> Cache benefits?

I recently got a 1.6ghz duron and have been doing research on the chip. It seems like it OC's almost as well as the mobiles are doing, but people are saying that it has less preformance due to the lower stock cache level. I was wondering exactly what does cache help with. Nobody mentions this they just say more cache is better. Is it really worth doing the L2 mod to get the extra cache? How dangerous is it to damage the cpu while doing the L2? I just got the chip and I don't want to damage it. If there is really not that great of a benefit I would rather just leave it alone and see how far I can OC it. I got lucky and got a B version, but it's multi locked For $24 and a good chance to make a run at 2.3~ ghz I couldn't pass it up. However depending on how this chip does an upgrade to a mobile might come in the future.

Its worth it. If you will look at my thread you will see that the extra 256kb cache is worth 650 3dmark01SE points. Soooo in that case its your call.

But Duron ---> Barton, should give close if not over 1k more points at the same speed.

Cache works like this.
Lets say you have 3 objects, one in each hand and that's all you can have (ie. full hands). You need to let go off one to put the other one in hand. However what you now have in hand can't be lost. Sooo with no cache you would need to put one of those items in RAM. With cache (depending on size) you can temporarily store one item in cache while you work on the other one. This is alot easier demonstrated then explained, hope that makes sense. FYI cache is approximately 10X faster than RAM.

Psyko

Thanks for the info guys.

I don't really notice the difference in any way. My 1.4Ghz duron is unlocked so it goes higher than my locked 2500+. Even at the same speed they have an almost negligible impact in games. The framerate is impossible to tell the difference because it fluctuates naturally. Only thing is that sometimes while switching between things it feels slightly more bogged down than with the barton in it, but it could just be my imagination.

The biggest diferance you will feel with more cache is smoothness on the desktop. Apart from that, there will be a performance differfance that in amd's case is pretty small. Still, for somebody like me who does'nt really game, just surfing on the internet, and running several pages / applications on the side I notice things happen very smoothly.

That helps even more. Thanks.

You mentioned that your chip is locked, so you cannot re-enable the extra L2.