General AMD question

Sorry for the newb-ish question, but where is a good place to learn (in the quickest way possible) about the different AMD socket types, the processor groups that correspond with them, and the memory bandwidths that each group has?

I've built, cooled, and overclocked lots of intel systems and know a lot about them, but I don't know much about AMD motherboards, the chips that fit them, and the right memory type (PC2700 for instance) to buy. It seems like there are a whole lot more current classes of AMD chips and motherboards still in production than intels. I'd to know more so I can buy components and overclock them with confidence. thanks.

Athlon XPs uses socket 462, Athlon 64 uses socket 754 and Athlon 64 FX51 uses socket 940 but it will be replaced by socket 939 for the FX53.

The memory bandwidth depends on the FSB the CPU is running at.
Palomino and Thoroughbred Athlon XPs runs at 133Mhz which gives about 2GB/s.
I don't know the bartons that runs at 166Mhz but the 400Mhz FSB barton (XP3200+) gives about 3GB/s.

I'd recommend going with PC3200 and up to ensure better OC. You will find the best timings in PC3200 or PC3500 sticks. Don't go with PC4000 sticks because of the loose timing they offer. The extra bandwidth makes up for the loose timing but that means you'll have to go quite high in FSB.

Coltrane,
Sit back and take a good long look at this site,
Amdboard This covers the full gamut of boards, chipsets, ram, power supplies and everything related to your question.

Laterz,
dafanman:cool:

ok thanks a lot. all XP's are locked, correct?

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Originally posted by Coltrane
ok thanks a lot. all XP's are locked, correct?

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Nope. Most aren't, actually. It's not something you can just tell by model number, though, as the week number has something to do with that, as well.

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Originally posted by Coltrane
ok thanks a lot. all XP's are locked, correct?

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It doesn't matter if it's locked or not anymore

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Originally posted by xelaeel
It doesn't matter if it's locked or not anymore

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still does matter....that mod tends not to work with most nforce2 boards, and since we all want to overclock with an nforce2 board....well...we're still kinda stuck.