So an AMD 1900+ XP isn't a 1.9ghz processor?

[Damian]

Is that the case? What is the actual speed and WHY in the hell do they call it 1900+ if it is not 1900 plus?! Man, that is some mis-leading BS for people (like myself) that don't keep current on things till it's upgrade time. ...too bad I already bought it... sigh... and onboard imbeded graphics... sigh... no agp slot... get the rope...

 

[AMD_Man]

The Athlon XP 1900+ is not a 1.9GHz processor but it outperforms competitive 1.9GHz processors, that's why it's labelled 1900+. The number represents performance rather than frequency. Also, it sounds like you got an OEM system. Don't blame AMD for the poor performance! Blame the OEM!

<b><i>"A penny saved is a penny earned!"</i></b>

 

[jlanka]

the actual formula is this:

XP= 3*(clock-1000)/2+1000
clock=2*(XP-1000)/3+1000

The reason they did it is due to the fact that just raw clock speed is not the only measure of a procesors true power. Intel was hammering them (no pun intended) on clock speed so they're basically saying that the 1.6Ghz XP is "equivelant" to a 1.9Ghz P4. Again, the reason is the special features in the architecture (superscalar,superpipeline to name a few). I'll agree it's a bit lame for the average Joe out there to be duped by it. But they had to do what they had to do.


<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[4Ryan6]

The 1900+ runs at 1600Mhz and will outperform the 2Gig P4, I've Overclocked mine to 1800Mhz so far, your problem is the limited Motherboard you have. Read up on things before you buy, thats what Toms Hardware Guide Site is for, to educate you so you don't make uninformed decisions.

 

[Damian]

Everything is good but the motherboard and I have KT266 on the way. It came with name brand everything 1900+, 512 DDR 2100, and has 266 fsb. I only paid 425 for it new.

 

[4Ryan6]

Jam up you're going to kick some butt now.

 

[Damian]

what does OEM stand for? and where can I find the best price on a KT266 board thats clock friendly? Just lost my bid at ubid in the last minute... damn

 

[4Ryan6]

Actually I was going to get the MSI board and at the last minute changed my mind and went with the SOYO Dragon Plus, which I'm glad I did but it doesn't have all the OClocking features I was looking for, but its got enough for me. OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, which are items sold in bulk form basically and not packaged as good for shipping. Its kinda like a bare bones deal stay away from them they'll sell you whatevers left on the shelves, in this day and time shoot for the most current and up to date board so you don't end up with a board manufactured two years ago. Whatever online company you decide to buy from check out their reputation through the Better Business Bureau at www.bbb.com, and you should check out the Motherboard reviews at Toms Hardware Guide, then look for a good deal through www.pricewatch.com , and from my own bad experience stay away from Access Micro.

 

[jlanka]

go for the KT266A not the KT266. BTW, I disagree with the "stay away from OEM" assessment - in actuality it's just a bulk purchase by the vendor. It won't come with a bunch of fancy extras, but it's generally a good deal for someone on a budget. The most important thing is to buy from a reputable vendor (like <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com" target="_new">newegg</A>)

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[Clarentavious]

On the processor issue, that's correct. I have an 1800+ which is truly clocked at 1533MHz. As they have stated, clock speed is not the only factor in processor performance.

Also, get a KT266A without any integrated features. That should only cost you about $200 maximum (without tax). Abit makes good versions of this.

On OEM. Basically, if you are buying an important part, NEVER go OEM. You'll get a stock board with reference drivers (like what visiontek sells ). You'll get a chipset that hasn't been modified at all.

With something like a motherboard or video card, never go OEM. With something of less importance like a CD-ROM, it is a good way to save money.

And yes, read up on this site. That's what Tom's Hardware is here for.

 

[FatBurger]

The Athlon XP 1900+ supposedly performs the same as a 1.9GHz Tbird would. But that's misleading at best.

<font color=blue>Hi mom!</font color=blue>

 

[Damian]

Thanks for the info everyone

 

[Crashman]

Here's the TRUTH! An Athlon XP1900+ is about twice as powerfull as a PIII 733. The only reason they get away with the hyper inflated numbers is because the P4, clock for clock, is a poor performer. However, the P4 gets a high enough clock now to beet everything AMD provides. AMD HAD to lie because they simply can't produce a 1900MHz retail processor on the .18 micron process.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Damian]

Wow, thats pretty harsh, but do I believe a guy that confuses beet (a purple gross vegetable) with beat (to kick one's ass), I don't know. What do others say, is my 1900+ really that crappy?

 

[M_C_Hammer]

"is my 1900+ really that crappy?"

in a word, no. it is a very powerfull processor, 90% of people would never need that much power, well not for a fews years at least.

I need a 1.5 Ghz Athlon + 512mb ddr ram to write emails......honestly

 

[Clarentavious]

I thought beets were kind of dark red colored? ;-)

 

[Damian]

Ok, yes you are right. Dark red but close to purple...

 

[cellbiogeek]

If you're really concerned about how your processor stacks up agianst others just look for benchmarks. Check out the most recent articles in the CPU section here at THG or at Anandtech.

 

[Crashman]

In fact, my beets are better than your's becuase mine are Harvard beets.

But getting back to processors, both Intel and AMD have been producing crap for a while now as far as performance goes. The latest Intel 2.53GHz P4 is ALMOST twice as powerfull as a PIII 1000EB. At least the Athlon XP1900+ performs adequately for a 1600MHz processor that it is.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[franksterrr]

you seem pretty ignorant about pocessors. do you do any research before you buy your electronics at all? i would highly recommend organizing your needs, then read reviews. do a little reshearch before purchasing your next motherboad and processor.

i'm truly amazed that you could have assembeled this system correctly on what little information you seem to have.

anyhow, the 1.9gh processor you bought is plenty powerful.
if you have heavy 3d graphic needs (ie. gaming, expecially shooters) than i would recommend that you purchase a powerful graphics card as well, a gforce4 ti4200 would be a good budget choice.

anyhow, your processor will perform about equal or better (thus the 1900+) than a pentium 4 1900mhz processor. since intel sells the vast majority of processors (over 80% i believe) their pentium 4 is the standard by which everthing else is measured, expecially for the novice such as yourself.

megahertz is somewhat irrelevant in todays processors and other factors are becoming more relevant as processors increase in speed. try thinking of a processor as a big math calculator. the intel calculator can do 1 problem (calculation) per megahertz (speed). the AMD processor can calculate 1.5 or 1 1/2 problems per megahertz. thus calculation x speed = actual performance

it gets even more complicated. other factors have to be include also, so this math is not very exact. factors such as fontside bus speed, memory speeds and latency issues, chipset performance, casche size..... you can get the picture.

the best way to test overall performance is to judge with benchmarks.... take several programs (popular ones)from different groups (ie. 3d, audio, video, word processing, several from each group). then see how fast the processor runs them, the benchmarks will produce a score(number) based on performance. then average those (number) benchmarks together and get a (mean) or average performance of them all.

this is why i say do your research, becase if you know what benchmarks are most important to you (applications your will run most frequent), you can help to configure your system to perform best in those areas.

chances are, if you got an athlon, you will be ok. they tend to have good performance in a wider spectrum of programs. intel generally has 1 or 2 types of programs that run exceptionally fast on thier systems......

hope this clears things up a little...



athlon1gh@1.4gh avia
asus a7v133 w/raid
gforce3 ti 500@255core/570memory