[Gadgetman]

I have installed in my PC an AMD Athlon XP 2100+ processor.

I had the impression that my speed was 2.1 GHz.

I ran the Belarc PC Management program and I discovered that my processor is a 1.73 GHz AMD Athlon XP.

I also viewed System Properties - General and it reads:

Computer:
AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2100+
1.74 GHz
512 MB of RAM

Could someone please tell me why this is?

Are my settings underclocked?

If so, how do I correct them?

Thanks

 

[ourhouse]

AMD calculates there Clock per cycle differntly then intel does. The 2100 means that if they were using intel's standards of calculation then it would be equal to 2.1 GHZ but AMD has a different way of doing it.

 

[ck2000r]

The processor isn't underclocked the AMD processor naming system uses numbering that indicates what preformance is equalivent to. The 2100+ indicates a performance AMD believe this is equalivent to a processor of 2.1 Ghz. This due to the different way AMD processors deal with applications. Some people believe this is due to AMD's clock speeds not matching Intels for raw clock speed benchmarks seem to indicate that AMD is a bit generous with the higher values.

That being said it could be possible to overclocker the AMD processor to a higher clock speed espically if you have a motherboard that will allow you to unlock the multiplier. Increasing the FSB and playing with the difference settings should allow you to increase the clock speed. AMDs are considered quite good for overclocking just make sure you have a good HSF to keep it cool and if you do try overclocking small increases in the FSB setting at a time to enusre the systems runs stable.

 

[pyritechips]

Hello:

ourhouse is correct. To quote:

AMD says officially that its model numbers reflect differences in performance between its current Athlon XP processors, based on the "Palomino" core, and the earlier Athlon chips. Athlon XP introduced the "Quantispeed" architecture, which AMD argues makes clock speed less relevant because the chip is executing more instructions per clock (IPC). Therefore, an Athlon XP 2100+ running at 1.73GHz, would achieve performance equivalent to a 2.1GHz version of an older Athlon.

Read the controversy here: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/chips/0,39020354,2107456,00.htm

 

[Gadgetman]

Thanks guys.