AMD makes a great cpu, more bang for your buck than Intel

Author's Rating:

Pros: AMD processors offer more bang for the buck

Cons: Somewhat fragile cpu core, runs a bit hotter than Intel products of the same speed.

The Bottom Line: 
AMD offers more bang for the buck than Intel, requires a hefty heatsink/fan due to high operating temperatures, AMD cpu cores can be damaged during heatsink installation.

Author's Review
I am something of a computer nut. How can you tell? Well a large portion of my backroom is filled with nothing but past incarnations of my computer systems. I have no less than 6 old (still functional motherboards), several old cpus and memory sticks, a few old cdburners and a few other miscellaneous bits and pieces; basically enough pieces to build a few older slower computers if I needed to.

I am one of those that likes to keep my system up to date but by no means do I ever go out and buy the newest hottest thing; the budget just won't support that. I have been building computers since the late 80's when desktop computers became reasonable in terms of power and price. I have been using AMD products practically since the company's inception and I've never been disappointed yet.

The AMD 2100+ is a reasonably fast cpu that should serve most people well enough in a basic system unless they are into graphics intensive games or CAD (computer aided design) applications. Persons wanting to do those kinds of things with their systems need not only a hot cpu, they also need a hot video card. For most home users that want to surf the net, do the taxes, write letters, send email, manipulate the digital photos off the digital camera, play a few recent games, etc. this is plenty of cpu power for those types of applications.

Tray CPU vs. Retail:
A tray cpu is one that is sold to a company that builds computers in bulk. The cpu is delivered on a tray that carries a number of units (thus tray cpu), it's sometimes also called a "OEM" cpu. A cpu sold this way doesn't come with a heatsink, and as a rule only carries a 90 day warranty from the place you bought it from.

Retail cpus come in a nice box with a heatsink/fan and a 3 year warranty from AMD.

For the few dollars price difference (often less than ten bucks unless it's a brand new item), buy the retail unless you don't plan to keep the machine long or know you're going to upgrade again really soon. I've only ever had one cpu fail after a couple of years of use in all my years of computer building so this is not really one of those items that you should be too awfully concerned about warranties on. Overclocking generally voids your warranty anyhow so that one is also not much of a reason to be worried about warranties. The big deal here is that if your local store or internet shop goes out of business and you do happen to have a problem within three years, you can then deal directly with AMD for a replacement cpu.

Pre-installation considerations:

Motherboard:
In order to use this cpu you must of course have a motherboard that will support this cpu.

The AMD 2100+ cpu is a Socket A cpu chip, it does not use the same cpu plug as the Intel products do. Intel chipsets do not support the competition AMD (at least I've never seen one that does) so you are generally restricted to VIA, NVIDIA or one of several lesser known chipset makers.

The 2100+ is a 266 sideband cpu so in addition to being sure you've got the right type of cpu socket, you must also be sure that it supports the 133 sideband selection that this cpu needs to operate at full speed. Generally any motherboard made in the past three years will easily support this chip. Well regarded motherboard manufacturers are EPOX, GIGABYTE, MSI, DFI, ASUS, ATI... the list is long but those are some of the major players.

Your choice of motherboard is largely a matter of choice, if you don't know what you want, you can often go to newsgroups for these company's products and read the posts or ask questions of your own. These days motherboards have more and more functions built into them, what you want or can afford will have a lot to do with what you buy. Motherboard products that have been on the market for awhile are generally a better choice than the newest hottest products because there's been a bit more time to work the bugs out and they will also cost less.

CPU Fan:
If you buy a retail boxed AMD cpu you will get an "acceptable" fan with it in the box. The stock fans sold with AMD cpu are ok but if you can afford to buy a better quality/higher performance cpu fan I would suggest you do so. A cooler cpu lasts longer and runs with fewer errors caused by too much heat. There are two main materials that a good heatsink is made from, aluminum and copper. It's generally agreed that copper, while heavier moves heat better but it can also hold heat longer, many of the better regarded heatsink/fans on the market currently use a aluminum heatsink with a copper core that sits directly on top of the cpu core. Some high performance fans draw so much current that the 3 pin cpu fan connector on the motherboard that is designed for this purpose can't handle it. In that case you will have a regular plug such as those used for your hard drives that must be plugged into a free power supply connector (or between a hard drive and its power connector) to operate properly. If you got one of these monsters you generally still must plug the tiny three prong connector into the motherboard so it can monitor the fan speed and detect if the fan stops operating.

AMD cpus unfortunately have a bad reputation for damaged cores during cpu fan installation. The fan provided in the box with the cpu requires a great deal of pressure to install (hooking the clip over the nubs on the socket) and if you are not careful during the fan installation, you can crack the core of the cpu. Cracked cpu cores are physical damage and are not covered by the warranty. If you crack the core of your $80.00 cpu you are just plain out of luck; no one will replace it!

