actual speed question

i'm a bit behind and lost...er daised on confused!. I'm going to make an nforce 2 deluxe v2.0 ide raid 1024llpt corsair memory pc3200, machine...but that's not terribly important What I can't figure out is what CPU to put into it. I'm totally lost with AMD's phyco marketing er numbering. So I was thinking that bang for buck going with the barton 2500+ 333fsb (rumor has it that getting the lowest clock speed of a new core usually allows you easy max overclocking possibilities?). now here's the condemdrum:

The 2500+ 333fsb 512k cache is only running at 1.87 ghz
the 2400+ 166fsb? 256k cache? is running at 2.08ghz

what the hell is up with that? so like which one is faster, or does it matter depending on application? Say for rendering stuff (games, photoshop, etc.)

bang for buck, whats the story, get a 1700 tb B core and overclock it to 2.0Ghz for cheap. Go with the 2400 or so and not overclock at all (2.08 ghz is fine with me) medium price. Or go with the first in line barton, 2500+ about 130 bucks and just let it be (maybe pump it up to 2 ghz or so?)

I know there's alot of reviews on this stuff, but I would appriciate anyone's imput. Its not so much spending the money, I just don't want to waste my money, so i guess the real question is...I'm an AMD type of guy, i'm getting a nforce2 on a medium budget, what's the best cpu I should go with. (that is already out, i'm not waiting for a dissapointing opteron).

"sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick"

Why do people recomend overclocking so readily? If you are not that bothered about spending a few extra dollars don't mess around with overclocking ice-age technology (XP1700+) buy a 2500+ and be happy. You can see from AMD's new PR ratings that clock speed is not the key for them anymore so why overclock? a 2500+ with 512k cache and 166 bus will thrash an overclocked 1700+ with far less cache and a much slower bus.

I have spoken to AMD on the phone and even they admitted to me that the new 2500+ Barton will outperform the old 2600+ and be very close to the 2700+. Plus we all know that running memory asynchronosly is not as good as running it at the same speed as the CPU bus.

Trust me when you build the system that you have outlined and bung in a 2500+ (which will not require a very loud cooler) you will not be able to wipe the smile off your face when the benchmark scores come through.

4.77MHz to 4.0GHz in 10 years. Imagine the space year 2020

erm.... which part of <b>(175FSB x 12.5)</b> did you not read? Last time I checked my maths 175 was <i>higher</i> than 166....

Granted the cache will make some difference, but not a great deal... It's exactly the same core, 'cept the BARTON has 256K extra L2. It's just a helluva lot cheaper!

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