SYSTEM BUILDERS will be relieved to hear that the Athlon MP 2800+ is with us at last. The Barton based processor has been the subject of much pining as AMD system builders looked on with envy at Intel's higher clocking competing processors. The new processor runs at exactly the same clock speed as the MP 2600+, the previous top of the range. It gets its PR boost by doubling the cache from 256KB to 512KB. That jump in cache size is likely to produce a bigger performance effect than the PR rating implies, most server applications like lots of cache and speed increases should reflect that.
The major disappointment about the new processor is that it is still stuck with a 266MHz front side bus. Most systems integrators had hoped for a 333MHz bus at the very least but that would have required a new chipset. AMD has obviously decided that the Opteron is where the firm wants to stake its territory and is making that the big push. A new chipset for the Athlon MP might be too much effort for just the MP 2800+ processor. According to AMD, Athlon MPs are popular with the scientific crowd because they are cheap and have great FPU performance. The new processor costs $275 in 1,000-unit quantities.
News source: The Inq
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