2200+ Thoroughbread or 2500+ Barton

[Nemeliza]

2200+ Thoroughbread or 2500+ Barton

Which on would you have and why?

[Austin]

Barton EASILY. It's MUCH faster than the XP2200+ because of 333FSB and 512k L2. Not only that but it is a MUCH better o/c'er since AFAIK all current XP2200+ use the TbredA core (tops out around 1.9ghz) ... Thorton should replace those soon though. Now if you'd said TbredB XP1700+ to XP2000+ it would have been a much harder decision as they o/c as well or better than Barton and are roughly half the price ... you don't get a nice 'XP rating' applied and obviously lack the 5%ish boost 512k L2 bring.

[dpm]

Originally posted by Austin
Barton EASILY. It's MUCH faster than the XP2200+ because of 333FSB and 512k L2. Not only that but it is a MUCH better o/c'er since AFAIK all current XP2200+ use the TbredA core (tops out around 1.9ghz) ... Thorton should replace those soon though. Now if you'd said TbredB XP1700+ to XP2000+ it would have been a much harder decision as they o/c as well or better than Barton and are roughly half the price ... you don't get a nice 'XP rating' applied and obviously lack the 5%ish boost 512k L2 bring.

I'm pretty sure that all XP2200s are using Tbred B cores now, since mine is, and I bought it months ago.

Also, if you buy a Barton 2500 now you'll be very lucky if you get one that overclocks - recent ones all seem to be locked

[Austin]

That's good news if AMD did eventually impliment TbredB on XP2200+. However the stock multiplier is 13.5x so it may very well appear locked (or quirky) on almost all mobos. It seems AMD plan to replace TbredB (certainly 2000+, 2200+ & 2400+) with Thorton so they will be superlocked very soon just like Barton are becoming superlocked (if Thorton replacing TbredB is true). I'd still say XP2500+ is better, the stock 11x multiplier is still fine even if it is (super)locked. 400FSB mobos are common (cheap nForce2 are £37) and that's all you really need to get great o/c's (liek XP3200+). Having a CPU superlocked is limiting but should not prevent many people from still achieving good (if not great) o/c's.

[Nemeliza]

i have a thoroughbread 2200+ already which iv clocked to 2GHz, i have the opportunity to trade it in for a barton for an extra £12 or so, just wanted to know if it was worth it.

[Austin]

IMHO definitely, esp if you may have a TbredA. Barton should easily hit 2.1ghz with 2.3ghz+ not being out of the question esp with a little added voltage. Hopefully your RAM and mobo won't limit its o/c'ability.