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Greatest CPU of all time ? what gets your vote?

Cyrix 6x86
Horrid chips made at IBM fab plants.
Ran as hot as the sun and had a stupid PR rating.
The P200 actually ran at 2x83mhz, a speed most MB's couldn't cope with.
Integer performance wasn't bad but FP sucked.

Later variants were all in one chips, cant quite remember the names, mediagx i think.
They sucked even harder.
I think VIA own the IP now.
 
PCZ said:
Cyrix 6x86
Horrid chips made at IBM fab plants.
Ran as hot as the sun and had a stupid PR rating.
The P200 actually ran at 2x83mhz, a speed most MB's couldn't cope with.
Integer performance wasn't bad but FP sucked.

Later variants were all in one chips, cant quite remember the names, mediagx i think.
They sucked even harder.
I think VIA own the IP now.
Click to expand...

The PR200+ I had in my first self build was 2x75MHz and came bundled with a modified VX chipset board. Something went wrong after about 6 months and the CPU fan seized up, then the CPU melted the socket! The one they swapped it out for was a 6x86L and that ran a lot cooler, then shortly after the L2 cache on the motherboard failed. Swapped it out for a branded TX chipset board that was solid as a rock.

The 6x86 was seriously quick at integer stuff but the FPU even on the PR200+ wasn't as quick as a P120. Once the 3dfx cards turned up people stopped buying them. I swapped mine out for a P200MMX (oc'd to 225Mhz) and never looked back...

The MediaGX was an idea ahead of it's time. System on a chip - CPU, chipset, video and audio all in one. Intel are just coming around to this thinking with the next gen Atom. Ten years ago L2 cache was on the motherboard so Cyrix just omitted it which killed the performance.

The first x86 with on-die L2 cache was the Pentium Pro and the poor yields made it mega expensive. Hence the Pentium 2 coming as Slot 1 with separate cache chips on the module. Intel finally cracked the process with the legendary Celeron 300A.
 
Strange you also had a melted socket experience.
I passed on my Cyrix P166 to a friend who used it 24/7 as a packet radio BBS.
The CPU fan he put on it was hardly turning and i warned him to replace it pronto.
Of course he didnt bother 'cos it's runin fine'

Well it run fine till the socket melted writing off the MB.

2x83mhz must have been the PR233.
It's been a while since i played with them.

The Intel MMX destroyed them though.
I remember at the time modems and sound cards, needing MMX for the drivers.
They were the infamous WIN cards with no hardware capability at all, the CPU did all the work.




Talking about cache or lack of.
You might remember the 486 boards with the fake cache chips.
Later the high prices charged for the COAST modules, glad they never caught on.
 
2500 Barton was a great chip. However i'm going to go with my current x2 3800. Its been running at a rock solid 2.8ghz for over 3 years on air. It can do 3ghz and has booted into windows at 3.2ghz! Thats a 1.2ghz increase just on air over its default 2
 
Barton xp2500 has to be the best I have had 24/7 @2.5 booted at 2618, did service in my brothers, then a mates, it eventually returned home, sitting in a Abit NF7-S v2.0 in a drawer. Other good cpu is my AM2 4400 sat@3450 on air for about a year(just recently retired) not missed a beat, will boot at 3.6. These are my two best and I have had a few, the bad cpu's stick in my mind too, like the cabge opty I had.
 
Hesky82 said:
The Winchesters had a real weak mem controller, the later Venice core were the high clocker replacement.
I had a 3200+ winny, although a great performing processor and worthy replacement to my old XP-M 2600+ it was just useless at overclocking!

The Venice and San Diego based x64 single cores were significantly better at overclocking!
Click to expand...

a lot of winchesters were fine for 285mhz+ on mem controller, and most clocked very well indeed, my own in fact managed 2.9ghz.

Venice and San Diegos biggest benefit was that they allowed you to clock easier with 4 sticks of ram and of course they ran a bit cooler.
 
I had a nasty Cyrix chip I got in a clone from Dixons, way back. Only bought a PC as I couldn't afford components to build myself and I got it on credit! Probably ~1990!

Pretty sure it was a 486 clone with no FPU - horrid thing.

I'm going to vote for the Q6600. Luvverly little thing. Still have old one in a box waiting for a hand-me-down gfx card when I finally get a 5850 for my main.
 
SlugForAButt said:
I'd like to know where...

I was trying to get hold of one to replace my Diego that had gone pop a couple of months ago. Had to settle for a 3500 'cos the Diego 3700's were going for silly money.

Please show me where to get hold of one for £2.50, I'd buy them all day at that price!
Click to expand...

try auction sites ive seen loads go no one wants single core cpus no more the 939 x2 are getting silly money though 4400 x2's going for £60 minimum and 939 opty 185's are £185 :eek: could get an i5 for that or i7 lol
 
For me it was a my Intel P3 (500MHz). It was a massive step up from my AMD k6, and I kept that PC the longest I've ever kept one as a main PC, 3 years I think it was. After which I gave it to my Aunt and it was still running strong.
 
opteron 144 . i bought one about 4 years ago and easily overclocked it to 3,1GHz with AC freezer 64 and in that time i was really proud of it :)
 
Can i be a little out there and say that eather the Xeon 3.2Ghz Nocana or the Xeon x5350(ES) should be considered as contenders for great chips.

I think the real winner though of all time is the Pentium Pro 200, which i think is always seen as the best ever.

Sam
 
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