Barton core and the thoroughbred what are the differences??

[webe3]

OK, I have a AMD Athlon XP 2000 processor (Thoroughbred core) but I am thinking of getting a new Asus A7N8X Deluxe MB and a new processor now that I am getting a decent video card! (ordered a new fx 5600 256 mb) So....I have heard from a lot of you that the barton core is the way to go.....is it? I can get a 2600 or 2800 for a resonable price now that the bartons are out, but I am thinking of getting a 2500 because it has the new core. In laymans terms can you explain the differences between the two? By that I mean, how would a barton as opposed to a thoroughbred core chip perform on games, apps and such?? What are the differences in performance?? I am not really talking about the SPEED of the processor, because they come in all sizes. Rather I am interested in how the processors perform according to their cores! Do you prefer one over the other? If so...Why??

[Wiggo]

The Thoroughbred has a 256KB L2 cache while the Barton has a 512KB L2 cache but a lower clock speed.

[chile]

and the bartons are 333MHz and 400MHz FSB. there aren't any 266 FSB bartons...but there are 333MHz FSB tbred b's.

[Rage]

The difference between the Barton and Tbred? The extra cache, thats it.

Take a look at these die shots:



The first is a Tbred core, note the two blocks at the bottom. Thats lvl2 cache. The 2nd pic is of a Barton core note the only difference is the extra cache.

Performance wise, the extra cache does almost nothing for the Athlon. IMHO its not worth the cost. Grab a cheap 2200+ Tbred for ~$130AU or a 2400+ Tbred for ~$150AU and overclock it, the extra mhz will do far more for performance than the cache will.

Cheers,
Tom.

[Chaos]

Rage.....why won't the extra cache effect the speed of the Athlon. I am rather curious.

[Woody_87th]

I see talk about the extra cache being useless on the Athlons but I disagree. In gaming benchmarks the extra cache shows up. Results will vary from application to application.

If nothing else that extra cache makes a larger footprint on your heatsink to transfer heat away from the CPU! ;)

I firmly believe that the 2500+ combined with an NForce2 mobo is the best value on the market today for an overclocker who is interested in building a gaming system. Of course that is just my opinion.