|
Conclusion
Overclocking
AMD has been been working in this area. The L1 bridges are now done in
such a way as to make it harder to "unlock" a locked CPU. A
pencil will no longer work. It is still possible to overclock these CPU's,
if the user wishes to spend the extra time connecting these bridges.
So What's in store if you buy one?
This chip stays cooler and performs like a champ. When compared to
the Thunderbird, this new chip "feels" much faster during game
play. I am very happy with mine, and I am sure that you will be too. Main
boards that take this new CPU are: Asus A7V266, Asus A7A266, Asus A7M266,
and MSI K7T266 Pro-Ru, plus many others, that I have not tested.
Pricing
The XP is priced higher than the older Thunderbird, but not too high.
The XP1800 was priced at $210 (10-18-2001) from pricewatch.com.
Pros
More power per megaherz
Cooler running
Cons
Harder to overclock
Final Thoughts
AMD's attempt to educate the public with the use of the "XP"
rating seems almost like the PR ratings from Cyrix, with one major difference;
Cyrix overstated their rating, while AMD has been understating it. The
extreme performance produced by this little CPU is nothing short of amazing.
This is a very fast CPU that really deserves a good stretching of it's
legs by the public.
By Daniel L. Berry
Copyright 2001
|