I highly recommend the Globalwin TAK68 cpu fan for this cpu. I've got two of these little gems running on two of my systems. The attachment system for this fan is foolproof, there is no way you can crack a core with this fan because of the ingenious attachment system it uses (clips hook around the socket nubs and are tightened down by a screw on top of the heatsink/fan, the screw is an exact length so you can't possibly tighten it so much that it causes damage). Directron.com still sells this fan and it is priced around $20.00. This fan is only rated up to this cpu speed, so unfortunately this investment will not last if you buy a faster cpu. If you intend to upgrade your cpu again later and your motherboard will support it, you may want to go ahead and look at an even better quality fan that will last into a future upgrade (Directron.com has a good selection of good quality cpu fans--check out the foxconn products on their page). There are many sites that review cpu fans and give information on difficulty of installation, efficiency, etc.

One last note on fans: Some motherboards can use a different type of fan that is a bit less dangerous to your fragile AMD cpu core. Your motherboard is required to have four holes around the cpu socket to use this type of board-mounted (instead of chipmounted) fan. I had one of these for awhile, I found the mounting hardware a bit of a pain because the screws didn't hold tight and sometimes the fan mounts became loose. Since the mounting screws that hold the mounts in place are on the back of the board, you have to disassemble the whole system to fix that problem. Chipmounted fans don't have this issue, but the board-mounted fans don't have the reputation for cpu core damage and some feel they're a bit more efficient.

Thermal material:
When installing a new cpu you must put thermal transfer material between the base of the heatsink/fan and the top of the AMD cpu core. Thermal transfer material fills the gap between the cpu core and the heatsink base and increases heat transfer to the heatsink. DO NOT USE THERMAL PASTE on a fast cpu such as this one, it will not protect your cpu and will even cause problems. You need a silver based product such as Artic Silver II/III to put between your cpu fan and the processor core.

Many cpu fans/heatsinks come with a "thermal pad" on the bottom. There are varying opinions on whether these pads are as good as the silver material but most sites recommend that you carefully remove it (don't scratch the base of the heatsink) and use Artic Silver II/III instead.

Shim:
Again, there are varying opinions on this item. A shim is intended to sit over the cpu (has holes in the right places) and give a bit more protection to the fragile AMD core. Shims come in cardboard and copper. Obviously the cardboard one is not going to assist in heat transfer, but there are many who believe the copper ones do help. I have use shims and they do give you a more even surface to rest the heatsink upon and if you are new to installing AMD cpu's I would suggest you make the five dollar investment to possibly preserve your expensive cpu from damage.

What's in the Retail Box:
The 2100+ cpu
Warranty card, installation instructions
cpu fan

Installation:
I do not recommend trying to install a cpu with the motherboard inside the case. if you're lucky enough to have a case with a removable tray, it's enough to just disconnect everything and pull the tray out to put on a flat surface. If installing a new board, I put the board on a flat non-conductive surface (a hard rubber cutting mat for sewing and projects works great for this) for the installation.

Some motherboards are AUTO everything and you don't have to set any jumpers but most have at least one for the fast side bus. Since this cpu is a 266 fsb cpu be sure to set the jumper on your board to 133.

Put thermal material on the cpu:
Squeeze a tiny amount of arctic silver II/III, or similar product, about the size of the head of a pin onto the top of the cpu core (the square silver thing in the middle). Use a straight edge such as the side of a credit card to evenly spread the silver material over the core only, do not get any on the exposed bridges on top of this cpu or it could cause problems; wipe up any excess that spills over the edges. It is important that the silver material is spread evenly and thinly on the core, no streaks or bare spots. If you make a mess, use alcohol on a q-tip for cleanup.

Install the cpu on the motherboard:
On your motherboard you will see the very large socket A that accepts this cpu. On the side of the socket is a lever. Pull the lever slightly to the side and lift up.

As you examine the socket you will see that one corner is slanted. The slanted corner of the socket is matched up with the matching slanted corner of the cpu, this tells you the correct way to install the cpu. The pins on the bottom of your cpu are very fragile. If you have it oriented correctly it will drop easily into the plug with very little effort.

Press down gently on an edge of the cpu where there are no bridges and then lock that lever back down. If you have it installed correctly it will look flat on the socket, if it's not flat and you can see any space between the cpu chip and the socket try again; it's not quite in there right.

Install the heatsink/fan:
This is the dangerous step if you are uncomfortable installing the heatsink on the cpu, ask/pay someone experienced to do it for you! Fan/heatsinks that are designed only for socket A cpus will only install properly one way. Those that are designed to work on more than one type of cpu, such as socket 478 (the new Intel Pentiums), it may not be quite so obvious which is the correct way to install it. Some cpu fans give a nice illustrated book with pictures to help with installation, however, many don't or only have a few drawings on the side of the box to help you.

