clawhammer or newcastle

roostercrows

Junior Member
Jan 11, 2004
9
0
0
hi, i'm new to this so, i hope that i am in the right forum. my apologies if not. i'm looking to buy an athlon 64 "newcastle" and all i can find online is the "clawhammer". amd told me that "claw..." was an older core design. does it matter which one i get? also, i want to know how to determine if my newly purchased 36 gb "raptor" hard drive has fluid bearings? thank you, anyone who is taking the time to respond. t.
 

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
I belive the 3000+ A64's are Newcastle cores while 3200 and 3400 are both clawhammer cores. It is VERY unlikely that ur new raptor has FDB's .
 

Ulukai

Member
Nov 29, 2003
28
0
0
As far as I know A64s with the newcastle core aren't out yet. The current A64 3000+ is a clawhammer where only half of the 1MB cache is guaranteed to work. AMD decided to release defective clawhammer cores where up to 50% of the 1MB cache is defective, they just disable the defective half. That way they get rid of partially defective cores and make money from them.

The newcastles are due to come out soon though.
 

joe2004

Senior member
Oct 14, 2003
385
0
0
AMD decided to release defective clawhammer cores where up to 50% of the 1MB cache is defective, they just disable the defective half. That way they get rid of partially defective cores and make money from them.

I think this is a speculation, though common sense. Half the cache will take a hit in performance and one must ask if these recent reports about AMD having yield problems have to do something with the release of 3000+.
Hey whatever works for you financially, I think the price difference is fair.
3400+ is the way to go, really.
 

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
I do realize they are physically claw hammer cores but effectively there Newcastle's.
 

roostercrows

Junior Member
Jan 11, 2004
9
0
0
first, i would like to thank everyone that responded to my posting.

so..... now that i have called AMD 4 times to speak with their tech. dept. "they" tell me that "newcastle's" have not been released to anyone, anywhere yet, and that the "clawhammer" core 3000+ is not a "defective" 1 MB but rather "that's just the way they end up being" and that "there is no halfway point" that they could "disabled" to get 50% of 1MB cache anyway! sooo, bottom line (according to them) is that the chip, is what it is! the most cost effective way to get into a 64 bit processor. My inspiration and confusion was generated by anandtech's article that the athlon 64 3000+ processor that was avaliable on line was the "newcastle". if that is true i still would like to know where it's avaliable?

my goal is to get the chip and fabricate another watercooling block. my other attempt at water-cooling can be seen at <overclockers.com> under the water-cooling section / terry miller/ "a goldsmiths approach to water cooling". if anyone is interested. i have a new sterling silver, titanium, vacuum design for this chip that i think will be fun to make. so, if i could impose upon the members of this forum to suggest some motherboards for this chip that would help me to be further along on my creation, i welcome all suggestions. after reading the latest articles on motherboards it seems, to this amature, that i might be well advised to wait a month or two for the latest releases from asus, chaintech (that is not "approved" by AMD, i don't know why), msi, aopen etc. what think you guru's?

roostercrows
 

MDE

Lifer
Jul 17, 2003
13,199
1
81
I would wait for a chipset that definitively has an AGP\PCI bus lock before diving into A64 land. All indications that I've seen point to the nForce3 250 as this chipset (possibly the SiS chipset, but I doubt OCing boards will be made with this chipset anytime soon), but I'd wait and see what happens and then pick whatever seems to be getting the most success after the nForce3 250 launch.
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
30
91
Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress
I would wait for a chipset that definitively has an AGP\PCI bus lock before diving into A64 land. All indications that I've seen point to the nForce3 250 as this chipset (possibly the SiS chipset, but I doubt OCing boards will be made with this chipset anytime soon), but I'd wait and see what happens and then pick whatever seems to be getting the most success after the nForce3 250 launch.
I agree wholeheartedly. There are quite a few people around here who are waiting on that particular chipset. If I decide to go with the A64, that's the chipset I will be buying.
 

roostercrows

Junior Member
Jan 11, 2004
9
0
0
hi, i called western digital, gave them the serial and model #'s and to your and my surprise there ARE fluid bearings in the 36 GB Raptor hard drive, at least in the one I have (MDL : WD360GD-00FNA0, 25 NOV 2003). the tech guy told me that all of them have fluid bearings. cooler is better! thanks for your time.
 

joe2004

Senior member
Oct 14, 2003
385
0
0
I would wait for a chipset that definitively has an AGP\PCI bus lock before diving into A64 land.

This is an age old tech question, would I wait or would I buy now. It depends. I think that A64 3400+ now is the best deal I have seen in a while. This thing overclock to 2.5 GHz on air, kicks ass anything Intel has and feels very very smooth, regardless of benchmarks. Sure, better chipset and/or processors are to come but having a top of the line PC for less than a $1,000 now is possible. Go for it.