 130nm Clawhammer and Newcastle.

Whenever you look at something being *better*, you can also assume it's
going to cost you more money. 99% of the time you'd be right. However,
for less money it is very possible to build a socket 754 system which
performs better than an equivalantly priced socket 939 system. However,
socket 754 doesn't look like seeing anything faster than the 3700+, and
you also lose the potential to upgrade to a dual-core processor. For
most people it's probably a better investment for the future to go with
socket 939.

 

[Donald McTrevor]

Donald McTrevor wrote:

" Is there an easy guide to recent AMD processors which explains all
the names rtc.... "


Here are a couple of keys to the models. They may not teach you much,
but I'm sure they'll be helpful:

http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-amd-athlon-64-microprocessors
http://www.thedigerati.us/info/amdcpuchart.html

If you look at the following two processors you will see that they have
the same clock speed, but have very different performance ratings:

754 3200+ 2.2GHz 512KB 130nm Newcastle
939 3700+ 2.2GHz 1MB 90nm San Diego

So why do two processors with the same clock speed have such different
performance ratings (3200+ Vs 3700+)? Well, the general rules-of-thumb are:

- Socket 939 has an improved memory controller over socket 754.
- Socket 939 offers dual-channel RAM operation.
- The 90nm process is more efficient (and runs cooler) than 130nm.
- 1MB of L2 cache is better than 512KB.
- For socket 754, the newer 130nm Newcastle core is better than the
130nm Clawhammer.
- For socket 939, the newer 90nm Venice and San Diego cores are better
than both the 130nm Clawhammer and Newcastle.

Whenever you look at something being *better*, you can also assume it's
going to cost you more money. 99% of the time you'd be right. However,
for less money it is very possible to build a socket 754 system which
performs better than an equivalantly priced socket 939 system. However,
socket 754 doesn't look like seeing anything faster than the 3700+, and
you also lose the potential to upgrade to a dual-core processor. For
most people it's probably a better investment for the future to go with
socket 939.

Thanks for that, very useful links too, still not exactly sure what some of
the
names mean though, some seem arbitary.
That answers.com site is very good.

I would like a 939 but they seem to be a lot more money.
Mind you as I expect the computer to last 5 years+ (like this one).
socket 939 will probably be obselete then too?!