Poll: AMD Thunderbird 1.2(200fsb) vs. the 1.2(266fsb)

[giambi77]

With both relativly low in price, and both about the same price, which is better? I have heard that the 200fsb one is better for overclocking, since you can raise the fsb instead of the multiplier. This cannot be done for the 266fsb one because it is already set higher. Compuwiz1 said that there is no need to go for the 266 type, but did he just say that because of the price?

Check out the POLL too

Any information would be helpful!

Thanks, -Jeff

 

[giambi77]

Anyone got ANY imput???

 

[IaPuP]

Well... it doesn't matter.

They're the same chip.
One of them has a default multiplier of 9x and the other has a default of 12x. In either case, you can do some FSB overclocking to around 1300 assuming you have a good KT133a board. If you get the 200Mhz version, you can pencil the L1 bridges and change the multiplier so that you can use it at 266MHz+, but be sure you don't have one of the boards mentioned in Anand's recent article about the KT133a "clocking issue" because that could complicate things. Basically KT7A and A7V133 are both good options.

Eric

 

[giambi77]

Ok, thanks! Right now i have a duron700 @ 900 on an ABIT KT7. I am looking to upgrade to a T-bird and an ABIT KT7a RAID.

 

[xtreme2k]

I would go for the cheaper 200fsb version due to these facts.

- nearly ALL Tbirds 1200 are unlocked so you can EASILY change the FSB/Muiltplier on the motherboard and make it 266Mhz.
- there are been no prove that the 266fsb are better at overclocking than the 200fsb version since they are basically the same chip.
- due to the fact that the chips are the same, there is no additional enhancment to the core with the 266Mhz FSB version.

 

[twong82]

get the 200fsb one because it is cheaper and like the others said there is no proof that the 266fsb one can overclock higher

 

[Philly C]

Uh I'd probably go with DDR motherboards and DDR RAM since you already have a KT133 chipset motherboard. Making the jump to KT133A ain't gonna get you drastic performance increases IMHO.

 

[LaRnZ1]

this is a question im not stating anything i heard that ddr is only about a 5-10 % increase in perfomance anyways if this is true imo its not worth the xtra bucks but im not sure where i heard it im prolly wrong .

anyone answer this?

 

[Philly C]

THen it's probably not worth spending money getting a KT133A chipset then if you think about it. Just get a T-Bird to upgrade your Duron. Besides, check out the homepage to see this article on how acheiving the 133FSB on KT133A chipsets is not 100% achievable.

 

[LaRnZ1]

umm from what ive seen and read it is 100% acheivable to the same speed as you defult.

ie 10 x 100 = a 1 gig chips defult but with the kt133a you change it to 7.5 x 133 to = 1 gig but with increased system performance.

 

[FluxCapacitor]

Get the 266MHz fsb chip!

Going along with what extreme2k said, if most 1200 TBirds are factory unlocked... and if 200 and 266MHz fsb chips are basically the "same" chip (according to him), get the 266MHz bus. Why? Well:

1) The problem mentioned by Anandtech in one of the recent articles (which IaPuP speaks of) relates to the bios of some motherboards initializing the CPU, upon bootup, at the DEFAULT muliplier of the chip. That means if you have a 1200MHz 100fsb TBird (12x100), that's unlocked, and you want to try and run it at 9x133 or something similar (to take advantage of the higher fsb), your motherboard is going to try to INITIALLY boot your system at 12x133 (12 being the default multiplier). This is only for about a second, before your current setting takes over.... but, will your system boot at 12x133=1600MHz even for a second? Chances are, no it won't.

2)"but be sure you don't have one of the boards mentioned in Anand's recent article about the KT133a "clocking issue" because that could complicate things. Basically KT7A and A7V133 are both good options."

You won't have to worry about this if your TBird's fsb is 266, because your default multiplier will be sufficiently low to allow bootup even with this limitation. Why limit yourself to certain motherboards if there's an easier way around it?

Guess that's all I have to say. Hope it made sense.

 

[xtreme2k]

I disagree if the price difference of the 266MHz and 200MHz is significant. Sure if the price difference is only $10, then yes go for the 266. However in where I am, 266Mhz cheaps are kinda rare and therefoer i recommend the 200 cheaps based on you knowing which motherboards will not overclock well.

But then I am willing to save the $10, knowing I got a motherboard that is either fully jumperless or fully jumpered, and use that $10 to get a much better fan.

 

[powaking]

I have the 1.2 266 chip. It is fully unlocked. As for the 266 bus issue. All you need to do is change the multiplier first, exit out of the bios. Shut down the machine. Move the jumper over and you're in like flynn.

Got my 1.2 running at 1400. I have hit a bus of 160. Anything more and it just won't boot into Windows. Gets past the post but not into windows (atleast up to 162, haven't tried higher). I normally run it in the 140's though. If I'm going to do some major fragging then I'll boost it to 150+.

 

[rockhard]

If u get a 100fsb chip its easy - just connect all the L1, L6 & L7 bridges.
This will make your chip boot at a default of 1.1 gig and uses a default voltage of 1.85v.
This will get u round the problem of the motherboards mentioned above.
I did this with my 1.2 gig (B) AVIA and have had no probelms whatsoever.
This will make your 1.2gig chip bootup for a second at 1.46gig, but due to the higher voltage will be able to make it into the bootup where the bios changes in multiplier etc you have set will take effect.