Tech Question: AMD Athlon Processors?

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No one I know seems to know the answer to this, so I'm hoping the brain trust here can hook a brutha up.

What's the difference between an Athlon XP processor and a regular Athlon processor? Is the XP more geared towards windows XP or what?

 

It's just a shift in the way AMD named its product (XP stands for eXtreme Performance); nothing to do with Windows XP. For a good (although lengthy) explanation:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/reviews/amd_1800/

Note: I'm not a techie, so don't ask me for more details.

 

XP is akin to Pentium 4, whereas the standard variant is roughly a P3.

 

Each generation of processors has its variants. The P4 has seen several variations on the orginal P4, which was released roughly two years ago, with substantial increases in performance. The same is true with AMD, which is now getting ready to release a completely new generation of Athlons this month.

I'm not really big on AMD. The reason is because they no longer design their own core logic chipsets, as Intel does. However the latest nVidia chipset, the nForce 2 for the "Barton" generation is well thought of by Athlon users and features more robost bus and memory speeds, while not being really all that more scaleable than the previous generation, code named, Palomino, I think. AMD has more than matched Intel in pure performance, and both have their pros and cons.

Although the internal architecture has not changed all that much, two areas that desingers have changed over the last few years are the die size, which is the silicon wafer on which the layers of transitors are formed onto. The latest measures .13 microns (the smaller, the better). This helps increase the number of transisters and helps the chips run cooler at higher clock speeds. The other area is level 2 cache memory (the higher, the better.) For both Intel "Northwood" and AMD "Bartons," the latest size is 512Kbs. The next line of processors for both Intel and AMD will see very large amounts of cache memory, as much as a full meg. Awesome!

DR - There are two strategies: 1. Buy the very latest genreation and stick with it until the next one arrives (P2, P3, P4...) 2. Buy the very last revision of the processor before the generation turns over. After years of selling and building machines, usually once a year, I have decided on the latter. The reason is that it ends up being what the generation should have been in the first place, and offers the most "bang for the buck." The first new generation processors is usually very expensive, will be updated very quickly and is usually not upgradeable to the end revisions. But take your pick for whichever is your own "comfort level."

 

I have an AthlonXP 1800. It really doesn't matter though. a 1.5 athlon is about the same as a 2ghz pentium. All it is is marketing. It's like choosing a brand of cigs, or beer or choosing whether you like ford or chev. Tell me why it matters! I dare you.
The northbridge, the northbridge, the northbridge is on fire!

 

Figured it wasn't much of a difference. I have a 1.7ghz Athlon on my baby right now and it works just fine. Not looking at upgrading any time soon, if I can help it. That's really all the juice I need, unless start hosting, which I don't plan to.

Just curious for future purchases. Thanks all.

 

Yes, but that's several revisions old. Now the 1.5 Athlon runs like a current Celeron.