Confused by conflicting reviews comparing Barton 2500+ with throughbred 2400+

[stonecold3169]

Alright, so an unfortunete bios flashing went horribly wrong last night, which led itself into my getting an Epox 8RDA+ nforce2 mobo.

I'm currently running an athlon XP 1800+ Palmino. I've definitely noticed that games are severely bottlenecked by this when paired with my Radeon 9700 pro.

So, I figure, what the heck, might as well splurge for a new cpu, whats another $100.

I'm looking at the 2400+ throughbred, and 2500+ barton, which are fairly close in price. I don't want a 1700+ to overclock because I can't afford better memory then I have right now.

Now, here's the problem... reviews are very different here. Some say that the barton is not at all faster, and is in some cases slower then the 2400+, which is what I suspected, being ~170mhz slower.

However, some reviews have the barton being 20% faster in most every test! And yes, these are all at stock speeds, the difference just raises as they overclock.

If this is true, I would get the Barton, for $100 retail at newegg. Added in that it should make it higher overclocking (eventually) then the 2400, it seems to be a good buy. However, at stock speeds, will the 2400+ bury it? which reviews are accurate?

 

[Matt2]

I would definately go for the Barton. Faster FSB, larger cache and a better/newer core more suitable for overclocking if you so choose to do so.

 

[madthumbs]

I second the Barton. Because it does more per MHz; overclocks yield better results. It should also run cooler, take less electricity. I think nForce boards support lock free multipliers for bartons and t-breds so memory shouldn't be an issue for OC'ing them. I had a 2400+ tbred before my barton. It did seem faster at stock speeds, but the Barton 2500+ (333) is running at 400FSB, and 2.10GHz (boots as xp3000). This appears to be a mediocre OC for these 2500's.

 

[mechBgon]

Actually, the retail 2500+ is only $90 shipped. That's $4 more than the 2400+. You've got PC2700 memory to go with the 2500+?

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: madthumbs
I second the Barton. Because it does more per MHz; overclocks yield better results. It should also run cooler, take less electricity. I think nForce boards support lock free multipliers for bartons and t-breds so memory shouldn't be an issue for OC'ing them. I had a 2400+ tbred before my barton. It did seem faster at stock speeds, but the Barton 2500+ (333) is running at 400FSB, and 2.10GHz (boots as xp3000). This appears to be a mediocre OC for these 2500's.

This is exactly what I planned on doing when I can afford the memory for it.

What kind of cooling are you using, and what are your idle/load temps? If I could get the barton for $80 shipped from newegg, and a decent cooler for < $40, $120 for an almost promised 3200+ is a steal.

Also, what are you using for memory? I'd like to stick to around $100 for a 512mb stick, as being a college student mony does't grow on trees😛... but all it takes is the cpu and mem to boost me to a top of the line (kinda) comp with the rest of my rig. I was leaning towards the corsair 512xms for $104 or the kingston hyperX 512 for $109 (both ddr400) from googlegear. Any recomendations?

 

[bjc112]

Some Hyper X 3200 for $100 @ Newegg is a deal. My 2x512 sticks do 220 FSB at 2/3/3/6 stable.

And since your trying to squeeze the most performance out get 2x256 to activate dual channel...

That still leaves 1 slot open which at a later time could be upgraded with another 512 stick or eventually a 1 GB stick..

😀

Good Luck.

 

[Macro2]

RE:"I'm looking at the 2400+ throughbred, and 2500+ barton, which are fairly close in price. I don't want a 1700+ to overclock because I can't afford better memory then I have right now."

Understand that there are some "BENCHMARKS" out there that make certain chips look good based on raw Mhz. A certain CPU maker happens to love these benchmarks. In this case benchmarks are for liars. As far as another cpu maker, AMD, is concerned, there are therefore some benches where the 2400+ will beat the 2500+....
In the real world the 2500+ is your better choice if you have the ram.

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: Macro2
RE:"I'm looking at the 2400+ throughbred, and 2500+ barton, which are fairly close in price. I don't want a 1700+ to overclock because I can't afford better memory then I have right now."

Understand that there are some "BENCHMARKS" out there that make certain chips look good based on raw Mhz. A certain CPU maker happens to love these benchmarks. In this case benchmarks are for liars. As far as another cpu maker, AMD, is concerned, there are therefore some benches where the 2400+ will beat the 2500+....
In the real world the 2500+ is your better choice if you have the ram.

Oh, I understand the idea, believe me. Although, for some tasks raw cycles are more effective, right? Such as video encoding/decoding, mp3 encoding, etc... basically, those apps aren't going to be affected a lot by the 170mhz stock speed diffeence. What got me confused are that the same benchmarks by seperate reviewers showed different chips coming out on top, which baffles me, because it isn't always by a negligable amount.

I've looked around some more, and have now found some sites showing time-demos between the 2, and the barton seems to be 10-15% faster at stock, which is incredible. I think thats the way I'll be going then. any recommendations on a good cooler? I like the looks of the Aero 7, and people seem to be reporting that they work well and won't makeyour ears bleed.

 

[pelikan]

Do yourself a favor and get an slk-800. They can be found for around $30. Temps are everything when you overclock so having the best heatsink helps a lot.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: pelikan
Do yourself a favor and get an slk-800. They can be found for around $30. Temps are everything when you overclock so having the best heatsink helps a lot.

Or an SK-7 that's $10 less and is almost identical.

 

[Macro2]

--------------
Do yourself a favor and get an slk-800. They can be found for around $30. Temps are everything when you overclock so having the best heatsink helps a lot.
--------------

true...
I also recommend the SLK-800U bolt on model...if your board has the 4 mounting holes of course.
This HSF fan weighs about 1 lb.

 

[Davegod]

with the current 1700+ i'll presume youre memory is PC2100/DDR266? I'm not sure what sort of performance hit you'd be looking at using a 333fsb barton with 266memory, not counting that i'd be opting for the barton over thoroughbred

the thermalright heatsinks seem to easily be the best choice right now.