Best Processor in your cpu career?

[Scali2]

I feel like such a newb since my first ever cpu was a athlon 3200+

Yea, it always makes me feel weird when people say "I've only ever used AMD".
For me that wasn't even an option. AMD wasn't selling CPUs under its own brand when I got my first PC (or second, or third). In fact, the whole concept of buying motherboards and CPUs separately and building your own PC wasn't an option at first. In the early PC days, there were no off-the-shelf motherboards, cases, PSUs or anything. And even when they did arrive, at first you couldn't buy them in the stores as a customer. They were used by small OEMs to build their own custom machines.
It wasn't until the early 90s I believe that I saw the first 386 and 486 boards sold separately (but still with a CPU already on the board... no zif-sockets until later 486 anyway... my Pentium was the first time I ever bought the motherboard and the CPU separately).

And at about that time, AMD started selling its own CPUs, but they still weren't an option for me, because they were so much slower than Intels (and I had no problem affording the low- to mid-end Intels).
So to me it's "Wow, if you've never used anything but AMD, you've missed a lot"

 

[Master Blaster]

I've actually saved most of my old processors. My first was the Intel 386-16 MHz with the 387 Math Co-processor in 1988. Cyrix made a chip that plugged in the 386 socket making it comparable to a 486-32 MHz I was flying high playing Doom then. I had a 486-33 that was extremely powerful for its day and a 486-50 DX2 that was capable of playing video on the PC in the early 90's that was really neat.

I got a hold of a Pentium Pro 200 that was very decent and then on to a PII 333 which was one of my favorites coupled with 2 Canopus Voodoo II vodeo cards in SLI. I did get a lot of service out of several PIII 866s in some desktops and a 700 in my ThinkPad.
I put a P4 Northwood at 2.4GHz in a Dell 8200 that performed rather well.

My P4 3.4 GHz in my current AW desktop overclocks like crazy to over 4GHz, but the 2.16 GHz Duo Core in my Laptop easily matches it. I don't know which is my favorite I loved them all........

I'm envious. I'd like to have all my old processors...and in such great shape too! Nice collection.

 

[Scali2]

Yea, the PPro 200 is the coolest, imo.
I have one too (sadly a 256k L2 model, not the 1 MB one). They're very rare, because they were only aimed at the workstation/server market, and never quite made it to the mainstream. The Pentium II replaced it quite quickly. Almost as if the Pentium Pro was a false start of the P6 micro-architecture. It had problems running 16-bit software, which most mainstream users required. The one I got is a Compaq Deskpro, which I got from my father's work. They ran an NT4 network there, like most larger businesses at the time, so they weren't affected by the 16-bit issues as much... and in NT4 it's a pretty good CPU, about as fast as a PII.

 

[lunix]

The best I would have to say is my 1.8 Northwood I picked up right when they came out. 1.6's were sold out for some reason. That chip ran faster than anything money could buy at the time and I used it happily for years.

I'm not going to run through my CPU history.

 

[Jakalwarrior]

My list is much shorter but...

Chips I bought and installed

Celeron 2.0, made it to 2.7ghz on lower than stock vcore, 100 bucks
P4 2.4C, made it to ... 2.7ghz on 1.575 vcore , ~100 bucks
3800 X2, made it to 2.7ghz on 1.55 vcore, 389 bucks
3800 X2, made it to 2.7ghz on 1.5 vcore, 130 bucks
at this point I got REALLY tired of 2.7ghz so....
4000 X2, made it to 2.9ghz on 1.5 vcore, 37 bucks
e7200 C2D, made it to 3.8ghz on 1.216 vcore, 100 bucks


Best sofar was the 3800 X2. It cost me and arm and a leg at release but it lasted forever. In its overclocked state it was faster than anything sold for a long time. It is still fast enough for most stuff. e7200 may come out being better long term usage but I havent had it long enough to tell.

 

[Monkey God]

I usually upgrade every year or two at the most. I am a couple months away from being 2 years on my QX6700, and I am still VERY happy with it. No plans on changing any time soon.

