Opinions on the right technology

[Garet Jax]

Hello all,

I am looking for some opinions on what to buy. I have already decided AMD, but I can't decide on the other stuff. I am looking at three options, but I am torn:

1) AMD 1.2C with PC133 MHz SDRAM and MB with VIA KT133A chipset (ASUS or Iwill)
2) AMD 1.2B with PC1600 DDR and AMD 760 chipset MB
3) AMD 1.2C with PC2100 DDR and AMD 760 chipset MB

1) is good because the technology is a little more proven and available. Lots of reviews have been written and there are lots of people with lots of experience.

2) is good because the 1.2 "B" chip seems to be more overclockable and the PC1600 DDR is widely available for very competitive prices. Also it is newer technology than 1) and less likely to be outdated as quickly.

3) is good because it is the newest technology of the three, but it is bad because the PC2100 DDR is much more expensive than PC1600 DDR or PC 133 SDRAM.

My gut feel is that 1 or 2 will provide the best bang for the buck. In addition, I wanted to break into the OCing market and from what I have read, the B chip is better for it than the C chip.

Right now I am leaning to 2.

Other opinions. Thanks.

 

[Dexion]

You missed the last option, which is most affordable and best performing for your dollar.

4) AMD 1.2B with PC133 MHz SDRAM and MB with VIA KT133A chipset (ASUS or Iwill)

4) The KT133A chipset officially supports the Athlon Thunderbird "B". The "B" means that the chip is made to run at a clock speed of 133FSB(266 DDR). The KT133A chipset supports 133 FSB, using a B chip would increase overclocking probability as well as a guaranteed FSB speed without overclocking. The KT133A chipset performs approximately 95-97% of the DDR counterpart at a fraction of the costs.

 

[Garet Jax]

Dexion,

I was under the impression that the B chip ran at 100Mhz FSB and the C chip ran at 133Mhz FSB. By buying the B chip I may get 133Mhz out of it, but it is not guaranteed unless I buy the C chip. This means that I may need to back PC 133 RAM down to < 133Mhz. This is why I never considered this option.

My understanding is that the fourth option would be:

4) AMD 1.2B with PC100 SDRAM and MB with VIA KT133A chipset (don't require the KT133A, but it is more recent and not much more expensive than the MBs with KT133)

I disqualified this option because it is not much more expensive to go with 2 and the technology is much newer.

Is my understanding mistaken?

 

[kylebisme]

ya Dexion seems to have his abc's mixed up. however, a b chip can be run at c specs as long as your motherboard suports multiplier adjustments, and the 133mhz fsb of course. you simply have to lower the multiplier to acomedate for the faster frontside bus. another thing to consider is why buy pc1600 memory at all? realy its almost as bad as buying pc100 for a kt133a, sure it will work but do you realy want to use it? on top of that i belive the kt133a with pc133 is faster than a amd760 with pc1600. realy, if you are planing to overclock a 1.2ghz there are two intelegent options for an amd system right now:

1) amd 1.2b kt133a board and pc133 (not quite fast as ddr but much cheaper, also proven and reliable)
2) amd 1.2b with an amd760 board and pc2100 (a little faster but a lot more expencive, also new and unproven)

if i was worried about the best bang for the buck i would go for option 1.

 

[Garet Jax]

Snowman,

Couple of follow-on questions:

1) In terms of the PC133 based system, are you suggesting the B chip and not the C chip for price and OCing reasons? In other words, won't the C chip perform better than the B chip because it is running at 133Mhz FSB?

2) Can I really expect the PC133 based system to run faster than the PC1600 based system?

Thanks.

 

[Dexion]

all I can say is.. OOPS.

I totally got the B's and C's screwed up along with the other 1000 computer abbreviations

Anyway, getting back to the point.



<< In terms of the PC133 based system, are you suggesting the B chip and not the C chip for price and OCing reasons? In other words, won't the C chip perform better than the B chip because it is running at 133Mhz FSB? >>



As far as I know, there is virtually no physical difference between the 2 chips except for the multiplier configuration(L3 , L4). Argueably a B chip can be unlocked(if its not unlocked already) and set to the same multiplier(9) and FSB(133) setting. There would be no overclocking or performance difference. The major difference is that AMD has guaranteed that it works at 133, whereas the other is 100, I haven't run into any AMD chip that hasn't been able to run at 133Mhz though.

 

[Dexion]

<< Can I really expect the PC133 based system to run faster than the PC1600 based system? >>



Yes, there is no point purchasing PC1600 DDR SDRAM.
Infact a KT133A with PC133 CL2 system at the same clock speed would be only approximately 5% slower more or less than the AM760 DDR chipset with PC2100 RAM. With PC1600 the AM760 system is severely crippled.

 

[Garet Jax]

Thanks guys.

This makes my choice much much easier. Instead of options 1, 2 and 3. I now only have two
options:

1) AMD 1.2B with PC133 MHz SDRAM and MB with VIA KT133A chipset (ASUS or Iwill)
2) AMD 1.2B with PC2100 DDR and AMD 760 chipset MB

Given the price Mushkin is charging for their PC2100 DDR RAM, I think I will go for (1).

Thanks again. Any last suggestions?

 

[SammyBoy]

you could also talk to compuwiz1 about buying a chip that is guaradamnteed to run at 133+ fsb.

If you wanted to get 1.2 in the end, I am sure that you could buy a 1 gig that could get there from compuwiz for less money, and as a B chip it would be guaranteed to run @ 9x133 or whatever it may be. Also, compuwiz unlocks his chips so you could lower your multiplier and experiment with really high fsb speeds and better performance overall