[quote="ebx"]Oh, Intel would love that. There arent many places that they can beat AMD like this. AMD 2000+ is probably the same as P4 1G.

And AMD has to catch up earlier.[/quote]

Actually, I was more thinking about AMD and their new processor supporting SS2. That could be a good way for them to show they are catching up and maybe beating Intel. And if it could come with free machines for Gimps...

;)

[quote="FlatLander"]Will any future SSE2 compatible CPU run in my Socket A mobo?[/quote]

Barton is an Athlon XP. It is only a new core. If your motherboard supports higher GHz(read higher multipler) and 166MHz FSB like most newer mobos, a BIOS update is likely what you need to run Barton. I am counting on it.

Hammer is a completely different animal. It has a lot more pins than Socket A.

I believe Barton does not have SSE2. Only Hammers have SSE2. Barton is not a hammer, its an AthlonXP with 512KB L2 (maybe SOI) and 333Mhz FSB. I have NEVER heard Barton will have SSE2. Please show links of the info.

So there won't be a new chipset for Barton? When are they supposed to be released?

Well the KT400 is out and in fact, VIA is releasing it as the KT333 being that they have chipset shortages for the KT333... I try to keep up with the tech sites somewhat. Believe Icrontic mentioned it. But the KT333 should support it with BIOS updates.

[quote="xtreme2k"]Please show links of the info.[/quote]

I cant find any official url that says that Barton does or does not have the SSE2, specially not from AMD's site. (AMD is tight lips on Barton but has a lot info on Hammer.) I know I have read about it but I cant show you. I will post it here if I find any semi-official links again.

There is not tech difficult of putting SSE2 to XP. It wont make any big impact on acceptance of the cpu since very few applications care about it. Since Intel has it for a while, it will only make sense for AMD to have it when they have a chance to redesign the core.

Barton is a new core for XP not a new cpu, just like the Tbred B. Both KT333 and KT400 can do 166FSB.

Sorry, what's SOI?

[quote="FlatLander"]Sorry, what's SOI?[/quote]

SOI is an acronym for "Silicon On Insulator". It referes to a tecnology, patented by IBM, involved in the transistor integration. You surely know that the transistor is the basic brick of any analogical or digital modern circuit. We have different types of transistors but 95% of actual transistors are using the so called C-Mos (Complementary MOS) technology. We may think about this transistor like a electronic swtich: a certain voltage applied on the transistor decides if the current may or not pass through the transistor itself. Actually each trans. offers some resistances to the current passing (it is for this that the CPUs are dissipating a lot of heat). It has some eddy currents as well which avoid the trans. to switch quickly from one state to the other since one has to wait till these eddy currents have been discharged: this is important for the max working freq. of a transistor. Then we have the resistances and the capacitive effects given by the metallizations which are the "metallic motorways" for the electric signals passing through the micropocessors.
It would be a bit long to explain where they put what, if you don't know much about the transistor technology, anyway the S.O.I. technology is a way to reduce these kind of resistences we have inside an integrated circuit, resulting in lower power comsumption and lower heat dissipation.
Philps, Motorola and AMD unlike Intel (at least at the moment), are implementing (or trying to do it) this technology.

Intel HAS talked about SOI technology for future CPUs - I don't remember when they're supposed to add it to the P-IV series - or if they already have done so for the any-daynow 3Ghz to be announced. I'm pretty sure Madison (the next Itanium) is supposed to be SOI.

As I recall, IBM in the Power series is the only current SOI CPU in mass production - but I expect that to change next year, if not sooner.

Intel is not going for SOI. They are going for Strained Silicon. Which is a totally different approach.

[quote="QuintLeo"]As I recall, IBM in the Power series is the only current SOI CPU in mass production - but I expect that to change next year, if not sooner.[/quote]

It seems to me that Apple is using this technology as well through Motorola's CPUs... But I'm not sure of it...