AMD Ends Overclocking On Durons 150
Jai writes: "AMD have finally done it. The crime has been committed and now we must reflect on this and look at setting ourselves a new pathway to overclocking AMD's successful Duron and Athlon Processors. Basically this means the pins for the multiplier are gone and no longer physically exist on the chip. Insane Hardware have a Duron and they are showing everyone as the overclocking world is filled with gloom."
Re:Running out of places to buy chips (Score:1)
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
Personally I think overclocking is rather lame. I am still on P5-200, 1996 and the only thing I can't do on it is to play latest games. If you can't devise algo fast enough to run on lower spec machine, then you must die anyway. AMD is doing a great job to give me faster CPUs are affordable prices. Overclockers screw their business model, which in turn will mean higher prices for consumers.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Other ways to speed up system (Score:1)
I was going to spend the same amount either way, I just don't want to spend 40% of it on a processor.
Re:I'm gettin Celeron II (Score:1)
GREAT NEWS!! (Score:1)
Now I can buy Intel procs again since AMD is starting to become a fscking irritating chipzilla too... yay!
Insane Hardware pictures are fake. (Score:1)
Re:Smaller DIE size=NO MORE OVERCLOCKING (Score:1)
mov ah, 0
mov al, 13h
int 10h
Your a sad person.....Re:I'm gettin Celeron II (Score:1)
You would be better off buying the duron 700 for a whole $12 more, and having a stable system that will kick the schite out of you "850"mhz celeryII. You must remember that the Duron has a much better bus under it than a celeron does. Even if you got it up to 133mhz FSB you STILL wouldn't have the performance of a duron..
Get a hobby you can actually do.....
Re:Understandable reasoning (Score:1)
Re:Anyone stop to look closely at the photo? (Score:1)
Re:CPU's don't burn out (Score:2)
Digital electronics don't work that way. There's no such thing as "prone to errors" or slowly breaking down. Either it works or it doesn't.
Digital electronics is still made of analog transistors, which are made of diffenrently doped Si-regions (n/p). Every increase in temperature will increase the mobility of dope inpurities and thus change the n and p regions. This can lead to damaged transistors or transistors that do not provide the proper voltage levels. Of course there is a safety margin in voltage levels, so it will take considerable diffusion of impurities to render the electronics useless. Breakdown of digital logic will occur suddenly (thats probably what you mean). Basically, every temperature decrease will increase the lifetime of ICs.AMD's future overclocking strategy... (Score:1)
"Athlon T-Bird 800 running at 950Mhz"
This seems a very effective way to prevent large scale corruption, and let the hobbyist perfectly overclock it's own processor.
I just got myself an atholon t-bird 800, and overclocked it successfully to 1Ghz. (see www.tomshardware.com how to overclock a socket A processor)
Anyone stop to look closely at the photo? (Score:2)
Re:CPU's don't burn out (Score:1)
Re:No, this isn't the end (Score:1)
Also you said they re-locked it. However I don't recall AMD ever having any chips that had either front side bus or multipliers locked...
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
We all know that companies would still do this, but if there was a large enough penalty for doing this, it would scare OEMs from trying to do it, that would be the thing.
It happend to me back when P-233 was the shit.
Its not what it is, its something else.
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
I call it "seemingly illegal" because I really didn't know much about it at the time, but then I saw some really blatant examples of overclocking and such. It's interesting that a merchant would sell CPUs advertised as having clock speeds that I had never heard of (at the time, before I learned more about overclocking.) People were buying them up like crazy. I assume they were mostly people who didn't know they were marked wrong, but I guess the lure of a motherboard/CPU combo for so cheap is too strong for a lot of folks... little do they know the only reason it's a combo is that's how they get the funky clock speed.
Anyway, it's gotten me wondering if anyone buys these things knowing full well that they are overclocked?? If you knew someone was marking stuff wrong, would you still buy it cheap?
