The Budget Shootout

tastyweat · Sep 19, 2004, 11:12 AM

"In a perfect world, computer hardware would be free to all who wanted it, and everyone of us would be running the high end system of our choice. The only thing that would hold us back from having the best of the best would be our own laziness (ohhh man...another newer/faster video card...but I JUST upgraded last week!). But let's face it, a perfect world this is not.

While there is still the enviable few who are always able to stay on the cutting edge of the hardware curve, most of us are limited by either our wallets or perhaps our wives' strong grip on our wallets. For those of us in these situations we are resigned to endlessly searching for that hidden gem of a component which will allow us to gain high end performance on a low end budget.

Without a doubt, the AMD Athlon 2500+ processor has been one of the best bang for the buck processors to come along perhaps since the old Celeron 300A. Many of the original Barton based chips can easily be bumped up to 3200+ speeds while running at stock voltage. Unfortunately after finding numerous instances of dealers unscrupulously selling 2500+ chips at 3200+ prices AMD was forced to lock the multiplier on most current Barton 2500+ chips."
__________
Hard Core Ware

Matth · Sep 19, 2004, 06:26 PM

A complete red herring on the locked multiplier issue - since the Barton 2500+ runs at 166 x 11, and the 3200+ is 200FSB x 11

The Sempron 2500+ at 166 x 10.5 - showed ZERO overclocking potential, giving up at 169 - a Tbred-B core should do better than that!

Sep 19, 2004, 11:12 AM	#1
tastyweat Lurking Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: The void Posts: 4,794 Rep Power: 75 System Specs	The Budget Shootout "In a perfect world, computer hardware would be free to all who wanted it, and everyone of us would be running the high end system of our choice. The only thing that would hold us back from having the best of the best would be our own laziness (ohhh man...another newer/faster video card...but I JUST upgraded last week!). But let's face it, a perfect world this is not. While there is still the enviable few who are always able to stay on the cutting edge of the hardware curve, most of us are limited by either our wallets or perhaps our wives' strong grip on our wallets. For those of us in these situations we are resigned to endlessly searching for that hidden gem of a component which will allow us to gain high end performance on a low end budget. Without a doubt, the AMD Athlon 2500+ processor has been one of the best bang for the buck processors to come along perhaps since the old Celeron 300A. Many of the original Barton based chips can easily be bumped up to 3200+ speeds while running at stock voltage. Unfortunately after finding numerous instances of dealers unscrupulously selling 2500+ chips at 3200+ prices AMD was forced to lock the multiplier on most current Barton 2500+ chips." __________ Hard Core Ware __________________

Sep 19, 2004, 06:26 PM	#2
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	A complete red herring on the locked multiplier issue - since the Barton 2500+ runs at 166 x 11, and the 3200+ is 200FSB x 11 The Sempron 2500+ at 166 x 10.5 - showed ZERO overclocking potential, giving up at 169 - a Tbred-B core should do better than that!