A New Kind Of Fast: AMD Athlon XP 2200+

Confusion: Differentiating Between Thoroughbred & Palomino

The confusion is to be expected: there are two different processors covered by a single product name. Take the Athlon XP 1700+, for example, which is available with the Palomino core as well as the newer Thoroughbred core. The performance, however, is the same. The only significant difference that can be discerned is with the heat dissipation - which is, in any case, a difference of 22.8% at maximum performance. It would be helpful to add some sort of marker in the product names for distinguishing new Athlon XP models (0.13-µm) from the older ones. Visually, the two different types of CPU are easy to differentiate:

The Thoroughbred has a CPU core in rectangular form, while the older Palomino has almost a square CPU die. Some further characteristics are that the resistances are placed on the top side of the CPU, and the model name of the processor is found on the OPGA casing.

Price Comparison: AMD Athlon XP Vs. Intel Pentium 4