Old news, and already found a work around. (Score:3)
Stopping overclocking is good... (Score:2)
CPU's don't burn out (Score:1)
THIS IS A FAKE (Score:1)
who cares (Score:1)
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
Bzzzzt. Read the article at insane hardware. Those pins are required even if you alter the bridges on top of the processor.
zsazsa
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
Why even overclock anymore? (Score:1)
Try underclocking and buying more ram.
(*Spare me the "It's not unstable if you cool it with freon" wackyness
How rude... (Score:1)
Re:This is actually a step forward (Score:1)
This isn't really the end of overclocking... (Score:4)
Why can't they simply... (Score:1)
Re:Reminds me of the 1.13ghz PIII (Score:1)
It's not like they can use a logic probe here, guy. How many millions of transistors are there?
What is the retail cost per transistor?
It's not like they are testing light bulbs here. They are marketing (arguably) the most complex consumer grade device known to man.
Now, I agree that a serious enough eratum needs to be addressed by replacing the microprocessor. But less serious errata can and should be addressed with software, microcode, or BIOS workarounds.
Joe Goldmeer
The answer (Score:2)
AMD, how about putting in a microcode program into the processor's initialisation sequence to check if the processor is overclocked and display a big warning (on standard VGA hardware) for a few moments (or until a key is pressed on a standard PC keyboard) if it is?
That would stop the grey-marketeers in their tracks and also give the legitimate overclockers something to point to and say "Look what I did!"
Re:How rude... (Score:1)
I honestly see AMD as trying to do something right. Maybe if the bus clock is locked (they don't make any with over 200MHz do they)?
you can still get them. (Score:2)
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
Bzzzzt. I don't care what the people at Insane Hardware say... The FID pins are only for the motherboard to tell the CPU what speed it should run. The copper bridges internally tell the CPU itself what it should run at. They are what originally set what the CPU runs at. If they didn't actually work, then the CPU has no idea what to run at. It has to fall back on something, and the copper bridges are the lowest level of multiplier and voltage determination.
Re:How rude... (Score:5)
How does this help AMD?
Unfortunately, overclocking is not restricted to a few hobbyists. I remember taking a huge heat sink off a Micron 166, rubbing off the compound and see a clear "Intel 133" mark on it. Manufacturers have been playing fast and loose with us for years, and when they screw with the CPU, it's just asking for Intel or AMD to come up looking bad. The average user will never know that it was overclocked (or even what that is), just that, "AMD makes junk!".
1Alpha7
Understandable reasoning (Score:2)
Then AMD put the copper bridges on the top of the Socket A chips to set the multiplier, a technique which made it harder (while still possible) to change the clock, and which made remarking also quite apparent. If I understand the insane hardware article, this no longer works either.
This shows the problem that poor reselling techniques (i.e. fraudulent ones) can have with the community at large.
Who would want to overclock Durons? (Score:1)
Durons are cheap processors ($100 for 650MHz) so you really shouldn't expect to get a lot out of them. Sure you *can* play Quake with them but they're not meant for professional or gaming use, they're meant for I-Just-Want-to-Buy-The-Internet-And-Get-On-With-M
My $.02
-----
It's not that bad... (Score:1)
Fraud (Score:2)
Most retail PC buyers couldn't tell if a system has been overclocked or not. And if John Smith's home PC eventually burns out, doesn't it negatively effect AMD's reputation?
Doom? Hardly. (Score:3)
This is hardly a cause for concern, seeing as how Tom's Hardware has an article [tomshardware.com] on how to change the settings without needing the pins.
Misread? (Score:1)
If all chips were rated on the number of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs), I could give a better post, but they don't so I can't.
Michael
...another comment from Michael Tandy.
Wonderful overclocking article. (Score:1)
Cheers!
Re:How rude... (Score:1)
Cute, but are you sure it wasnt "(I have experience in this arena, I used to work in the anti fraud group for a x86 microprocessor mAnufacturer that will remain naMeless to this Day)"?
