AMD Processor core

[Bill2003]

I am going to buy an AMD Athlon XP 2100+, and I noticed I have a choice of the Thoroughbred .13 micron or the Palominto .18 micron.

I would like to hear some opinions about which I should buy. The price seems about the same.

While on the subject, I will probably buy the retail boxed version for the warranty, even though I know there are better fans & heatsinks available. I would like come comments about this.

Bill

[tony_j15]

WELCOME TO SYSOPT!

You want to get the tbred .13 core.

If you dont plan to overclock the cpu, the heatsink that comes with it will do fine. Otherwise, get a new one.

[Recordlord]

Just to reassure you Tbred .13 micron. Why? lower power consumption, the resistors are closer together and on Newegg they are cheaper.

[x51out]

I'd say it depends on the motherboard and the bios. The bios must be able to recognize the T-Bred and a bios update should do it and the bios must also have multipliers up to at least 13 or 14 ... unless you have a new-model mobo, then all that will have been taken care of. In that case: T-Bred, but the Palomino is nice too, even if it is a little older and can't scale as high. But since you're going XP2100+, T-Bred. And I think you'll be alright with the stock heatsink... unless you start overclocking.

[Bill2003]

The Motherboard I am considering is a Gigabyte GA-7VAX, VIA KT400 chipset 8X AGP ATX, which cost $87 from newegg.com. The Athlon 2100XL+ Thoroughbred processor in a retail box is $102, and these prices include shipping. I have a new 80gb WD 7200 RPM HD, and just I bought 256mb of PC2700 Kingston DDR, now I am anxious to get the rest.

I know for $110 I can get Gigabyte GA-7VAXP, with RAID and for $130, Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Ultra with even more features, but it seems like the Gigabyte GA-7VAX, will meet my needs.

From what I have read, this is a pretty stable MB.

I will appreciate any comments about this MB.

Bill

[x51out]

Sure, it should suffice. But if I were to buy a motherboard today (and I will be very soon... I'm still on a Shuttle Ak31v2.0, that's KT266, baby), it would most likely be an nForce2 mobo, and also at least TWO sticks of 512mb PC2700. But even the KT333 to KT400 difference is really only in price, and a KT333 solution mite be more suitable?