ClawHammer Vs. Athlon w/512k L2

[Iron1384]

My aging 800 MHz Copermine PIII system is dieing to be replaced (Actually, I’m the one who's complaining). I am planning on building a new AMD based system, probably with an nForce2 mainboard. My one question is this: Will it be worth it to wait for ClawHammer to be released, or should I just build a computer with a Barton-based Athlon?

I'm worried that ClawHammer might not be available until summer, or that it will cost too much for me.

p.s. I'm assuming that the nForce2 board won't accept a Hammer CPU; is that correct?

[StealthHawk]

right, nforce 2 will not accept a Hammer.

seeing as how there are no Bartons yet, you will be doing some waiting either way. wait till Barton results show up, but Hammer will definitely be faster.

[Lezmaka]

Then there's the upgradability factor

If you go with Barton, you probably won't be able to upgrade to anything unless you get a new motherboard. But if you wait for hammer, you should be able to upgrade to a faster chip w/o needing a new motherboard.

Hammer systems would be more expensive. Just depends on how much you want to spend and how often you usually upgrade, which doesn't seem like its very often because you have a have a P3 like me.

[SavagePaladin]

If you buy a decent system now, it won't cost too much. Say nforce2 with 2100+, thats hella cheap....and awesome...and upgradable to a Barton when they finally come out...

Your call really, but they say the Athlon still has life in it for a while.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by SavagePaladin
Your call really, but they say the Athlon still has life in it for a while.

seeing as how the Clawhammer will be marketed until the Athlon name, i'd say that's true ;)

[SavagePaladin]

Originally posted by StealthHawk
seeing as how the Clawhammer will be marketed until the Athlon name, i'd say that's true ;)
Fine then, socket A does. AMD said it'd likely be prevalent for 2003, if I recall correctly.

[Lyran]

it is unsure whether Hammer will benefit gamers at all. Pro applications will probably do better. So, don't hold your breath. Anything, at this point, would be an improvement, my pc, for example, for under $500 including case, etc.., could at least double your speed

[SavagePaladin]

Originally posted by Lyran
it is unsure whether Hammer will benefit gamers at all.
stop smoking crack. of course it'll benefit gamers. it'll go to higher frequencies, the integrated memory controller is an instant performance boost, and other things.

Maybe not immediately, but we'll see.

[Gehenna_CA]

Just the optimizations to the 32bit processing will provide a big performance boost. Remember the benchies where the 800mhz hammers were beating p4s with more than double the clock frequency?

[StealthHawk]

we've already seen performance number of lower clocked Hammer CPUs and it is without a doubt faster clock for clock than other other consumer CPU on the market.

bottom line is that it will improve performance. AMD wouldn't make Hammer the flagship consumer part if it didn't.

[SavagePaladin]

From what I've seen, it won't be quite as dramatic as it was at 800mhz, but yep

[Iron1384]

I suppose i'm going to wait for Hammer to be released. I'll tolerate my current system until I can build a computer that will last. The longer I wait, the more money I can build up.

[ReDeeMeR]

Originally posted by Iron1384
I suppose i'm going to wait for Hammer to be released. I'll tolerate my current system until I can build a computer that will last. The longer I wait, the more money I can build up.

If you are waiting "more" it doesnt mean it'll last "longer", it just means you'll have a slow system all that time ;)

[Iron1384]

What I ment was, I'm going to buy technology that is new, not something that has been out for half a year.

[ReDeeMeR]

Well you're making no sense, all the technology that is coming is new and faster and if you mean 64bit then 32bit sytems are older then "half a year" but whatever...

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by ReDeeMeR
Well you're making no sense, all the technology that is coming is new and faster and if you mean 64bit then 32bit sytems are older then "half a year" but whatever...

Barton isn't really "new" technology. it's just a thoroughred with more cache. no real major architectural change. Hammer is completely new. that is what he means.

[ReDeeMeR]

It's still nonsense, is he after "new technology" or after the "preformance"??? Do you need a PC just to brag about with your friends?

"Gee I have 64bit cpu, altho I have no idea if it's faster or whats the real world difference"

[Iron1384]

I'm waiting for Hammer because of performance. Everyone knows it's going to perform faster, regardless of 64 bit capability. I'm not waiting for 64 bit computing--I just want a CPU that runs applications and games fast.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by ReDeeMeR
It's still nonsense, is he after "new technology" or after the "preformance"??? Do you need a PC just to brag about with your friends?

"Gee I have 64bit cpu, altho I have no idea if it's faster or whats the real world difference"

Hammer is faster clock for clock when running 32bit programs.

64bit operation/programs are just an added bonus.

new technology almost always equals performance anyway, there have been very few cases where it didn't.

[SavagePaladin]

I still say with initial clock speeds and pricing it might not be that impressive.

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by SavagePaladin
I still say with initial clock speeds and pricing it might not be that impressive.

it's a distinct possibility. if Hammer only debuts at 3000+ rating then it probably won't be too much faster than expected over a tbred 2800+.

[volt]

I wouldn't suggest buying nforce2 just to upgrade to Barton later. I'm sure there will be few revisions, new features (SoundStorm Bay?) and other funky stuff right before Barton comes out. Also by January/February we should see more nforce2 based boards. That's what I'm waiting for.

[SavagePaladin]

Originally posted by volt
I wouldn't suggest buying nforce2 just to upgrade to Barton later. I'm sure there will be few revisions, new features (SoundStorm Bay?) and other funky stuff right before Barton comes out. Also by January/February we should see more nforce2 based boards. That's what I'm waiting for.

The bay had to be supported by the manufacturers, and it looks like none of them picked it up. Abit, however, MIGHT support their own Media XP bay with theirs. I'm not quite sure.

Anyway, the dudes on an 800mhz dealie. I would suggest it. A 2100+ or lower is super cheap, so its not like he'd be doing himself a disservice by doing the 'change proc later' deal

[nick800]

So is amd shooting for an early H1 release of the clawhammer, or a late one? have there been and price predictions as to what the clawhammer or sledgehammer cpus will cost?

[ReDeeMeR]

I think the desktop hammer cpu will only be available 2004 or late 2003, have nice long wait lol