Introduction

Today see's the launch of the AMD XP Barton 3200+. In the past 6 months we've seen the introduction of the 0.13micron manufacturing process with the Thoroughbred cores (T-bred) and two later revisions of that core. The first being the Rev B T-bred which seemed to significantly improve the thermal characteristics of the chip, which in turn increased the ability to increase the core clock and free up the possibilty to release faster models. The second revision of course was the Barton core with its increased level 2 cache, from 256KB to 512KB. In-between this we have seen an increase in the standard FSB (front side bus) frequency of the chips, increasing from 133Mhz to 166Mhz.

AMD have taken this a step further today and increased the FSB from the only recently introduced 166Mhz to a healthy 200Mhz, this despite the fact that initially AMD seemed somewhat hesitant to jump up to a faster 166Mhz FSB. The support for this 166MHz FSB was had been there for some time in the form of the Via KT333 chipset, but it was some months later before the increase was introduced. However the next jump up to the 200Mhz FSB has occurred much more quickly. You get the feeling that they were never planning to change the FSB of the Athlon XP, but have been forced into doing so to keep them competitive since the Athlon 64's have been delayed further. Whatever their actual plan was, the increase in FSB will no doubt increase performance, as we saw the increase to 166Mhz FSB do so. Due to not having a 800Mhz based P4 C chip to see whose got the edge right now, this review will be focused on showing two main things, how fast the AMD Athlon XP Barton 3200+ really is, and try to show also what the increase in FSB has done to increase performance.

One last thing I wanted to highlight before i move on to the specifications is.......unlike a lot of companies who treated us to a lot of paper launches throughout last year, the Barton 3200+ is already available :o In fact, despite being launched today I've seen it available in two UK retail outlets, with www.overclockers.co.uk showing confirmed stock for the past week. This is certainly an improvement and an improvement seen with many companies this year.

Specifications:

Ok, lets start with a copy and paste of a table from Wayne's Barton 3000+ review and see where it fits in.

As you can see, it's only marginally faster than a 3000+ in actual core frequency. A small increase of only 30Mhz, but bear in mind the the increased FSB and its associated increase in bandwidth should mean the 30Mhz difference is not the only factor. I already know it does, so I'd better prove it to you guys.

To be perfectly honest, I will refer you guys for the detailed spec's to Wayne's fantastic review. I will go into more detail on the updated part's of the specifications, but Wayne's review covers the information relevant to all Barton's, and also a good read on the increased cache found in the barton chips that i recommend you read if you're not sure on the subject.

Barton 3000+ Review :- Detailed specifications

Barton 3000+ Review :- Cache explained

On to the Barton 3200+ specific spec's then:

Athlon XP model number: 3200+

• Cache Size: L1 - 128KB and L2 - 512KB = 640KB Total Cache
• FSB / CPU Frequency: 400FSB / 2.20GHz
• Size: 101mm2 Approximate Transistor count: 54.3 million
• Nominal Voltage: 1.65v
• Max Die Temp: 85 degrees Celsius
• Typical Thermal Power: 60.4 W
• Max Thermal Power: 76.8 W
• Icc Typical (low power state): 7.2 A
• Icc Typical (working state): 36.6 A
• Icc (processor current) Max: 46.5 A

The only thing of note compared to previous models is the FSB/CPU frequency. Running at 200Mhz gives a peak data rate of 3.2GB/s, impressive.

AMD have added a few extra heatsink's to their list for the 3200+, I will update with the other details on these new heatsinks as and when I find them.

However the Ajigo MF035-032 is the heatsink provided by AMD with the Barton 3200+. It's a small, fairly lightweight and quiet HSF combo. It did it's job adequately, but for any kind of overclocking something a little bigger would be warranted. But with the stock fan rated at 28dBA its not bad at all.

As you can see from the picture I have a year 03, week 08 chip here. That's quite old for a new CPU. The only things to note are the "E" in the top left part of the code, indicating a 200Mhz FSB. Also the stepping of AQXCA.” Underneath it.

200Mhz FSB

Well, this is a tough one to say the least. I have no doubt in my mind that increased FSB speeds increase overall performance, but just why is should that be? Well, due to being able to run the FSB synchronously with the ram, both at 200Mhz this time, you are reducing the latency involved with running different parts of the system at differing speeds, a practise that can cause one part of the system to stall and spend time waiting for another.

If this was the only reason for an increase in performance, then the actual fsb would be irrelevant as long as the speeds were running synchronously. However, this is not the case. For instance running a 2400+ at stock, 133Mhz FSB and RAM, does not give as fast a performance as running the chip at the same frequency but with a 200Mhz FSB and RAM. Increasing the system bus also means that you now have a faster memory performance and much more memory bandwidth at stock clocks, all of which combines to make the 3200+ a considerably more potent solution, in theory if nothing else.

So just increasing the available bandwidth does increase performance aswell.

I'll stop here as, well, it's all I can take let alone you guys. I'll show you the benefits of running a higher FSB and in synchronous mode rather than asynchronous by getting on with the results.

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