Question on AMD CPUs

[ChrisOjeda]

I wanted to upgrade my Asus A7N66-E to the fastest possible cpu. According to Asus, the fastest I can run is the Athlon XP 2400+. Though when I look at Athlon XP 2400+ I can use eitehr a thorton or thoroughbred. I just don't know what the difference is between these two cpus (even though they are rated the same). Can somebody please shed light on this....

Thanks... Chris

 

[Vette73]

You should be able to use a Mobile 2600 Barton.

Your board only support the 133Mhz FSB so you can use any 133Mhz FSB Athlon. Change the multiplier and you can also go higher on the Mhz then you could with a stock chip/

 

[Corsairpro]

in terms of your Tbred Thorton question:

The TBred is an Athlon XP with 256k L2 cache
the Thorton is an Athlon XP with 512k L2 cache HOWEVER, 256k is disabled giving you realistically 256k of L2 cache (just like the tbred)

basically AMD only makes the bartons (512k L2 cache) now and if some cache fails, they disable half and rebrand it a thorton

 

[myocardia]

The only real difference between the two chips is that the Thorton is a castrated Barton (it has half of it's L2 cache disabled). Both run at exactly the same speed and have exactly the same amount of L1 and L2 cache, the Thorton just has the same size die as a Barton. Both are going to perform the same in your old motherboard.

 

[ChrisOjeda]

Thanks to everyone for your help

Have a wonderful weekend!

Chris

 

[mechBgon]

Functionally, there's no difference between the Thornton 2400+ and the Thoroughbred 2400+. From Asus's CPU-support page, it appears you need PCB revision 1.02 and the 1003 BIOS to use a Thoroughbred, or the 1005.003 BIOS to use a Thornton.

 

[PCTweaker5]

You mean Thorton.