PC Adventures: FAQs

QUESTION:	WHY DOES THE ATHLON XP 2000+ RUN AT 1.667 GIGAHERTZ?
ANSWER:	AMD processors are not relying on brute MHz/GHz for performance. Intel lowered their calculations per cycle in order to increase the clock speed. Thus, the XP2000+ running at 1.667GHz has about the same overall calculation capability as the Intel 2GHz offering. If you look at the naming convention AMD has adopted, the XP processors all have a lower clock speed than the processors their names indicate they are competing against. AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (runs at 1.67GHz) vs. the Intel Pentium 4 2.0GHz AMD Athlon XP 1900+ (runs at 1.60GHz) vs. the Intel Pentium 4 1.9GHz AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (runs at 1.53GHz) vs. the Intel Pentium 4 1.8GHz AMD Athlon XP 1700+ (runs at 1.47GHz) vs. the Intel Pentium 4 1.7GHz AMD Athlon XP 1600+ (runs at 1.40GHz) vs. the Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz So far our tests have indicated that the AMD processors not only equal their higher GHz'd competition, but often exceed it ... by a substantial margin. Our synthetic and FPS tests on the XP1900+ indicated that not only did the XP1900+ exceed the 1.9 GHz competition, but the 2GHz competition as well. And at a lower price to boot. To get a long time Intel devotee to admit that they are taken with an AMD processor is one of those nearly impossible feats. AMD has demonstrated consistency and growth with a determination to give the CPU king a serious run for their money. Dollar for dollar, the AMD processor is a better performer. AMD has broken out of the mold and proven that MHz/GHz is not all that one need consider when looking for serious performance. But this will not be the last battle. Intel has just release their .13 micron technology P4's and have upped the speed to 2.2GHz. AMD is about 6 months out before they release their .13 micron CPU named "Thoroughbred" to compete directly with this new threat. For high end, hard core simming, and for value, the AMD XP2000+ is one of the most viable solutions and should be seriously considered. When looking for that upgrade, look at the new ASUS A7V266-E motherboard as well. This combination allows the power of the XP to reach its full potential. While the prices for Intel processors has steadily dropped, there is still enough of a difference between the chips prices as well as when one considers the RDRAM premium in order for the P4's to stay competitive, to make the AMD appealing. Less cash, better performance. (Adapted from simhq.com)
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QUESTION:	WHAT IS THE POWER SUPPLY REQUIREMENTS FOR A ATHLON PROCESSOR?
ANSWER:	General rule of thumb, a 300 watt powersupply or higher is recommended. However, a "strong" 250 watt will do better than a "weak" or "cheap" 300 watt power supply. Check to make sure your power supply is recommended for your configuration. Check AMD.com for furthur information.
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QUESTION:	SO, IF I BUY A ATHLON XP 1600+ (RUNNING AT 1.4 GIGAHERTZ) WILL IT BE FASTER THAN MY NORMAL ATHLON 1.4 GIGAHERTZ PROCESSOR?
ANSWER:	Overall, yes. Even though the Athlon XP processor is running at the same clock as the normal Athlon, the new Athlon XP has over 70 new instructions to get the job done quicker. Also the XP processor has new "Pre-instruction Cache" on chip. A way to look at this "Pre-instruction Cache" is imagine working on your car. You pop open the hood and figure you need a wrench, so you go to the garage and get a wrench. You finish what you need to do, and find out now you need a screwdriver. So you walk back to the garage and grab a screwdriver. As you can see this takes a lot of time. This is how the old Athlon does its job. Now the XP processor, pops open the hood of the car, and goes to the garage and grabs the whole toolbox, and works on the car.
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QUESTION:	HOW DO I GET MY EXTERNAL USB DRIVE FDISKED AND FORMATTED?