Mark Duell
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
Re:Who would want to overclock Durons? (Score:1)
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
--
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:1)
oh, come on.... (Score:1)
Proof? - that the pictures were faked. (Score:1)
Proof? - that the pictures were faked. (Score:1)
Sorry
Here is the proper link to the Overclockers.com.au - Forums [overclockers.com.au]
- where it appears that the AMD 'pinless' are pictures are infact a fake.
http://www.overclockers .com.au/ubb/Forum10/HTML/000163.html [overclockers.com.au]
Not quite...this won't work anymore (Score:1)
Oh AMD Care (Score:2)
My next system upgrade was planned to be a duron 700 running at 900mhz which would give me 87% or so of the power of a 1ghz Thunderbirdie.
I could afford the thunderbird. Sure it would have meant no voodoo5 and maybe even no film scanner but by locking the duron they want to push me into spending a higher proportion of my budget on a cpu that I otherwise would.
Plus it will raise the overall percieved stability of their cpus since as mentioned before the vendors will get away from it.
Re:This is ludicrous... not as much as u think (Score:2)
Ultimately the BIOS in most modern systems can easily be replaced since it's only software.
If a manufacturer is sufficiently dodgy to be selling marked up cpus then they probably woudln't realy mind flashing the bioses to hide their sins.
Anyway you are already expecting all motherboards to have their existing bioses replaced with new ones that support this extended CPUID. No novice user is going to recognise that their motherboard is a few months older than it should be...!
Anyway there is also the further problem of how the fsck do u expect AMD to do this. I guess they'd have to generate difference wafers for each speed of CPU.
At the end of the day AMD and Intel only manufacture a few different chips and then sort them by tolerance to feed the different markets.
In transistor terms theres really no difference between a 700 and an 850 but in order to keep the overclocking market you want AMD to double their overheads..?
Wait, never mind. (Score:1)
Re:Understandable reasoning (Score:1)
Re:I'm gettin Celeron II (Score:1)
Re:How rude... (Score:1)
Re:This is a good thing... (Score:1)
Re:Smaller DIE size=NO MORE OVERCLOCKING (Score:1)
Smaller DIE size=NO MORE OVERCLOCKING (Score:2)
In stopping overclock, AMD is merely doing the same thing that manufacturers did when they made a safer system for electrical outlets: protecting the end user from damaging their product or themselves. Granted, overclocking a chip and burning it out is not going to physically hurt the end user (not compared to sticking a finger into an unprotected wall outlet) but when you find out that you just melted your new processor--you might punch a wall rather hard--which could physically hurt you
mov ah, 0
mov al, 13h
int 10h
Re:I Was Thinking Of Going To AMD..... (Score:1)
Would they have really made that many more customers? Does your average joe schmoe care about being able to OC his duron? No, of course he doesn't. He cares that processor A, at X MHz, will stomp the pants off processor B running at the same speed. Sometimes not even then. Sometimes he just cares which CPU has the bigger number before the MHz
Overclockers probably don't compose 5% of the people who buy Computers, and probably compose even less of a percentage of those who buy AMD. AMD wants to sell to everyone. They do this by producing a better product than the competition.
They don't do it by allowing vendors/retailers to alter the state of their chip and selling it as something it's not. If they want to protect the end user from shady vendors (and there ARE shady vendors (I admit, I just like typing 'shady'))by disallowing people from altering the operation of the chip AMD sells them (or at least impeding alteration), and that doing so will lose them a very small amount of customers, do you think they're not going to do it?
The fact is, AMD makes a better product than Intel. And a cheaper one. If the only thing keeping you from "switching" is the fact that they now don't want you messing with their CPU, something's wrong.
