How fast will TBird go?

[Guest]

I have recently agreed to help my girlfriend's dad put together a new PC. Of course one of the first things I told him was to wait just a little longer for the DDR mobos. I also hope to get a mobo with onboard raid, much like the current Abit TBird solution. Yet one burning question remains: How fast is amd looking to take its current T-Bird line? I want to put together a system that will be very upgradable in the future, prolonging its value. One thing I'veconsidered is having him purchase a Duron 700 for $55 then he could always buy a 1.2 Ghz T-Bird when they are just as cheap. But with 1 Ghz going for $170 now days, Im thinking pay the extra 115 bucks -- should be well worth the performance boost. But what from there?? I would hope to at least put a 1.4 Ghz in there sometime in the future. Thanks for your time in advance!!

 

[Guest]

I think 1.2G is the end of the line, after that AMD is changing core, I may be wrong

My philosophy, no computer can ever be upgraded. They are obsolete the day you buy them. Especially true if you wait 6 months for the price to come down like the new P4.

take example, when they had P2, BX, AGP2x although you can upgrade to a P3 using a socket to slot convertor, but graphics card stay at AGP2x, you cannot get any benefit from newer AGP4x card even if you buy it.

BX only have UDMA/ATA at 33, so cashout for a ATA100 raid card? not worth it!

BX first generation is not truely 133Mhz FSB!!! and how long was their life span? 1year where P3 comes out, and AGP4x cards and etc

I always sell my computer within a year and don't mind losing £150, but I get everything new, most important fact is everything is new spec high speed etc.

Better of compare to other people changing computer every 2 year costing $2500 and I only spend $1500 over 10 years but every year I get the price/performance fastest kind of core/generation with no limitation for 6 to 12 months and change again.

Like now, even you know to buy a DDR system, wait for a year they will probably have dual channel DDR to fight the Rambus and put them to smoke.

I assume you also know that 64bit CPU are hot topic now, 2 years time that will replace all current CPU



Best regards
cx5

 

[yoda271828]

The T-bird core is indeed as fast as it will ever be. AMD will be replacing it with the Polamino core in Q1 2001. There are rumors of them testing this core at 1.7Ghz with just a heatsink (no fan). Polamino will also be a socket A design, so upgrading to it will be no problem. AMD will use socket A for a long time. Even after the Sledgehammer/Clawhammer (non-socket A 64-bit processors) come out in Q1 2002, AMD will release yet another upgrade to its socket A core. Just get whatever is in the right price range because you will have a long upgrade future with a socket A motherboard, so don't worry.

 

[Guest]

I would agree, any Socket A mobo should take any Palomino, which will hit 1.7GHz, maybe 2GHz on .13 micron.

If you plan on upgrading that high DDR becomes ALOT more important then it is even on a 1.2GHz Tbird, as Tom has show, as well as with Intel pushing RDRAM, and Dual Channel DDR coming from NVIDIA I would guess developers are going to start allowing themselfs more bandwidth.

I'd wait for DDR them get the fastest CPU you can for your budget, and whatever else happens to be out at that time, DDR should be available in Jan./Feb.

Question: Just curious but will AMD have to switch Sockets even for the Hammers? There still x86 CPU's at heart, and the EV6 goes to 400MHz, plenty of headroom.

I AM Canadian.

 

[girish]

i guess 1.2 GHz is the limit for todays Athlon Tbirds. But AMD has some good news that the next breed of Athlons will have a better cooler faster core, the Palomino (recently demonstrated running at 1.7 GHz with just cooling fan/heatsink) is coming. And best of it, it is Socket A compliant, so no probs upgrading to one of these. I guess they will go beyond 2 GHz until next year end.

Consider getting a motherboard that will support such high multipliers. maybe it will need a BIOS update.

girish