New to AMD Thunderbird...Information needed

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Apr 09, 2001 2:05 pm

I currently have a PIII-700@933, Abit 133-RAID, 384 (128x4) PC-133 at CAS2

I was looking at these Thunderbird 1.33GHz processors.
What would it take to get me upgraded? What I mean is, Can I still use my current memory. I noticed mentionings of this DDR memory. Would I have to get new memory?! Damn that would suck. If I could use my current memory would I be locked in with it...what I mean is, if possible to get a new mobo and cpu and still use my current memory will I be able to replace it with faster DDR later and keep the 'new' mobo?

Any enlightenment would help.
I have been happy with my 700@933 for a long time now, but Im itching for an upgrade.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Mon Apr 09, 2001 2:12 pm

U can get boards that use ddr, boards that use standuard stuff SRD, or even ones that support Both. Yea Just get a asus a7v-133 or an abit kt7a133 or another board along those lines.

Greg

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Mon Apr 09, 2001 2:45 pm

Just looking at the Abit KT7-E

I am still abit (pun) confused about this DDR thing.
Will the KT7-E accept standard PC-133 memory that I am using now?
Does the DDR and stuff I have fit in the same slots or are they a different pin configuration?

----
From ABIT KT7-E:
Memory
1.Three 168-pin DIMM sockets support PC100/PC133 SDRAM module
2.Supports up to 1.5 GB MAX. (8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512MB SDRAM)
----
So is that DDR or the stuff I have? Sounds like the stuff Im currently using, which is why Im a bit confused about this DDR.

[Edited by RubberDuckie on 04-09-2001 at 03:54 PM]

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Mon Apr 09, 2001 5:29 pm

DDR and SDR(what U have now) are NOT interrchangable! if U get a board that supports DDR You would have to get NEW RAM or a board that takes both ddr and sdr and they would promote that alot so U will know if it does or not.

Greg

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Tue Apr 10, 2001 12:35 am

OK...
ordered a 1.33GHz with the Abit KT7-E Mobo
Should be here by the weekend
Thanks for the help

Post by **sbp** » Tue Apr 10, 2001 6:23 am

RubberDuckie I would not get the ABIT KT7-E. Not unless you feel like running that 1.33Ghz cpu at a 200 Mhz fsb speed!

The KT133E chipset is the KT133 chipset manufactured with 0.18 micron technology. It has a lower power consumption and price and is for low-cost Socket A mobo's. Higher end mobo's will use KT133a and the ddr chipsets.

spec page: http://www.abit-usa.com/english/product ... s/kt7e.htm

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Tue Apr 10, 2001 3:04 pm

on the sdram side, it looks like the most bang for the buck it the 133a chipset because it lets you run the fsb~140+
the plain 133 chipset allows the multiplier overclocks, but not much fsb overclock - i have a msi pro2a (kt133) which is very stable runnning a cheapy t bird 650@800

VidmanII · Post by **VidmanII** » Tue Apr 10, 2001 9:21 pm

I'd go with either the Iwill KK266R or the Abit KT7A-Raid. I have the non-RAID version of the KT7A and I'm quite happy with it.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Wed Apr 11, 2001 8:57 am

Just noticed that the KT7E would not do the 133FSB

OOOOOPS
I thought it was the newer of the two (A - E)
I will be sending that one back when it arrives.
I placed another order for the KT7A (I have no need to RAID...Been there done that)

Thanks

Mike89 · Post by **Mike89** » Thu Apr 12, 2001 12:50 am

You're already running at 933 right? What do you expect you are going to "notice" going to 1.33 gig? Even with overclocking you are going to have a negligible difference. Now you will get some higher numbers but you turn the numbers off and you aren't going to really appreciate the difference. I'm running around the same as you are (952). I'm already good to go for the present and near future. I won't upgrade for no less than 2 gigs (probably more) because when I upgrade, I want to see the big difference. And of course if I went to that, to really get the potential out of it, I would also need to upgrade to the next generation vid card from my GTS Ultra.

LikeLinus · Post by **LikeLinus** » Thu Apr 12, 2001 7:51 am

I feel the same as Mike89. Why upgrade from almost a gig to 1.3? To be honest you really wont see the difference. You might see the difference if you work with video editing, graphic arts, autocad, but really nothing else. Your games are going to run the same. I keep seeing these people want to run out and get this chip..when it's kinda a waste of money, especially considering AMD is going to be releasing an SMP Palomine (sp?) in the next 2 months w/ speeds around 1.5 or more.

On another note. The current crop of Intel and AMD processors are NOT DDR optimized. They actually only gain around a 5-10% increase in performance (which you'll never really notice). The next CPU's to come out (Palomine) and who knows what intel will have?, will see a much bigger performance increase when used with DDR, simply because the CPU is optimized for DDR. That's a whole other reason to wait and not buy the 1.3. Wait for the 1.5 in June..it'll be worth it.

VidmanII · Post by **VidmanII** » Thu Apr 12, 2001 11:37 pm

uh, I disagree with the "no noticeable differenece" between 900 or so and 1.33 GHz. Try a 1.3+ rig and I think you'll see what I'm talkin' about.

bootmeup · Post by **bootmeup** » Fri Apr 13, 2001 6:40 pm

Yep , t just did the same thing , my system was a BE6-2 rev2 and a 700E oc 958mhz . Now i have a Iwill KK266-R and a AMD T-Bird 1.33 OC to axp 1.5ghz . I can see a BIG gain in performance , i'm still trying to decide which V-Card to upgrade to and for now i have my old TNT2U . The TNT2U in the old system on Win2000 would only get around 1500 3DMarks2001 , in the new setup , i now get 2200 3DMarks2001 . That's about 50% improvement with my same old TNT2U and now maybe i don't mine waiting to see what the next gen of V-card will do and maybe the GF2 U will come down in price .