Tbird pricing anamoly?

[weshuang]

I have a question about Athlon Tbirds. I have been thinking about upgrading to a Tbird in the 1.4 ghz range, and I have noticed on several sites that the price for a new OEM 1.33 ghz chip is in the high $40's range, while a new OEM 1.4 ghz chip is in the $80 range. I would have thought that the performance difference between the two would be negligible. Is there something I don't understand about the architecture in the two chips?

 

[chizow]

Its a perceived value and supply issue. The 1.4 T-birds were the top of the line and were at the time rather scarce. XP (Palomino) was released shortly thereafter, which effectively ended the 1.4's short production run. IIRC the 1.33's had a good chance of having the highly-sought 1.4 AYHJA stepping as well though. That was such a sweet chip, still running nicely in my bro-in-law's rig.

Chiz

 

[EdipisReks]

i personally wouldn't even bother with a t-bird. assuming your board will run one, the best thing to do would be to get a 1700+ XP. they are about $50 right now.

 

[weshuang]

EdipisReks,

I have a Biostar M7VKD, which according to their website will run the XP chip depending on the bios version. I was sort of punting on having to figure out what version of the BIOS I have and possibly having to upgarde it. I believe I also saw an article that suggested that the difference between the Tbird and the early Palominos was not that great (at least not as great as between the Duron and the Tbird).

BTW, this is totally off-topic, but your handle reminds me of a Simpsons re-run I just saw. Homer and Marge are entered in a tennis tournament, but Homer sucks at tennis. Marge ends up replacing Homer with Bart as her partner. Homer gets bummed out, and talks to Lisa about it, who explains that it is related to Oedipal conflicts. Homer responds with a blank stare. Lisa says, "You remember, King Oedipus, who killed his father to marry his mother?"

Homer responds by saying, "Noooo, but maybe $5 will refresh my memory!"

 

[weshuang]

<FONT size=1>"The 1.4 T-birds were the top of the line and were at the time rather scarce. XP (Palomino) was released shortly thereafter, which effectively ended the 1.4's short production run. IIRC the 1.33's had a good chance of having the highly-sought 1.4 AYHJA stepping as well though. That was such a sweet chip, still running nicely in my bro-in-law's rig."
</FONT>
This is going to be a stupid question, but I've seen mention of stepping elsewhere but don't know what it is. Does it have to do with the ability to overclock the chip?

 

[NYHoustonman]

As far as I know it would be the FSB speed. The 1.33 is 133 FSB, but you can easily get an XP if your mobo supports that. The 1.4 is available at 100 FSB, and THIS is the one that is the most expensive, because for many it is the best possible. Me, after upgrading my main computer, my secondary computer is running an Asus A7V with the 1.33 ghz T-Bird, and it works just fine at 103x13.