OC Performance, 12x200

In order to reflect a little on what performance should be like with faster Bartons, I whipped up some OC results to add to the review. To keep things on an even scale, and to reinforce the previous results regarding PR and the extra cache, we OC'd both the 2400+ and 2500+.

CPU Arithmetic Benchmark

CPU Multimedia Benchmark

UT2003

Impressive numbers for sure, and the Barton shows that it's AMD's CPU of the future. Well, for the next few months anyways.

Final Words

Is the Barton an improvement over the TBred? Yes, it is. Despite the lower clock speed, the extra cache does give it an improvement over its older brother. Although we were using lower clocked models of both CPUs, the performance should scale accordingly between the two lines of CPUs as our overclocking tests have shown.

Is it a dramatic leap? In my opinion, not really. A few things did bother me about the Barton. For one thing, I would have liked to see some higher clock speeds right off the bat. I know the extra cache justifies the new PR, but this flip-flopping with clock speeds is going to end up confusing people if they start asking the sales people questions. I also realize that they made the jump to the 200FSB with the 3200+, but to separate their products clearly, I think the jump should have been made sooner.

Overclocking was a mixed bag. We did pretty well for the most part, but it seems that the Barton we have just didn't seem to like FSB speeds above 200. Considering our TBred didn't flinch at 230FSB and up, I was left a bit disappointed. Remember, this was all done with watercooling, and we used 68cfm fans on the radiator.

That being said, the Barton is a fine CPU. There's plenty of power to spare, and the pricing of the 2500+ is in the vicinity of the 2400+. Given that we did manage a stable 400MHz OC, unless you're the type who prefers running CPUs at stock speed, the 2500+ is the best choice for price and performance. Again, this is my opinion, but what do I know?

Pros: Good performance, low price point, 512KB cache.

Cons: Overclocking isn't as impressive as the TBred, lower clock speeds despite higher PR than earlier TBred CPUs.

Bottom Line: Despite coming off as somewhat negative in the conclusion, if you're running anything less than a TBred, the Barton should be on your list if an upgrade is planned. If you already have a TBred, hold on to it and wait for the Athlon64.

If you got any comments, be sure to hit us up in our forums.

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