Chip advice, please

[kayofcircles]

We spent hours reading mobo reviews and such, and finally decided we want the MSI K7T Pro2-A. Finally found somewhere to buy it from: tufshop.com. They make boards with chips..so spent awhile deciding on whether or not to buy a combo, but saw posts here about the copper heatsinks and my husband wants to do that. So, now we're ready for obtaining the chip. We want an AMD Athlon somewhere in the 850 to 900 range...yes, I know, but I don't really want the faster chips, okay? Keeping the system cool is a consideration for us, so my lazy question is...does either the 850 or 900 run cooler..better..stronger...or whatever? My husband says he thinks he read that all the newer chips, regardless of speed, run cooler than the ones they came out with a couple of years ago. Is that true, and if so, how does one know if buying the newer version? I know we should "research" this too, but I am getting tired and I know people to ask. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Whyzman]

Ah, the Tom Sawyer approach to computing...good move! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif

May all your dealings in life be win/win!

Whyzman

[This message has been edited by Whyzman (edited 09-17-2001).]

[yawningdog]

According to the AMD rep I spoke to, yes, chips get smaller, cooler, and faster with each new run of chips produced. How to find the age of a chip? I don't know, but the AMD website or your retailer should be able to tell you. Or better yet, whomever posts after me. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him to use the net, and he wont bother you for weeks.

[iisbob]

if you look on the chip when you purchase it, ther is a string of id no#'s that will tell you the manufacture date.

If it's an Athlon-at around 900mhz-it ain't gonna be that old, haven't had them out that long. Buy from a dealer you trust. And you really wouldn't be able to tell a difference in the speed between a 900 and a 1+ghz-not in real world terms anyways.

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iisbob
"640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates, 1981"
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." --Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

[kenja]

A common notation used by IC manufactures is to denote the year and week and of fabrication by a four digit number. The first two digits denote the year, the second two the week.

For instance, right now I'm looking at a VIA southbridge. Under the part number (VT82C686A) are the numbers 0041CG. I'm guessing this chip was made during the 41st week of 2000. (This is a reasonable date, since the motherboard is an Abit KT7.)

Found a picture (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1441&p=3) of two T-birds. The old chip was made during the 24th week of 2000. The newer chip has "AXIA0106UPAW", meaning the sixth week of 2001.

By the way, the AJEA and AXIA prefixes denote the "stepping" of the processor. Newegg.com charges a few dollars more for certain steppings, I believe they come from the factory with their clock multipliers "unlocked", or maybe they just have a reputation for being especially good for overclocking.

As to "...does either the 850 or 900 run cooler..better..stronger..." I'd say, no. I've got 750 and 800MHz Durons that run at essentially the same temperature (120F in a 71F room) during a continuous run of Sandra 2001 CPU benchmarks (I'm using lowish CFM/RPM fans for lower dBs). I certainly can't tell any "seat of the pants" difference of 50MHz in performance.

I'm a little envious of my buddy's new 1GHz T-bird, but I don't even stretch the legs of my Morgans (AMD codename for the first-generation Durons), and still I keep going to the newegg site daily and thinking "gee, the OEM 950MHz T-bird sure is a bargain". http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

A good example of newer generation CPUs running cooler at a certain speed is the difference between a 533MHz PPGA Celeron and a 533MHz FCPGA Celeron. (I'm too tired to look for an illustrative link right now.) G'nite.

[Reid]

I have had no problems with my MSI K7T Pro2-A, using an Athlon 850. It is running at 44C/111F with a ThermoEngine heatsink (review (http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/heatsinks/thermoengine/)). I recommend getting a good case with both intake and exhaust fans.

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reido@my-deja.com

Friends don't let friends install Windows ME

[kenja]

Correction: My Durons are "Spitfires", not "Morgans". I thought a fighter plane would be faster than a horse, but Morgan fits in with the Palomino horsey theme. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[ranchdog]

Hi Kay.... Your choice of Mboard is excellent. It will use SDRAM which you can transplant out of your present system.

AMD processors have three row's of #'s and letters on the chip-die. CPU Mhz- Stepping Code- Mfg Date- Etc. AMD's website has diagrams that help decipher all this code.

The Morgan type chip-die that is on the market now has been wsorth the wait it seems. The chip-die itself is larger in demensions as compared to what we have had in the past. The real-time benefit of this is a cooler running CPU.

The bargain at the moment seems to be the new 1Ghz Duron that just came out recently. It's on the Morgan core and does have an L2 Cache (memory) of 64K. Which isn't huge, but the old Duron was without L2. These new Duron 1Ghz are in the price range where everyday folks like us can afford one. Saw a review on this one over at another website that primarily deals with overclocking and they couldn't make this chip get hot. Using a GlobalWin copper heatsink.

The new Athlon CPU (Palamino) will be on the Morgan core and defininately be worth the extra bucks. New chip-die programming involved on this one.

Luck.





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......Indecision may or may not be my problem......
...... Kickin' A Rock....