Best AMD XP Price/Performance NOW

[SkyDiver]

I know it is a moving target, but what is the best price/performance T-Bred CPU out there right now?

I'm planning on putting it on an ASUS A7N8X Deluxe board. I haven't O/C'd before, but it sounds easy on the nForece2 boards. Right now I'm running a 1400 T-Bird. Will my SK6 HSF work on a T-Bred?

Also, what RAM should go with this combo? I haven't studied up on this since PC100/PC133 was the standard.

Thanks!

 

[littlegohan]

get a 1700+ dlt3c jiuhb 0308 or 0312xpmw

 

[cralston]

I'm looking to do a similar thing. Asus A7N8X Dlx, two stciks Corsair CMX 256, and a Barton 2500+. I've read some good things about the Barton in these forums. I would say go with it especially since googlegear has them for $137 now.

 

[SkyDiver]

If I'm not an overclocker, should I get something with a 333 mhz FSB? These start at 2600+, don't they?

 

[Jeff7181]

I found the XP2500 for $140 with free shipping... the retail version at that... googlegear

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: SkyDiver
If I'm not an overclocker, should I get something with a 333 mhz FSB? These start at 2600+, don't they?

The XP2500 is a 333 Mhz bus... also the barton core with 640 KB of on chip cache... worth every penny of the $140 in my opinion... even though I don't have one yet =)

 

[Rio Rebel]

Sky, there are overclockers and there are overclockers. If I were you, I would at least consider doing what I do now - buy a nForce2 board, and just set the bus speed and the multiplier to a higher level. You don't have to touch the voltage or do anything risky at all, and you usually get a pretty nice speed increase with no downside.

Get a (free) copy of Prime95, and something to monitor temperatures (probably included in motherboard software), and you can probably just raise the bus speed to 400 (200FSB), or darn near it, with no real effort.

 

[SkyDiver]

Rio,
Thanks for the tip. I will plan on doing that. My current Mobo/CPU is a locked 1400 T-bird. I heard it was difficult to unlock, so I never bothered.

I was reading an article on the Barton CPU's and the 2500 Barton looks worse than the T-bred B 2600. The extra cache doesn't seem to add much performance. Am I way off base on this?

 

[Vette73]

The price of AMD chips is coming down HARD soon. The 2500+ Barton will be around $120 in a couple of weeks, and that is retail price. Wait a little longer and MAYBE get it for under $100.

 

[Rio Rebel]

The price of the Barton just DID come down "hard". If you wait until it's 50 bucks, you'll be wanting something newer.

Sky, I don't have a 2600 so I don't know. I know the extra cache is not a consistent gain across all areas - so when AMD lowered the clock of the Bartons and rated them accordingly, they will be faster in some areas and slower in others.

I can tell you that the "feel" of the Barton is much quicker in general use than I expected. You may not see some magnificent gain in everything, but general office apps should be quicker.

 

[SkyDiver]

So, what are the RAM requirements if I want to O/C to 200/400? Corsair 2700 seems to be a popular choice, but it looks to be almost twice as expensive as Crucial. Is it worth it?

 

[Rio Rebel]

This is what I use (2 of them in Dual Channel):

Twinmos from MemoryX

It's guaranteed to hit 200/400 with loose timings, but I'm able to do it at CAS 2.0.

 

[SkyDiver]

Thanks Rio. Should save me a chunk vs. Corsair. Now if I can only restrain myself until the latest AMD price cut works its way into the system!

 

[osage]

on a bang for buck basis I find it hard to believe that anything will be better than 1700XP for $50.00 OEM. I just got a retail 1700XP from NE last week for $60.and it does 2100mhz @ default 1.5 v.......thats a pretty good price/performance ratio IMHO

 

[Rio Rebel]

You're probably right. "Bang for the buck" is a relative term, though. Strictly speaking, a 1700+ that can break 2000ghz is going to be clearly the leader in value. But for me, it's about value AND performance. If it were value only, it would be a 1700+, if it were performance only, it would be a 3000 Barton or a hyperthreaded Pentium4.