AthlonXP 2600+ 333FSB CPU - Overclocking
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Manufacturer: | AMD |
| Product: | AMD AthlonXP 2600+ 333 FSB Review |
Price: | USD$112.00 |
Availability: | NOW |
Reviewed By: | Jim "Justi" Miller |
Review Date: | February 2003 |
AMD AthlonXP 2600+ 333 FSB Review
Overclocking:
I've pretty much ruined the suspense of this section by showing you our max STABLE overclock of this CPU..
2495Mhz is the maximum we could get this CPU to stable and it took 1.95V (it is default at 1.65v) to do it. Now when I say stable that's exactly what I mean. I ran this CPU at this speed for three days running folding and playing every game I have damn near. It was a rock. For benchmarking purposes I could get it all the way up to 2576Mhz but it simply wasn't a rock at that speed. It would run fine but inevitably either freeze or dump a 3d application back to the desktop after two or three hours.
I have to say I'm pretty impressed with this overclock to be completely honest. For a core that we see over and over is near the end of it's scalability, a 400+Mhz overclock is pretty impressive. This is not an engineering sample, it was bought by us over at PlainLabelPC and came in the retail box. To get to this speed we needed water cooling but no crazy pelt's or phase changing miracles. This same CPU we only got to just under 2400Mhz with the stock cooler. We probably could have taken it higher, but it just wasn't worth the risk as heat quickly became a factor after extended gaming.
After talking to a few people that have 26, 27, and 2800+ chips this overclock is right inline with what they're seeing. Not too shabby.
FINAL THOUGHTS
One thing is glaringly obvious, Intel is in no position to rest easily. As we compared this head on to an Intel chip similarly clocked, and one MUCH faster, the AMD pretty much mopped up the place. The problem for AMD is that Intel is scaling their CPU's faster than they are, and there will come a time that AMD will have to back up their performance with speed. That time is coming soon.
As far as this 2600+ goes, I'd be lying if I didn't say I was impressed and pleased with it's performance. The one thing I wasn't tickled about was it's price. At damn near $300 this is not the Athlon your mother told you about. AMD has released a series of CPU's that is able to rival the biggest and the baddest on the market, and they've priced it accordingly.
We are definitely glad to see that AMD got on the stick and bumped their front side bus up to 166, which doubtlessly makes a big difference. We're even more happy to see that their was plenty of headroom left in it to overclock enough to feel as if we've appropriately taken it "to the man" yet again. How much further they can push the scalability in the retail line with the Thoroughbred core remains to be seen, but for us enthusiasts it appears as if there's still enough room to have some fun with.
Would I recommend you rush out and buy this CPU? Well, if you're an AMD fan I don't need to as you already have. If you're a general enthusiast you're going to have to make that decision on your own. There's no doubt that the 2600+ offers you all of the performance pretty much of any competing Intel CPU currently on the market, and it can hang handily with it's big brothers the 2700+ and the hard to find 2800+. I will admit that this CPU will reside in my box for at least the immediate future, it's left me too impressed to pull it out now. So while the decision is yours, I've already made mine.
The only real kink to the process is the fact that the hammer is around the corner, and Intel's P4 with hyperthreading is going to be affordable soon as well. That leaves a great deal of options out there for us, which if you ask me, is the way it should be...
PROS
- 333Mhz Front Side Bus
- Outperforms similar clocked P4
- Overclocks very well
CONS
- Price a little high
- Retail packaging still annoys me!
Thanks a lot for checking out our review of the 2600+. A big thanks to PlainLabelPC for giving us a great deal on the CPU. We've worked with PlainLabelPC on several projects and have yet to be let down.
If you'd like to discuss this review head into our forums and let loose. Otherwise, feel free to head back to the OCAddiction.com front page and check out our other GooSH!™
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