Which AMD for crunching?

[jkeating]

Back in the old days, it was easy. Just get the fastest AMD you could afford for a DC box. Most DC programs didn't need much FSB (ok, SETI was an exception), so a Duron with a 200 FSB was about as fast as a Athlon with 266 FSB on FAH1.

Today there are a lot more choices. The GHz seems to have peaked around 2.16, but you can chose between 266/333/400 FSB and 256K/512K L1 cache.

The AMD PR ratings keep going up with the extra FSB and cache, but is there really a speed boost for a dedicated DC box?

Anyone have some insight here?

Thanks.

[GHOST]

The 400 fsb chips cost a lot more. I have a 2500 at 333 [the highest i can push it is 171/342 using a volcano 11 cooler] and a 2400 at 266. On the phase one client they put out near identical work. Memory would probably be cheaper for 266.

[jkeating]

If GHz is still the important factor, then the 2400+ is probably the best buy - 2.0 GHz for about $83. I just installed 2 of them in K7S5A mobos as an upgrade to a 1.4 GHz T-Bird and a 1600+ Palomino.