Barton Still On Track And Current PR Rating Is Still A Go Ahead!

Like the title says, AMD's Barton processor is still on track and the PR rating is currently still the same.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4403

The Barton CPU is 100% backwards compatible with all T-bred compatible motherboards (Any motherboard that supports 266MHz Bus and 1.5V).

One difference that makes Barton stand out from the T-bred is that Barton runs alot more stable and can clock much higher with simular voltages.

(XP2500+ 2.00GHz 266MHz Bus 1.50V)
(XP2600+ 2.07GHz 266MHz Bus 1.55V)
(XP2700+ 2.13GHz 266MHz Bus 1.60V)
(XP2800+ 2.20GHz 266MHz Bus 1.65V)

The fastest Barton that is currently going around the web is the XP2800+ Barton which operates at 2200MHz on a 266MHz Bus.

According to AMD, the only way to take advantage of the full potential of Barton will be to use the nForce / nForce2 chipsets which feature HyperTransport technology to help reduce the memory bottleneck which plegues all AthlonsXPs from reaching there full potential.

nVidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was on a computer talk show and was explaining how AMD's Athlon processor would run up to 20% faster on nForce2 than it would on any other platform when using twin bank DDR400.
AMD says that the Athlon even on the current 266MHz Bus still has alot of potential given that your using twin bank DDR400 memory setup. Hypertransport on Barton CPUs are supposed to show huge leaps in performance over non-hypertransport compatible machines.

Currently nVidia is the only company using hypertransport and although VIA has now issued future support for Hypertransport, its not likely they will make a AthlonXP based chipset on it but rather on K8 CPUs only.

People who are looking into upgrading or purchasing a new computer should note that the nForce2 is supposed to perform up to 20% faster than the KT400, and with simular comparible pricing.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=4404

It looks like AMD will be getting the help it needs to get it through the year till Clawhammer gets announced.

BTW, for those of you who are wondering, the GPU in the nForce2 (optional) is not an MX420 or even MX440 for that matter, its actually kinda in between and will operate along side the Bus speed. With 1/4 1/5 and 1/6 divider, the GPU will operate at 266MHz, but I feel most nForce2 users will use the sweet 1:1 divider which means that the specifications never go out no matter what FSB you use Using Twin Bank DDR400, your nForce2 GPU will have access to up to 128MB of 6.4GB/s memory bandwidth, which is pretty impressive. In English, thats the defualt memory speed of a GeForce3 Ti 200.


EDIT!: The Barton CPU has 128KB of L1 Cache and 512KB of L2 cache. The larger core size that Barton has over the T-bred will help deliver heat more effeciently to the heatsink giving the Barton CPU the overclocking edge. Barton Core also has heatspreader around the L2 cache for anyone wondering about what AMD did with that little extra bit of space.


DS-Master

Damn it I cant wait enymore...

Hmm wonder if it will run on my ASUS A7V266-E...

What's the diff b/t level 1 and level 2 cache?

Hahaha, I'm definetely getting one of those, it'll be a cheap boost and I don't know if I'll have cash for the hammer anyways. I might even go with the mobo+ddr400 too, we'll see.

--Illah

Knowing AMD this is not going to happen for a long time. Just hope it can compete with the competition when it arrives. What products will Intel have on the market at that time I wonder?

I think the intels are eventually gonna hit 3 GHz. What are they at now, the 2.53? I think the next steps are a 2.6-something, then a 2.8 and then a 3. A 2.2 GHz XP with the 512K cache should be able to do some damage though, especially with the DDR 400 (and if that 20% boost with nForce is true). I think AMD is still in the running. Plus we'll probably get em up to 2.4 and higher with OCing, P4's gotta be running outta gas soon. I don't think they'll get much farther OC-wise even with a 3 GHz chip.

--Illah

uhh couldnt you avoid the bandwith problem as stated in the first post by overclocking the FSB like we all do now?

droooolllll......god im spending every cent i have on that combo....im going all out baby! (lol quite a big step from my current rig)

No, because the bandwidth problem isnt just conjested with the processor/AGP to Ram but also the the South bridge which controls your Sound Cards, Ethernet Devices, Hard Drives and so fourth.

Vlink which is in KT133 KT266 KT333 and KT400 provides up to 133MB/s, 266MB/s and (533MB/s KT400).

There is no comparison between even V-Link to Hypertransport, since Hypertransport (6.4GB/s) is clearly more powerful in everyway.


On another note, only two more days till nForce2 is released, AMD boyz rejoice!


DS-Master

AMD says that an XP2200+ processor configured with nForce2 with Dual Channel DDR400 will outperform the competition's 2.2GHz PC Processor in every task.

Does that mean that AMD's PR rating is rated against Pentium4? I seen this statement in an advertisement in a computer paper.


DS-Master

so if i keep my current mobo (KT333) and get a barton it will perform a little better than a current Athlon at the same clock speed?

Oh yes, less heat and of course much more performance but the Barton processor takes full advantage of Hypertransport which is currently only supported by the nForce chipset.

You must also note that the Barton has 512KB of cache which is the big point for the performance increase at clock for clock.


DS-Master

the barton will most likely out-preform any cpu you have seen so far imo, and of course the xp line should always beat the athlon line, even if it was on a bottlenecked board

DS-Master said:

AMD says that an XP2200+ processor configured with nForce2 with Dual Channel DDR400 will outperform the competition's 2.2GHz PC Processor in every task.

Does that mean that AMD's PR rating is rated against Pentium4? I seen this statement in an advertisement in a computer paper.


DS-Master

Click to expand...

The AMD PR rating has always been for the P4's. First, we've seen several benchmarks and tests between the t-birds and the XP's and there isn't near that much of a difference. Second, it makes perfect since that they use the PR rating to combat the mhz is everything myth the p4 is running off of. I know it says on AMD's site that it was designed to show the difference between XP's and regular Athlons, but I think they just did that to cover their butts just incase.

anyone know what the price on the first barton chips is expceted to be. i do believe i will be picking one of those up when they come out. hehe

AMD still needs to work on getting the FSB up through the processor like intel's 100x4 and 133x4. thats where intel really takes it to AMD.
having the 512k cache on the barton is certainly going to help even out the field.

yeah intels newest p4 is at 533fsb right? lol we are stuck as 266...

I wonder if VIA is scrambling to get the KT400 to take advantage of hypertransport, they'd be stupid not to.

they will eventually

no seeing how we are overclockers we are not stuck at 266. with the 1/5 divisor i can get 400fsb (200real fsb) and if the 1/6 divisor, which currently only exists on that iwill board, i would imagine people would be able to get a lot above that with the right type of ram.