Which sub $50 AMD??? Duron, tbred???

Hi guys,

I'm hitting a large computer fair the weekend after next. I've got $100 for 2 CPUs, that's all, don't bump me, what can I best get with it?

I was thinking the Duron 1.6s would be ideal, but didn't realise until recently that the superlock locked out the possibility of enabling cache, and I wanted good folding performance, and am worried they'll hurt for lack of cache if I can't find pre week 39s.

Also wondering about thortons, how to spot them, what are they available as, XP1800 up?

Also wondering what later steppings of XP1700 and 1800 tbred have been doing well.

bottom line, I want to hit 2.2Ghz at 1.7V or lower. My mobo won't take much more than that. What's my best chance for the least cost? I would of course like the chance to attempt to go higher than that, but I'll be fighting my mobo for every mhz.

I dunno if they'll have older steppings there though, probably they'll all be 04 chips. Also don't know how much time I'll have to scout out the better chips and deliberate about them because it will be mad crowded and they might be selling fast.

The chips don't need to be identical though, I might be able to get like a 2100 and a duron 1.4 or something. The best after testing will get the KT333 board the other will get put in the K7S5A.

Thanks,

Road Warrior

you should get the duron 1.8 40-45bucks each and they will hit 2.24 at around 1.725-1.775volts and i read that the performance hit from the less cache is only like 5percent so im guessing if it were a 2ghz duron it would run like a 1.9ghz tbred doesnt sound right but thats what i read only 5percent so i think you should go with the 1.8 the 1.6 is to hard to reach the speed at the vcore you want beleave i did it it took me 1.78volts

the vcore i said it like that because i use the pin mod i can only up it like .025 at a time i think thats right im not good with math you know what i mean 1.7,1.725,1.75,ect....

RoadWarrior said:

Hi guys,

I'm hitting a large computer fair the weekend after next. I've got $100 for 2 CPUs, that's all, don't bump me, what can I best get with it?

I was thinking the Duron 1.6s would be ideal, but didn't realise until recently that the superlock locked out the possibility of enabling cache, and I wanted good folding performance, and am worried they'll hurt for lack of cache if I can't find pre week 39s.

Also wondering about thortons, how to spot them, what are they available as, XP1800 up?

Also wondering what later steppings of XP1700 and 1800 tbred have been doing well.

bottom line, I want to hit 2.2Ghz at 1.7V or lower. My mobo won't take much more than that. What's my best chance for the least cost? I would of course like the chance to attempt to go higher than that, but I'll be fighting my mobo for every mhz.

I dunno if they'll have older steppings there though, probably they'll all be 04 chips. Also don't know how much time I'll have to scout out the better chips and deliberate about them because it will be mad crowded and they might be selling fast.

The chips don't need to be identical though, I might be able to get like a 2100 and a duron 1.4 or something. The best after testing will get the KT333 board the other will get put in the K7S5A.

Thanks,

Road Warrior

Click to expand...

If you see an unlocked Duron, go for it. It is the cheapest of all AMD chips and I don't think anyone has modded the cache on an unlocked one and got a bad result yet. Even if they are superlocked, the lack of extra L2 cache does not hurt the performance badly as AMD's less pipelined approach to processing means the CPU is not so heavily hit by L2 cache misses. They also OC a bit more than the equivalent Tbred.

How to spot a Thornton:

They have Barton stepping codes - AQXEA, AQYFA, stuff like that. Also in the OPN they have AXDc rather than AXDA for Barton and Tbred. People have seen them in model numbers of 2000, 2200, 2400, 2600 (?). Again, low failure rate on the cache enabling.

The later steppings of Tbreds that are good are JIXHB, JIXIB, AIXHB. Any late-week Tbred should still be excellent if it's a DLT3C though.

You can get 2 DLT3C TbredBs for $98.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-354&depa=0

That page sez 1.6V core voltage

there are no more DUT3Cs being sold on newegg AFAIK.