Install the shim on the cpu if you chose to use one. Be sure that your thermal material is still on the cpu core and didn't get messed up with handling (i.e. still a smooth thin layer on the core and not streaked or any bare spots). If you are using a chip mounted fan, put the heatsink down on top of the cpu with the correct orientation. Note the two or three nubs on each side of the cpu socket.

The rest of the heatsink/fan installation is a two handed process. Put one hand directly on top of the fan/heatsink and push STRAIGHT DOWN, using some pressure (but don't press hard!); never put pressure to either side, only on the middle of the fan heatsink--this is how damage occurs. While still pressing straight down on top of the heatsink/fan, you use the other hand to hook one side of the clip to the nubs on one side of the cpu socket(usually easiest to do left side first). For the other side of the fan clip, while still keeping pressure straight down on the heatsink/fan, you must use a needle-nosed pliers or screwdriver to force the other side of the cpu clip down onto the nubs on the other side of the cpu socket. Be sure to check the clips to be sure they are securely over the nubs and not on the edge and ready to pop off.

Examine carefully to be sure the heatsink is properly seated over the cpu. Be sure that none of the components (like capacitors or chipset fans) around the cpu are interfering with the correct seating of the heartsink. On some motherboards you have a very tight space around the cpu socket, some fans may not fit on all boards (reviews often point this kind of thing out). This gadget is keeping your cpu cool, if it's not installed properly your cpu will overheat and die because of overheating; be sure it's flat on the cpu.

Most recent motherboards have settings in the bios that can be turned on that will shut down the system if the cpu gets too hot; I highly recommend turning these on and leaving them on at all times. Fans last a very long time these days but they do eventually wear out after long years of daily use. There is a newer kind of fan out now called TMD (tip magnetic drive) this kind of fan works a bit differently than the earlier technology and cools better because the fan is driven by magnets along the outside of the fan, not by a hub driven by a motor in the center; there are no real world tests yet of how long these new fans are going to last.

If you chose a board mounted fan the installation is similar but since your mounting hardware is attached to the motherboard all you do is screw in the hardware, sit the sink on top of the cpu (with shim if you so choose) and screw down the screws on the four corners of the heatsink evenly (i.e. don't tighten each corner completely invidually, do each screw a little bit at a time).

Put the machine back together and test:
When you boot your machine you should be greeted with a readout that tells the speed of your cpu, if you have all the jumpers set correctly it will state amd 2100+, if it's being incorrectly detected you have a jumper wrong somewhere. After the cpu readout your memory will post and you'll have a few seconds to enter the bios if you need to.

Assuming your cpu was correctly detected and your memory posted properly, you may or may not have to make any changes in your bios setup; with most motherboards you won't need to make any changes.

If everything is well you should enter your operating system, if the machine reboots or freezes up as your OS tries to start you could have a fan problem (i.e. it's not running). I suggest leaving the side of the case off so you can stick a flashlight in there and see if the cpu fan is running, of course some are so loud you can tell just by listening if it's running.

If your machine lights up or beeps in a wierd pattern and does nothing when the ON button is pressed you could have done one of several things: the cpu isn't seated properly, the cpu fan/heatsink isn't hooked up/or running, you missed a jumper, you knocked a memory chip loose in all the moving around, or the video card isn't seated all the way (AGP cards are notorious for this one). Several modern boards used to come with a feature called fan guardian that was designed to save your cpu by not allowing the machine to start if the cpu fan wasn't running. Many companies have abandoned this feature because it sometimes caused more problems than it was worth and some models of cpu fan/heatsink didn't ever work properly with it.

After bootup:
You should not have to make any changes inside any of the various Windows operating systems for your new cpu. If you have Linux or some other less common OS, I don't have any experience with those so I can't tell you if you'd have to make any adjustments with those OS.

Burning in:
Some experienced techs firmly believe in "burning in" your new components by letting your system run continuously for 36 hours. The theory being, if your new component is going to fail, it will most certainly do it during the burn period.

So start your machine up and just let it sit for 36 hours (turn off your monitor if you don't have a screen saver) to let everything get all heated up and settled into place. During this period you can also run some test bed software to stress your cpu and be sure that the cooling you have for it is able to handle the load. Seventy degrees Centigrade (why readouts always seem to default to centigrade instead of Fahrenheit is beyond me, I guess since most of the world is on the Metric system we're overruled in the US) is about as hot as any modern cpu can run before being irreparably damaged by overheating. A properly setup bios temperature setting will sound and alarm over the case speaker and shut down your machine if cpu temperatures get too high. Many motherboard manufacturers offer a windows utility that will monitor the cpu fan (and sometimes other case fans too if they have speed sensors) and sound an alarm if the rpm of those fans gets too low or stops completely.

Enjoy your new faster computer system.