K6-2+/K6-III+

[Sojourn]

I want to cheaply upgrade my K6-2 350 system to squeeze a few more months out of it before upgrading to an Athlon system (I want to wait until DDR is available and stable.) I'm trying to figure out which is the best K6 option and I'm having trouble finding information. I see references on many sites to a K6-III+, but I don't see it for sale anywhere. My motherboard supports up to 550MHz (100MHz bus, 5.5 multiplier) so I want to get that, or close to it and overclock. Basically, what is the difference between the K6-2 and K6-2+, and the K6-III and K6-III+, and the K6-2 and K6-III. I see the K6-III is very limited in supply. Has this line been discontinued by AMD? I seem to recall an article here suggesting this. Anyone have some info and/or links handy?

 

[Kodiak]

doesn't the '+' denote a mobile processor, i.e. for notebooks?

 

[jg38141]

yes the "+" chips are mobil lines, however I think there might be some in between on the k6-2's not sure though. But you can run the plus chips on a socket seven board for an increase in performance if:
1. You have the right voltage settings
2. You can find the plus chips at a reasonable price

"Are you saying that I can dodge bullets?"

 

[Guest]

You can get the plus chips at softwareandstuff.com and tigerdirect.com for around $50. I have a K6-3+/450 currently running at 500. Almost everyone can get 550 out of it and most people seem to get 600. It's a very easy overclock, after being on 24 hours, with the seti screensaver, the heat sink and chip were at room temp.

The K6-2+ has 128k of cache, so it's a much better chip than the K6-2. Both the K6-3 and 3+ have 256k of cache and are pretty much the same in performance.

Neither of the non-plus chips was very overclockable.

Sandra's giving me about 30% better benchmarks between the K6-2/400 and 3+/500. 3dmark was up 50% and that seems about right based on a quick observation of Unreal Tournament. For $50, i'm pretty happy with a 50% increase in gaming power.

 

[BrianL]

The only thing you have to be careful of in using these processors is that they draw more power than the regular K6-2 because of the L2 cache. Some voltage regulators may not be able to put out enough power even if you can get the correct voltage of 2.0V . Also, your bios has to be able to support them so your bios has to be dated in 1999 or later.

If you can get them to work on your board, they will improve performance substantially over the old K6-2. To answer your question, they were made for the laptop market and are normally only sold to OEMs but you can order them online.

 

[Guest]

Is it true that the + versions of the K6-2 & K6-III have enhanced 3DNow! capability similar to an Athlon?

 

[lisabob2]

The k6III+ is for the mobile market, but it'll work on some super 7 mb's.
There are some sites selling it online, check pricewatch.
Bob

 

[Wol]

According to AMD it has "new DSP Instructions". You can read this at http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/mobile/index.html

 

[Wol]

Look at „Socket 7: Fit For Years To Come!“ here at tomshardware.com!

 

[Guest]

<b>> According to AMD it has "new DSP Instructions". </b>

Yes, but do these new instructions bring it up to the same 3DNow! instruction set of an Athlon?

 

[Guest]

I think they are the same though I am not sure and I don,t think they matter anyway.

 

[Guest]

Yes, to my knowledge, the +'s have the new 3dnow commands (the same as athlon). They also have powernow, the powersaving functionality meant for notebooks, and people have been able to OC the processors using special windows software that tinkers with the powernow.

Considerable knowledge, including a list of supported (not officially, but functionally) motherboards, more info about powernow and other tweaks to the new +'s can be found at amdzone forums. (http://www.amdzone.com/forum/categories.cfm?catid=13)

Raoul