|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Athlon XP 2000+
The Athlon XP 2000+ is based on the Palomino core that was first introduced in June 2000. Like the entire family of XP processors the 2000+ features an organic based package that will become very useful when AMD eventually scales down to a 0.13-micron process. The 2000+ has a clock speed of 1.67GHz with a 12.5x clock multiplier running at 133MHz. Many older motherboards don't properly implement this clock multiplier so you need to make sure your BIOS is current in order to work properly with the XP processor. The CPU still runs at a 1.750V core voltage. The rest of the specs of the processor remain unchanged from all of the other members of the Athlon XP line. Pentium 4 2.0GHz
The most important features of the Pentium 4's architecture are most notably its 3.2 GB/s quad-pumped 400MHz Front Side Bus, its Instruction Trace Cache, the Rapid Execution Engine and the SSE2-Instruction Engine. Each of those new features requires wisely optimized software to give Pentium 4 any real advantage. The new Northwood Intel Pentium 4 processor comes equipped with 512KB L2 cache on a .13-micron die and has a clock speed of 1997MHz with a 20X multiplier. This process is designed for high-performance desktops and entry-level workstations. It is binary compatible with previous Intel Architecture processors and runs at 1.5V offering much lower heat and better overclocking ability than previous Intel chips. The Pentium 4 CPU has some characteristics all its own as does the AMD XP so we will look at some of those differences. The Pentium 4 supports MMX, SSE and SSE 2 and the Athlon supports MMX, MMX+, SSE, 3Dnow and 3Dnow+ which shows the AMD CPU on paper to have more features than the Intel chip. 3Dnow was AMD's equivalent to MMX and is taken advantage of by many software products available today just like MMX. The newer SSE 2, MMX+ and 3Dnow+ have yet to see many programs that take advantage of these features yet so only time will tell how they actually improve performance ratios when implemented into the software code.
There are a few things you should consider when choosing your CPU as AMD CPU's usually require a little more technical knowledge to work with and are much easier to accidentally destroy than the Intel CPU. The reason for this is the core or bit of the CPU is much more exposed than on the Intel product and also demands a higher amount of pressure to be put on the chip by the cooling fan during installation. This is something which sometimes results in a pushed in and broken bit by the user when installing their cooling solution. Another rather trick point about the AMD CPU is that without a working cooling solution your chip will fry in minutes and I mean that literally. The Pentium 4 on the other hand takes a much longer time to burn up due to its much cooler running temperatures. The good things about the AMD CPU's are their abilities to be physically altered as seen on www.motherboards.org and www.tomshardware.com and their lower market price. This is what has caught the attention of enthusiasts who want to be the mad scientist at home and get the most out of their CPU without going bankrupt. Pentium CPU's on the other hand are locked at the factory and they have no way to alter them that have been found yet and they carry a higher price tag. They are also more compatible across the board and that keeps them in favor with the OEM market. AMD has recently been the more focused on CPU for the hobbyist though because when they do run good they run fast. Overclocking is a trick I personally specialize in and can be achieved by changing the FSB, Clock multiplier and both CPU and memory voltage to achieve higher performance from your CPU. Intel CPU's work well with FSB overclocking due to their locked clock multiplier while the AMD CPU can be altered to change clock settings as well as the FSB allowing for a multitude of options for the overclocker. There are other technical differences about them but that would be another article altogether so I just stuck to their basic street known appeals. Having said that let us move forward to the testing phase and see how the two titans compare with real world testing. 
|
|
|||||||||||||||
