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Building and Upgrading Guide Part I: The CPU
by By Alan Lynn—NOCCC, , edbytes@bigfoot.com - June 02, 2001 at 15:27:22:
Building or upgrading a computer can be a complex task. There are many decisions to make when choosing components.All computers are a compromise. You decide what you need, and then you find what you want. These are not always the same thing. Some factors to weigh are: price, performance, upgradeability and reliability. The list could be longer, but why complicate an already complex subject.
High performance costs money, but spending a lot of money does not mean you get the most performance. You should make out a Price/Performance guide to determine the combination that suits you. Then there are still reliability and upgradeability to think about.
There are (mostly) two CPU manufacturers, Intel and AMD. There are religious wars fought over which is best. Intel is the biggest, but AMD is very compet-itive. No one makes a perfect CPU. If you are working in business, doing the upgrading or buying for a company, you may be reminded of an old slogan “No one ever got fired for buying IBM.” For many years, IBM had a stranglehold on business, from typewriters and calculators to mainframes. When the PC became prevalent in business, the safe decision was to buy IBM. This was not because they were the best, nor the cheapest, but because you could not be faulted for keeping the “suits” happy with a familiar name.
In business today Intel is the safe name almost all business PCs run Intel. In personal buying, many people go with the biggest name and this is not necessarily wrong. Intel makes a fine product and you can count on Intel being supported by vendors of hardware and software. If a product works, it will work with an Intel processor.
On the other hand, AMD is often a better Price/Performance value. For years, the best prices were with AMD processors. In the past, you sacrificed some performance, which you may or may not have needed, for a large price difference. Things have changed; AMD was first to the 1 GHZ mark with its Athlon chip. The new Thunderbird is equal to or better than anything that Intel produces.
Let us take a look at which CPUs are available, find out a little about them and then compare them with each other.
500 MHZ: The only chips in the 500 range are the AMD K6-2 500 and 550. These have a 100 MHZ FSB (Front Side Bus), the speed of the motherboard/chip interface. Sometimes it is also the speed of the memory used by the system. The K6-2 uses the “Super 7” socket 7 motherboard. This usually an AT or hybrid AT/ATX board.
AMD is no longer manufacturing this chip When supplies run out, the chip will be gone. There are also only a few motherboard manufacturers. For an upgrade, this is still a viable alternative. If you have a motherboard that will run at 100 Mhz, uses PC 100 DIMMs, and is socket 7 then this is the chip that will take your system as far as it will go. This should probably not be considered for a new system. Prices are not that much lower than newer systems, and there is no upgrade from here. Price/Performance has been good and reliability is good, but it is a dead end.
Speed Maker Price
500 K6-2 $42
550 K6-2 $47
600 MHZ: This range is filled with the bottom end of the Intel line, Celerons and Pentium IIIs. If you are upgrading, you have to know if you have a “Slot” or a “Socket.” The Pentium II, the first Celerons and the first Pentium IIIs had a circuit board, which contained the CPU and the L2 (level 2) cache. The Celeron Mendocino has an on die (built in) L2 cache and uses a new socket. The “370,” the Celeron is limited, to a 66 Mhz FSB. Many new Intel CPUs use the socket 370, but there is a “slotket” which fits a socket CPU into a slot. For upgrades, this is an option. Check your motherboard specifications for what you can do. For a new system, there is no advantage to using any of these chips.