Re:Simple reason (Score:1)
I think AMD is underestimating the value of the positive word of mouth they get when they allow maximum overclocking. the more the powerusers walk around talking about overclocking an AMD, they more they are saying "AMD". Reminds me of the old saw, "advertising is when you say you are good in bed. PR is when your ex-girlfriends say it. PR is better."
Re:How rude... (Score:2)
Duron 700 running at 1003
or something along those lines. Would be a big plus, as it would allow them to let us overclockers have our way with our chips, and prevent oems from being able to sell chips at clocks they arent supposed to be running at.
Duron locked, but workaround already found! (Score:3)
The multiplier pins may be gone on your new Duron, but the multiplier can be unlocked anyway!
Read about it here: http://www.tweakers.net/reviews.ds p?Document=150 [tweakers.net]
Woohooo 900Mhz, here I come!
Re:Fraud (Score:2)
Re:CPU's don't burn out (Score:1)
Re:Who would want to overclock Durons? (Score:1)
$200 dollar difference? I just got a T-Bird 800 for less than $200, so unless you know of someplace that's paying people to take Durons, you are either geting screwed or you're full of @#*!.
BTW, I can OC that puppy to 1 GHz without any cooling besides a cpu fan.
Re:Damn Their Eyes! (Score:2)
So until I actually see a chip for myself that's missing these pins, I'll continue the direction I was headed before I read this crap.
Of course, there has never, ever been a hoax or rumor posted on Slashdot.
Re:Fuck off, you hoplophobe (Score:1)
--
Re:CPU's don't burn out (Score:1)
Maybe you just need a clean reinstall.
Re:Why even overclock anymore? (Score:1)
Simple. AMD's yields on the processor were TOO GOOD. So they got way too many chips capable of running higher speeds and not too many that only rated at the lower speeds, but their marketing needs chips of low through high speeds.
Solution: Mark chips that passed higher speed tests with the lower rating.
So you can (could) reliably overclock many lower-end Durons without needing special cooling since you are within the actual, rather than labeled, operating range. Free speed.
Re:An insider view (Score:1)
Re:Who would want to overclock Durons? (Score:1)
My FPS jumped up a bit when I reinstalled windows (I'd been running the same install for 3 years). You might try that. Also, make sure you kill as many other tasks as you can. Search the web for "pview95.exe" if you don't already have it. Kill anything that doesn't crash that machine before you try running half-life.
This is not a big deal (Score:2)
Heck, you already bought your Athlon or Pentium. You're giving money to AMD and Intel; you're not putting one over on them. They love it if you run your CPU too hot and have to get a new one more frequently. So let's stop acting like this is subversive, okay?
workaround (Score:2)
Re:Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:2)
Well, it's interesting that you would say that. It's hard to tell how much AMD is actually stopping remarkers by doing this, compared to making it harder for overclockers to changer their multipliers...
Taking out the pins only disables the functionality about being able to easily adjust the clock multiplier in BIOS. The other way to change the Tbird/Duron's clock multiplier is to modify the copper bridges on the top ceramic of the processor, by cutting some with an X-acto knife and closing others with a conductive pen (or even pencil lead).
When the processor is overclocked in BIOS, it's much easier to tell, since you can go into the section that has FSB and multiplier adjustments and see if they're set at default or at a specific clock lock. If the bridges were modified, you can't tell at all until you open up your computer, take off the heatsink, and look at the top of the processor's die.
So as far as remarkers are concerned, I'd imagine that they'll go ahead and do the bridge modification, especially since it's harder to detect. Meanwhile, the overclocking hobbiests can't take advantage of the overclocking features of their new Asus K7A or Abit KT7 motherboards they just bought.
This is ludicrous... (Score:4)
Re:Who would want to overclock Durons? (Score:2)
It's not just the cheaper end that the Duron is good for, though. Since it has such good FP, it's a slick chip for a rendering farm - It's cheap, motherboards are now or soon will be cheap, and it has very good Floating Point math. I bet you could slap them into some 1U or 2U rack cases and get some sick flops that way, running NT/Win2k or Linux, depending on what software package you're fond of. Ahhh, ScreamerNet...
