Dumb question: Difference between Athlon and Thunderbird (sorry... ;))

[MikeC]

Could someone please be kind enough to tell me the difference between the AMD Athlon and Thunderbird?! (Expecialy as it relates to slotA/socketA, cache, compatibility)

I had the understanding that Thunderbird was just a name for high end Athlons, but now I'm not so sure. Specificaly, I want to know what CPU I can use in an Epox EP-8KTA-2 motherboard.

http://www.epox.com/html/english/products/motherboard/ep-8kta2.htm

Thanks in advance

 

[toph99]

they are both 'Athlon's
the Althlon 'Calssic' was SlotA and had 512k(i think) of external L2 cache. the Thunderbird has the l2 cache on-die. Thunderbird is just a name for the Athlon's like the Coppermine is for the PIII's

afaik, T'birds just come in SocketA form
the Epox board will support socketA t'birds and Durons. take a look at anand's socketA roundup for more info on boards