AMD doesn't make a 3G CPU?

[Morania]

Am I doing my surfing correctly or does AMD not have a 3G processor?

I've been wanting to upgrade my machine from a 2G to a 3. I thought by now there would be a mobo combo for me to do this using AMD stuff. I'll go Intel but AMD is usually plenty of bang for the buck.

[efc]

I have owned many computers over the past 23 years. When I say many, the number would be more than 20 - maybe as many as 30. Of those, only one contained an Intel processor. The reason is simple. Over that entire time, AMD has provided the best performance for the money.

From time to time, Intel has produced the latest, fastest cpu. AMD follows quickly with one that performs much better and at a lower price. The irony is that AMD cpu's often perform better than the Intel with a slower clock speed.

Clock speed was once the only way to judge a cpu. That is no longer the case. Here is part of an article from PC World. concerning clock speed.

LINK (http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1641589960;pp;2;taxid;115#clockcyclespeed)

The same article in its entirety

LINK (http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1641589960;pp;1;taxid;115#whatisacpu)

Opinion
I believe you will get excellent performance from the latest Intel or AMD cpu. The small improvement you may gain with one brand over another is always temporary and chasing the latest and best is very expensive. Staying one generation back provides great speeds and saves a lot of money.

[phishhead]

go for the amd 64 3200-3500 and you will be amazingly impressed. like efc said that the cpu clock speed is not the determining factor anymore.

[Morania]

is my usual strategy. It has saved me tons on video cards over the years.
I honestly figured that 3G was behind the latest greatest.

I would really like to stick with my AMD. I have had them in all my gaming machines and done very well. I've glossed over articles about the 2.5 outperforming the Intel chips of faster speed. That's another guideline I was after- the one that said to upgrade a full 50 percent up so that you don't keep dribbling money into tiny, un-noticeable differences.

I have an AMD Athlon 2G with a big Nvidia card and a gig of memory. I'm thinking that some kind of upgrade will be necessary witht eh new generation of games that are out now. I'm installing Quake 4 next week. That will tell on my system. I think I'll be fine except for the buss speeds.

[zipp51]

If you list your Motherboard brand and version,it would help in determining what the maximum proccessor is for that board.I am assumming that your AMD 2G proccessor is the AMD XP 2000+ running at 1.67 GHZ and bus speed of 266MHZ?If your board supports 333MHZ bus speed then there is an AMD Sempron or Barton 3000+ chip that will work for you as well as a XP 3200+ 333MHZ version.If your board supports 400MHZ FSB,then I believe the XP 3200+ Barton which runs 2.2MHZ core clock speed is the fastest.:D

Note;The Sempron socket A has taken the place of the discontinued XP models.:D

[Morania]

the old Soyo Dragon 400. Good board but I don't think it has the busses I'd like. I have thought about "go with what ya know" and get the Dragon 800 and then max my CPU to it. THey have great AGP drivers that help my video cards out. Inexpensive and kinda powerful. Main thing......dependable.
I should get a side by side chart of all the CPU's we're talking about and see what my opponents are killing me on too.

[efc]

Since you are considering an new motherboard, consider this combo. LINK (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1600049&sku=MBM-KU8-3700)