ANSWER:	Follow these steps to get your USB drive to work in windows. After the unit is assembled with a drive: 1. Plug unit into a free USB port, (try to avoid a USB hub) 2. Follow windows to install the driver for the USB device, either on your floppy drive or here for Windows XP. 3. After device is installed, you will NOT see a drive in explorer or my computer, click start, and choose run. 4. Type "command" without the quotes, and hit enter. 5. Type "fdisk" and hit enter, enter again. 6. Hit option "5" change fixed disk. 7. Make sure to choose your portable drive in the list, usually option 2 if you only have one hard drive internally. 8. Hit enter (option 1), hit enter again (option 1) let it run 1%-100%, then hit enter again. 9. After it is done, hit escape, escape. 10. Fdisk will ask you to restart your computer, ignore and type in "exit" and hit enter. 11. Unplug your USB drive. 12. Plug it back in. 13. Go to my computer and right click your portable drive and format. 14. Follow prompts. 15. Done, and ready to use!
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QUESTION:	WHICH IS BETTER, INTEL OR AMD?
ANSWER:	Intel and AMD are head to head in the CPU arena. General rule of thumb, AMD generally offers the best "bang for the buck". Both processors are fully compatable with today's software. Intel is known for their high prices, rock solid performance, and advertisments. AMD usually dominates the Gaming areas, while Intel multimedia edits on a whim. Both processors are equally matched on office applications.
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QUESTION:	DDR, 2100? 2700? 3200? 3500? WHAT DO ALL THESE MEAN?
ANSWER:	Your best peformance is found when you match your CPU's front side bus frequency with your memory. 2100 = 266Mhz (aka 1332) 2700 = 333Mhz (aka 1662) 3200 = 400Mhz (aka 2002) 3500 = 433Mhz (aka 2172) AMD's processors are "Double pumped", so an AMD processor claimed to run at 266FSB, is considered 133Mhz2 for the "Double pump". Intel processors are "Quad pumped", so an Intel processor claimed to run at 533FSB, is considered 133Mhz4 for the "Quad pump". Both these processors would work fine with a PC2100 (133Mhz) DDR stick. Any higher rated memory would not be nessisary.
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QUESTION:	DUAL CHANNEL DDR? DO I HAVE TO PURCHASE NEW RAM?!
ANSWER:	Dual Channel DDR has two memory controllers built into the motherboard logic, vs. one. Dual Channel DDR uses standard DDR memory, however, it is recommended to purchase matching sticks, and only works with 2 or more of the same size memory modules. Another way to look at Dual Channel DDR is to compare it to a RAID 0 setup. All the memory is used, and with TWO memory controllers, while one stick of memory is being filled with data, the other stick can be read! You can expect a 40%-80% memory speed improvement over Single channel setups!
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QUESTION:	WHAT IS HYPERTHREADING?
ANSWER:	Intel Processors with HyperThreading Technology (HT) trick OS's and Programs into thinking there is two processors installed on a system. When a program is run, it opens threads, pathways, to the processor. If these threads are very busy, or a process is taking up threads it isn't using, another program either cannot run, or runs slow because it cannot "take over" these threads. With HyperThreading, you have more pathways, but it goes to the same place.
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QUESTION:	WHAT WILL AMD'S 64-BIT CPU'S GIVE ME?
ANSWER:	The main reason the computer world is moving to a 64-bit architecture is memory. Right now, 32-bit architectures are restricted to 4 Gigabytes. It is possable to have more than 4 Gigabytes of RAM in a system, however, a 32-bit program cannot access it, and would be a waste. 64-bit architectures allow for up to 16 Terabytes (16,000 Gigabytes) of RAM! Sure we don't need that amount of memory today, but someday we may need it. 64-bit architectures also allow programmers execute programs in 64-bit chunks. This can be as dramatic as compairing Sony Playstation 1, to Sony Playstation 2. Versions of 64-bit Linux are now available. Microsoft is due to release a 64-bit version of Windows XP. AMD 64-bit processors are now available in our store! Please stop by and take a look!
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