Speed Maker Price
600 Celeron OEM $55
600 Celeron Retail $66
633 Celeron OEM $62
633 Celeron Retail $71
650 PIII E FC PGA OEM $127
667 Celeron OEM $64
667 PIII EB FC PGA OEM $106
700 MHZ: The bargain basement, the CPUs available here are the same ones available up through 900 Mhz, except for the Thunderbird. The difference is price and speed. The Celeron tops out (at this time) at 766 Mhz. There may be a new, faster, Celeron in the future with a 100 Mhz FSB. A new chip in this range is called the “Duron.” This is a socketed Athlon derivative; it has all the advantages of an Athlon, plus an on die L2 cache of 64 KB at full CPU speed. It runs a 200 Mhz DDR FSB and can use either PC 100 or DDR (Double Data Rate) memory. The Duron is close to the PIII in performance. In the PIII E is 256 KB Full CPU speed L2 Cache; B is 133 Mhz FSB. FC is Flip Chip, the CPU is exposed above the ceramic, and PGA is Pin Grid Array socketed. In the over all price of a system there are not many advantages to starting this low. The only price difference is the price of the CPU.
Speed Maker Price
700 Duron 200 FSB $43
700 Celeron OEM $68
700 Celeron Retail $81
700 PIII E FC PGA OEM $115
733 Celeron OEM $71
733 Celeron Retail $85
733 PIII EB FC PGA OEM $105
733 PIII EB FC PGA Retail $121
750 Duron 200 FSB $42
750 PIII E FC PGA OEM $109
766 Celeron OEM $76
766 Celeron Retail $88
800 MHZ: These systems are capable of doing just about anything but the most demanding tasks. Beyond this point, you have to make a major jump, to over a Gigahertz, to see any real difference. This range brings us to the Thunderbird, a socketed Athlon derivative with a 256 KB on die L2 cache at full CPU speed. The Thunderbird has a 200 or a 266 Mhz DDR FSB. This a good place for a first system.
Speed Maker Price
800 Duron 200 FSB $56
800 PIII E FC PGA OEM $150
800 PIII E FC PGA Retail $171
800 PIII EB FC PGA OEM $161
800 PIII EB FC PGA Retail $175
850 Duron 200 FSB $66
850 T-Bird 200 FSB $91
866 PIII EB FC PGA OEM $166
866 PIII EB FC PGA Retail $176
900 MHZ: You pay a little more money and get a little more performance. The price differences between this range and the slower ranges are decreasing rapidly and most other costs are the same. Good Price/Performance in this area. 900 Mhz is the top of the Duron at this time.
Speed Maker Price
900 Duron 200 FSB $77
900 T-Bird 200 FSB $106
933 PIII EB FC PGA OEM $176
933 PIII EB FC PGA Retail $203
950 T-Bird 200 FSB $147
1 GIGAHERTZ: This range brings us to the new flagship of the Intel line, the Pentium 4. The Pentium 4 uses RamBus, a new type of memory, and starts at 1.3 Ghz, new, higher, speeds are coming. The Thunderbird now has both the 200 Mhz FSB and the 266 Mhz FSB. The Thunderbird currently tops out at 1.33 Ghz. These two chips are closely matched. Practically speaking this is the top of the Pentium III; beyond 1 Ghz it gets expensive and rare.
Speed Maker Price
1000 PIII EB FC PGA OEM $215
1000 PIII EB FC PGA Retail $236
1000 T-Bird 200 FSB $136
1000 T-Bird 266 FSB $139
1100 T-Bird 200 FSB $148
1200 T-Bird 200 FSB $157
1200 T-Bird 266 FSB $160
1300 P4/256MB Retail $279
1300 T-Bird 200 FSB $176
1330 T-Bird 266 FSB $234
1400 P4/256MB Retail $299
1500 P4/256MB Retail $365
Do not get too caught up in the megahertz wars, there is more to know than a chips’ speed. A 700 Celeron is not equal to a Pentium III 700 or a Duron 700. Look at the front side bus, the memory speed, and the motherboard before making a decision.
To recap:
1) What do you need?
2) What do you want?
3) How much can you afford?
4) Is it upgradeable?
5) Is it dependable?
Remember, this is just the first component. The CPU is part of a team. Your decision affects your entire machine. You must match the motherboard and the memory to your CPU. After that you have other decisions to make.
Above all else have fun; this can be an adventure. You learn and you end up with a great computer. Good luck, more next time.
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