Athlon XP 2500+ power usage and heat compared to 2200+?

Hi,

I was going upgrade my processor to an XP 2200+, but then noticed XP
2400+ and 2500+'s weren't that much dearer. But I wondered about other
concerns, such as increased heat output (the pc gets kinda hot in
summer as it is) and power usage on my 300w PSU. Is there much
difference with either of these processors in these respects, compared
to the 2200+?

p.s.

Do AMD chips have any anti overheat protection in them these days,
like Intel ones, or do they still "explode" if the fan fails?

Thanks

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 17:49:57 +0100, al wrote:

Hi,

I was going upgrade my processor to an XP 2200+, but then noticed XP
2400+ and 2500+'s weren't that much dearer. But I wondered about other
concerns, such as increased heat output (the pc gets kinda hot in
summer as it is) and power usage on my 300w PSU. Is there much
difference with either of these processors in these respects, compared
to the 2200+?

p.s.

Do AMD chips have any anti overheat protection in them these days,
like Intel ones, or do they still "explode" if the fan fails?

A lot of boards will turn off the power of the fan isnt turning. Saved
my ass a few times.

Now the one to watch out for is when the heatsink flies off from
improper clip attachments. However I think some boards have a temp
sensing thing too though they might not be fast enough in that case.
Almost all I think have a max temp range you can set before a warning
goes off and it may shut it off too. Theres software for that too.

I havent read up on it so I can only go by my impressions but it seems
to run pretty cool. I have one OCed to 3200 and its surpirsingly cool.
The fan is pretty wimpy the stock one , and its quiet . seems like a
low rpm fan and its not particularly big but it stays around the range
that my 1700 amd was maybe even lower.

The one thats a firebreather was the old T-bird 1.4. that seems to run
hot. Still have on running in a friends PC.

..

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 17:49:57 +0100, al wrote:

Hi,

I was going upgrade my processor to an XP 2200+, but then noticed XP
2400+ and 2500+'s weren't that much dearer. But I wondered about other
concerns, such as increased heat output (the pc gets kinda hot in
summer as it is) and power usage on my 300w PSU. Is there much
difference with either of these processors in these respects, compared
to the 2200+?

p.s.

Do AMD chips have any anti overheat protection in them these days,
like Intel ones, or do they still "explode" if the fan fails?

Thanks

The differnce is heat is only slight, if the system is suitable for one it
should be planned out well enough that there is still sufficient margin
for the other.

If the board supports DDR333 FSB, get a Barton XP2500. Their XP rating
doesn't coincide to higher clockspeed per the rating used on the
Thoroughbreds due to Barton's larger L2 cache. Couple that with the
Barton's larger core surface area and it's easier to keep cool.

Similar to heat, is power... not much difference between those chips. If
your PSU is a decent name-brand you have some assurance of it's stated
wattage but must evaluate the power consumption of the rest of the system.
In other words, an xp2500, Radeon 9600, and a couple hard drives, should
be fine on a "true" 300W power supply, but the XP2500 coupled with a
radeon 9800, 4 hard drives, and/or overclocking, then you may want higher
capacity. If power supply is generic it's difficult to speculate, you're
gambling to be using it now, before any upgrade at all.

AMD guidelines have resulted in all boards made within past 2 or 3 years
to have a thermal shutdown feature. It may not help if the heatsink falls
off but that shouldn't happen else you have larger problems... it is also
quite possible to fry a P4 from a heatsink coming off, just depends on the
temp range, rate of increase, whether chip can respond fast enough. A fan
failure alone is a pretty mild failure, the system will lock up and shold
shut off eventually, before any damage is done. Since the feature is
implemented on the motherboard you are putting your faith in the
manufacturer of that board, to have the feature properly implemented, and
a temp reading that's accurate enough and fast enough response to make the
feature work as intended.