AMD Releases Barton: Athlon 3000+

Harle writes "Today AMD has introduced a new version of the Athlon, codenamed "Barton," that features twice as much L2 cache as previous chips. Along with the increase in L2 cache comes an increase in the Athlon's performance rating -- specifically the new 2.17 GHz chip is rated at 3000+. The clockrate is actually slighly lower than the Athlon XP 2800+'s 2.25 GHz speed, so the question becomes "Does the cache improve performance enough to counter the loss in clockspeed?" For the most part, the answer seems to be "yes," however, it doesn't unilaterally stand up to the 3.06 GHz Pentium 4. With the recent delay of the Athlon 64 to September, this is AMD's top desktop chip for some time to come. The reviews are starting to pop up at Ace's Hardware and Extremetech." There's also reviews on The Tech Report, SimHQ, HotHardware, EarthV, in Norwegian on Hardware.no, and last but not least AMD's press release. I'm sure there's many many more links, but I'm tired of pasting them all in here, so post 'em below. *grin*

Comments

640 kb on die cache

[fobef]

"This exclusive 512 KB L2-cache works together with the 128 KB L1-cache (64 KB data, 64 KB instruction) to form one impressive 640 KB on-die cache."

Am I the only one who can see Bill Gates drooling over this?

Re:640 kb on die cache

[Skinny Rav]

I think that's what he meant in first place. "640 kB of cache should be enough for everyone!"

Raf

Re:640 kb on die cache

[Fig, formerly A.C.]

How many frames per second do you really need to play "Command Prompt", anyway? *rolls eyes*

Fast!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it's fast. Gigaherz, sure sounds fast.
GIIIIGGGGAAAAAHHHEEEEEEERTTTTZZZZZZ, cool.

Needs more penis though.
2.7GhzPenis now that's fast!

Thx.

Aussie Athlon?

[CountZero007]

Yay, a processor code-named after our first Prime Minister :)

I'm never buying a 'Keating' or 'Howard' though...

Re:Aussie Athlon?

[cabraverde]

Just be glad you're not in the UK. No Brit in their right mind would buy a Prescott - unreliable, bloated, and generates hot air like nothing you've ever seen.

Intel should really do their market research outside of the USA, too.

Re:Mixing the cards... no wait: dough

[CountZero007]

"Thoroughbread"?

mmm, freshly baked Athlon

Comparing to the P4 3.06...

[Junior J. Junior III]

however, it doesn't unilaterally stand up to the 3.06 GHz Pentium 4.

Well, of course not... if it did, they'd be calling it the Athlon XP 3060, wouldn't they? ;)

How can you keep up with this crap?

[MasterOfDisaster]

I just bought a 2000+, and I thought I was cool. Looks like I'll have to upgrade again. Can anyone lend me some LOX to cool this thing down?

Re:Mixing the cards... no wait: dough

[TheOrquithVagrant]

> mmm, freshly baked Athlon

I baked an Athlon MP last spring. I can assure you the reaction to the smell is not "mmmm...."

Oh wait. Actually, I guess that was because I _fried_ it. Oh yea. Thats it.

In any case, it was the most _expensive_ bad smell I've ever smelled. :)

great scott!

[siliconwafer]

Finally a chip that can generate the 1.21 gigawatts (pronounced jigawatts) needed to replace the flux capacitor!

Obviously you haven't played SimCity 4

[Anonymous Coward]

otherwise you'd realize that a P4 3.06 oc'd to 4.4GHz and at least 2GB of RAM are a minimum!

Re:640kb on die cache

[TeknoHog]

That amount of cache should be enough for everyone!

On another geeky note, I wonder if you could somehow use this without any external RAM to run DOS...

Re:Anandtech link

[zerocool^]

I can't wait until

Tom's hardware comes out with

A review so that I can swing

By that website and check out all

the new ads they have and see

How many pages they've broken the

review up into. I bet it's like

12.