Re:Understandable reasoning (Score:5)
Disclaimer: I worked for CompUSA for over a year. I don't work for them anymore. I didn't hate my job, but I didn't adore it either. I was a Business Sales Representative, made obsolete by the centralization of corporate accounts in Dallas.
Now, I'm going to defend CompUSA against your ignorant accusations. (By the way, where did you learn that CompUSA does this?)
1: CompUSA advertises a computer, let's say a Hewlett Packard Pavilion 8775C.
2: The model number of the HP designates the specifications of the computer. In this case, the 8775C has a Pentium III 933 MHz processor. It's shipped to CompUSA in a sealed box directly from HP's distribution channels.
3: Now, if CompUSA (Or any other large retail chain for that matter) were to get this shipment of 8775C computers, and wanted to overclock them, they'd have to crack open EVERY BOX, Pull out the processor, "grind the original markings off the faceplates", overclock the machine, replace the processor, and re-seal the box.
4: What do you think will happen if you see an 8775C advertised as a 1 GHz computer? Not everyone will catch it, but SOMEONE will. And that would cause problems for CompUSA.
You'd have to be a complete idiot to think this is actually what happens. Also, if you're referring to individually packaged processors, you're wrong there as well. CompUSA doesn't regularly keep processors in stock, as they're "Special Order" items. These are ordered from distribution centers, and what you ask for when you place the order is what you get when the order comes in. No remarking, no grinding, nothing.
Don't you think that if a huge chain like CompUSA was doing this (and somehow you found out about it), they'd have a tremendous problem on their hands? The answer is: THEY WOULD! But since they're not doing what you claim, they're not in trouble.
Now, if the MANUFACTURER of that computer was remarking the chips, THAT'S a different story.
-- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?
A little bit of history repeats itself. (Score:3)
In my opinion the Pentium was a robust chip, but when an OEM was putting a remarked chip into a customers machine they might have been effectively reducing the MTBF of the device.
Whilst the majority of users will never know that they have been conned, (whats a few blue screens between windows anyway) the ones that do find out tend to do so after a terminal failure.
All this did is hurt the Intel trademark, whilst some users came to the conclusion that Intel chips inherently fail, other users realised that their chip was in fact remarked and they thought to themselves why isn't Intel doing anything to protect me as a consumer?
It turned out to be a double edged sword which hurt Intel.
I imagine that this phenomena has been a significant factor in the development of AMD's market share.
This is the reason that Intel released the 100Mhz pentium II's with a multiplier lock.
Now that AMD have managed to release high quality chips (shh be quiet you RISC zealots) which are capable of overclocking. They are facing the same scenario.
Its important to note that they aren't trying to put an end to enthusiast overclocking, they are trying to put an end to large scale remarking cartels.
PS:- I am not implying that overclocked chips are the cause of all bluescreens in Windows
Understandable, but probably wrong (Score:3)
Re:Who would want to overclock Durons? (Score:2)
As for "professional", unless you're involved in video/MPEG-2 rendering, realtime digital audio processing, or heavy-duty CAD rendering, there's a fine chance that any CPU still made will be just dandy for professional use. Most professionals spend their time in compilers, word processors, spreadsheets, or other non-CPU-intensive apps.
Most people find Internet just dandy on anything made in the last 5, maybe 10 years. Despite all of Intel's consumer ads, most of the time you're bandwidth limited... and I'm saying this from the other end of a serious optical pipe, not a 56K dialup.
As for games, sure, some of those kiddie demand the fastest performance they can get their hands on. So they're running 1GHz Athlons if they're dedicated. Compared to most computers in most regular consumer homes, the Duron is very fast. After all, it's mainstream, and it's relatively new. You might expect Intel's next major Celeron upgrade to run a little faster than the Duron, if they can swing it.
