TBird 1.2GHz: 200 vs. 266 MHz: Is there a real difference?

[paulcs]

Other than the price.

I've done a general upgrade of several of my systems recently. Almost everything is a bargain these days. RAM is practically free. The KT133A chipset costs about the same as the KT133 and is a great performer. Incredibly fast CPU's can be gotten for under $250.00.

I bought a 1.2 GHz Athlon-B (200 MHz FSB) a few weeks ago. The L1 bridges are in intact, and it runs happily at either 200 or 266 MHz. The motherboard it sits on, an Abit KT7A, doesn't appear to care about the FSB speeds. It toggles between 1200 MHz at 200 or 266 without the user having to manually adjust the multiplier.

I bought a 266 MHz FSB Athon-C this week. Again, the L1 Bridges appear to be intact, and I get the feeling that if I were to install it on the Abit board, it would handle clock speeds and multipliers in much the same way as the 200 MHz FSB TBird.

Review sites, of course cite the differences as the 200 MHz "B" chip runs on a 200 MHz FSB, while the 266 MHz "C" chip runs at 266 MHz. (I bet they all had to call MIT's engineering department to get that explanation.) Well, its certainly accurate. In fact, it displays a remarkably firm grasp of the obvious. But it doesn't address my question: with the L1 bridges intact, and this appears to be the norm with the 1.2 GHz CPU, is there a difference between the "B" and "C" chips?

By the way, I specifically ordered a blue core Athlon this time around. It's so pretty, I can barely bring myself to install it.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 15 March 2001).]

[Topha]

i think the "C" (266) is a little bit faster than the "B", especially if it runs with ddram. im not quite sure though. I just ordered one for my dad today, both were the same price.
from what i understand the difference will only be really seen when the right mobos come out and are equipped with the same ram, its all just speculation and repeating things im not quite sure i understood though

[Wombat]

I don't think there's a difference between the B & C manufacture, but there may be some chips that can only be run at 200MHz speed. After all, the transistors that interface with the pins are unique, and not like the rest of the chip.

Check this out though:
http://www.overclockers.com/tips378/

[paulcs]

Topha, yes, but the Athlon-B is a bit faster (than itself! ) at 9x133 than it is at 12x100. I've tested this.

My question still stands.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 14 March 2001).]

[Greebe]

and they say BSE and foot & mouth desease doesn't transfer to humans!

Proof I tell ya PROOF!
HA HA HA HA

[Greebe]

You increased the bandwidth available to the cpu. Hence an increase in proformance. More evidence that we need higher operating bus speeds than are typical of todays systems.

[Topha]

hey greebe, whats that supposed to mean??

as for the 200fsb being faster, i think it is better for overclocking, the C is best for people who dont like fiddling with their cpu settings (like my dad ).
i think you can get the b up to 1400 mhz without problems, just by using the fsp. (dang, i want one of those...)
as i said, no real experience, just read it somewhere.

greebe: the only beef i ate for the last couple of years was in tennessee and california, so if i have bse, many americans will have it as well (evil grin)

[paulcs]

Wombat, hmmmm.

There does not seem to be different coding on that second line for the 133/266Mhz chips as opposed to the 100/200Mhz chips (the indicator as to whether it's a 100/200 or 133/266 is found at the end of the first line of code on the processor).

As the article points out, the differences in the first line could be just an identifier. Packaging. It could be meaningless as far as engineering goes.

Given that the "C" chips are a bit more expensive than the "B" chips, and AMD didn't bother to severe the L1 bridges on a lot of these CPU's, I could see the potential for cheating on the part of system vendors.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[paulcs]

In one of the reviews I mentioned, where the reviewer points out that the 200 MHz chip runs at 200 MHz and the 266 MHz chip runs at 266 MHz (thank you Dr. Science!!), he also mentions that he didn't bother to do the pencil trick to connect the L1 bridges, and, as a result, didn't screw with the mulitplier.

I looked at the picture of his CPU, and the L1 bridges appear to be intact! Although everyone in the online hardware community may know about the pencil trick, does everyone know that you don't have to unlock an unlocked CPU?

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 14 March 2001).]

[Toecutter]

Intel user here Paulcs...your first post made me laugh...more way than one...

just some feedback...

[EchoWars]

Take it from someone who has spent a lot of time in Fab's...the only difference between the 200MHz FSB slugs and the 266MHz ones is that the latter has been tested and 'certified' to cruise at that speed.

On my T-Bird 1100@100, I saw no reason not to unlock it and have complete freedom of adjustment (ahhh, just like the old days...) Running it at 1200 via 9x133. I may finally quit screwing with my system for a while

Yep, there's a difference. Run a memory bench. Or just play. It'll come to ya...

[CHHAS]

Some of the other bridges, can't remember which, controls the FSB requested from the motherboard, this will be different on a B and a C Athlon.

[SCompRacer]

I have been running my 900 at 133/33/7.5 for 1000 since I got my KT7A. My 900 will only go 1064 reliably though.

I got my 900 in December, came unlocked. Many report same with theirs lately.

------------------
ABIT KT7A, Two RAID 0's * 900MHz Athlon T'bird, 133/33 @ 7.5 for 1000 * 256MB Crucial 7E PC/133 RAM * Four IBM 75GXP's * The Rest

[This message has been edited by SCompRacer (edited 15 March 2001).]

[RAB]

But is there a difference in how high you can run the FSB between the two. If the 266 version is "certified" to run at 266 (or 133), will it go to 140 more reliably than the same speed grade 200 version?

I'm about ready to build a 1.2 gig system and was wondering the same thing.

RAB

[Wombat]

RAB,
Probably not. I'm going to speculate that the only difference between the B's and C's is that the C's have definitely undergone testing at 266MHz. I bet that many/most B's have as well, but AMD is just filling the market like they do with the various speed grades.