Damn Their Eyes! (Score:5)
Those Wackos at AMD have done it this time! Now they're just some chip manufacturer who sells CPU that are better, clock-for-clock, than their Intel equivalents, for less money!
I don't know if I can continue to give them business in light of this news.
:-)
Not overclocker users they are worried about.. (Score:5)
It's the grey market area that they want to stop. These shaddy OEMs, and local PC shops that like to OC a 600 chip to 800, then sell it off as a genuine 800mhz system. While the novice computer user that buys these secretly OC'ed systems isn't any the wiser.
What happens? Their cpu burns out way too eary, and when their computer stops working due to a dead cpu, they don't give any though out to OEM that sold it. The consumer just thinks that AMD makes crappy cpus, and will just get an Intel chip the next time.
So, I dont' blame one bit for AMD to stop as much as they can on OC'ing their chips. It's not to stop your or me from taking one of their chips up a few extra mhz. It's for the bonehead local OEMs from selling a Duron OC'ed to 850+ as a genuine 850+ chip. Which sadly to say, I've seen it done all too often.
Re:How rude... (Score:5)
(I have experience in this arena, I used to work in the anti fraud group for a x86 mIcroprocessor maNufacTurer that will remain namELess)
Remarking microprocessors can be big business for remarkers. Once fully automated processes are put into place, they can "reprocess" (that's the term they use) hundereds of processors a day.
When housed got raided, there would be many hundreds of parts in process of having their appearance altered.
Remarkers don't just focus on the chips. They have the ability to produce retail boxes, appearing to all but the most highly trained eye to be authentic.
Remarking the chips and making phony boxes is the easy part. Getting the parts back into distribution is the hard part.
Just how many computer shows are there on any given weekend? Not many. How many mom/pop computer shops are just itching to save $5 on each processor, not really caring if the parts don't come from the authorized channel? Tons!
You see, if the grey market proliferates, it does so at the expense of the authorised distis and the tier 1 OEM markets.
Expect to see an even greater embrace of AMD's processors by big name manufacturers now.
Joe Goldmeer
Re: (Score:2)
just a guess (Score:2)
If you spend less money on the slower chips and make them faster, in theory AMD is losing money.
It also allows you to stay on the trailing edge of technology by buying last year's chip and keeping it for as long as you would a new chip.
The final reason may just be a preemptive strike against returns/et.al. An o/c'd chip is more likely to show manufacturing defects, too.
I don't know if any of these reasons lose them money because they are creating brand loyalty by selling o'clockable chips and you will also buy a new one when the old one burns out.
Re:CPU's don't burn out (Score:2)
I had an athlon 300a overclocked to 450 for a little under a year. It never got terribly hot, but eventually it just died. By being dead I mean that it just started spewing out errors, more and more often until I got a new chip. Then all was ok.
Re:Already overclocked? Is it possible? (Score:2)
I have always wondered if a company A could make a chip with the same performance as company B, but send it out on the market at 100mhz faster than it's rival. (which would then be compared in price with company B's faster chip)
*COUGH* 1.13GHz PIII *COUGH*
2) they are pushing a bit too much on their new chips and don't wan't people to notice their "safety margin" is smaller?
This has nothing to do with it. The only way to judge the safty margin is stability and failure rate. The multiplier can always be figured out by dividing the rated chip speed by the FSB speed.
Re:Simple reason (Score:3)
Currently AMD is marking chips at LOWER than they are capable of running in nearly all cases due to marketing strategies, not technical limitations. AMD's K7 class chips (Athlons and Durons) are known to run stably at higher speeds, but AMD is biding it's time and keeping this headroom available for the coming mindshare fights with Intel's Pentium IV.
This is smart for AMD. The top chip, whatever speed it is, will sell for about the same price. So they can sell the lower clocked chip until Intel is able to counter with something with a faster clock speed. When that happens, AMD just changes the speed marking on the the chips they are already producing.
Yes, technical concerns are a limiting factor on chip speed ratings, but they are not the operative one for AMD right now.
I don't get it (Score:2)
Best solution to remarking I can think of..... (Score:3)
Bios's could even be set up to display a warning if the chip is running out of spec.
Anyway, I doubt that Remarking is really what the chip-makers are worried about. I'm sure AMD would rather have us pay the $500 for an Athlon 900 then get a Duron 600, overclock it to a Ghz and get the same performace for a tenth the cost. Sure, these chips would cheap if AMD just gave them away, but I think they are more intrested in making money then being good semaritans.
I ordered my Duron 600 today, I hope I get a good one, but if I don't, I won't be to pissed, I only paid $50 for it, I certanly wouldn't think of myself as stealing anything if I can run it faster. I havn't got any money at all, and I couldn't afford to get a highpowered athlon. but if I could, I still wouldn't if AMD didn't pull these pins.
No, this isn't the end (Score:5)
This renders the AMD Duron supporting just as much overclocking as your favorite Intel CPU. Before this, they were _more_ overclockable.
Simple reason (Score:5)
Remember, Intel just got burned a few weeks ago (remember the 1.13 G pIII recall?) by pretty much deliberately overclocking chips that couldn't take it. So, it really shouldn't come as any surprise that AMD would do some testing, figure out how fast these chips can run SAFELY, and then take steps to ensure that they run at those safe speeds.
Sure, they might lose a bit of favor with the geek crowd, but the money, especially concerning the Duron, is in run-of-the-mill discount PCs. Having them stay sturdy does a lot for AMD's bottom line. All hail the dollar!
Re:This isn't really the end of overclocking... (Score:2)
MHz means NOTHING (Score:2)
with AMD and Intel, this whole MHz race is bullshit. There is no *real* advancement in technology when all these guys are doing is tweaking these old technologies to run faster.
But its this "hype" about MHz, driven mostly by you stupid overclockers, that keep AMD and Intel locked in this MHz race that makes everyone lose.
I mean, go look at MIPS who actually give a hoot about decent design - their R12k 400MHz is twice as fast as a PIII 800MHz at seti! And go check out PPC's Altivec, which is pretty much MMX except 10 times better.
But of course, the rest of the world seems to neglect these achievements in computing, and think that more MHz == better. WRONG. Go have a look at SPEC and see the current trend which shows that even though intel and AMD are making their chips run at a higher MHz, the performance gains really aren't that much.
So, we have this whole overclocking and MHz frenzy, which is basically driven by a bunch of clueless kiddies who believe that making a 5 year old technology run at a fast clock rate is the be all and end all of chip fabrication.
pfft
Other ways to speed up system (Score:2)
While some of you folks want to overclock the heck out of the CPU, have you all considered that there are other ways to speed up your computer?
How about installing more RAM and a faster hard drive? Getting more RAM into a computer can make a BIG difference, especially in graphical environments. And definitely get a 7200 RPM ATA-66 hard drive, too, because you want to be able to read and write data on the hard drive faster.
In my personal opinion, once CPU's went past 500 MHz in speed, for most home users they would be better served by getting as much RAM as they can afford and making sure the system has a decently fast hard drive.
This is a good thing... (Score:2)
AMD needs to save money to beat out Intel. I love AMD, and if they think they need to disable the OverClocking of their chips to stay ahead of intel, so be it.
Plus now the chip differences in price are praticly nothing. You can afford a 900MHz T-Bird these days!!!!
AMD is doing everything they can to get us the best chips possiable and keep compitition with Intel realistic.
Better to overclock cheap processors... (Score:2)
When I spend a lot of money on a CPU specifically for performance, I tend to lean towards the reliability of it's stated speed rather than the risk and relative unreliability of overclocking - after all, I've already got performance. But if I want to see just how far I can push a CPU - well, I expect unreliability and I expect to crater some chips. That's part of the fun...
Mike