 

[WarlordOne]

The Pentium/Celeron M Dothan hands down. I built a desktop with one back in the Pentium 4 days. I had a 1.5Ghz overclocked to 2.5Ghz and it performed as well as the best P4 money could buy. It just ran cooler and was much cheaper. I think I only paid $70 for the cpu. I also have one in my other laptop and it's still as fast as ever, overclocked since new.

 

[blade52x]

I only recently started building computers (3 years ago) and for me it is the E6600. Bought on release, now almost 2.5 years later and it still runs great.

Though in that time I went E6600 -> Q6600 -> E6600 because of money issues. Sucks being a broke college student, else the Q6600 would probably go down as the best as mine was a great overclocker and hit 3.6 on air without any problems.

 

[brons2]

My most hated? The 300MHz Celey. I don't know what the bloody hell you guys are talking about, that slow piece of shit haunted me for years.

At the time the 300A Celeron could be overclocked to 450 on a Intel BX motherboard just by moving the FSB jumper from 66 to 100. It worked on virtually all retail boxed 300A's that I ever saw. I got mine for around $90 at a time when the P2/3 450's were just coming out and they were $$$$$

So you see, cheap CPU, not so cheap performance.

There was also a version of the Celeron 300 (and 266) that did not include L2 cache, that one was super duper slow. If you got stuck with one of those, I feel sorry for you.

 

[Sovereign]

I've only ever owned three CPUs...
1. AMD Athlon 64 3400 (939 variant) @ 2.2GHz, didn't OC worth anything
2. AMD Opteron 170 (939) @ 2.0GHz, OC to 2.6GHz (but only with 2 sticks of RAM)
3. Intel Q6600 @ 2.4GHz, OC to 3.2GHz (4 sticks)

The Opteron was good while it lasted, but I got a "bad" overclocker (I know nothing's guaranteed but I'm still annoyed). The Q6600, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. 3.2GHz on air. 3.0GHz on stock cooling and only a slight volt bump...

 

[Zepher]

A pic from a few years ago with some spare processors I have,

 

[SulSeeker]

386SX 16
386DX 40
486SLC 33
486DLC 40
Cyrix 5x86 133
AMD K62 350 (Found [H] then)
AMD K63+ 450 @ 555 (on VIA 503+, hated and loved that thing)
AMD Duron 1GHZ (Maxed @ 1200mhz or so)
AMD Athlon Mobile 2500+ (Maxed @ 2750 mhz)
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ AM2 (Maxed @ 2800 mhz)
AMD Athlon x2 3800+ AM2 (Maxed @ 3087.5 mhz)
Intel Pentium 4 3.0HT (sold X2 Chip, mobo and 8800 GTS)
Intel Core i7 920 (currently @ 3.0ghz)

My Favorites

K63+ Cause i spent more time fiddling with it and learning about computers in general than actually playing games.

AMD Duron 1ghz / Athlon 2500+, Duron was a significant jump in performance over what it replaced, and the Mobile was just a chip-swap, even tho it was held back by SDR memory, it screamed.

Core i7 920, current and what a difference over Netburst. I'm SO glad I only had a P4 for about 6 months... I couldn't imagine having one for years on end.

 

[accidentalsuccess]

my two fav's were:

PII 350 @ 425
PIII 600 @ 7?? (gah, can't remember!)

Upgrading from that PII to PIII made UT SCREAM. Paired w/ a V3 that PIII was the best gaming rig I ever had. Wow I played too much UT. . ..

I also was pretty partial to the XP-Moblies (unlocked), also a great overclockers. Now I run most stuff at stock.

[edit]I have not a clue what those AMD-M's were...my memory is going soft about this stuff...too many other things going on these days.[/edit]

 

[Master Blaster]

I really enjoyed my PIII 266mhz. I had it inside a Micron which at the time was top tier stuff. I think the reason I enjoyed it so much is that the Compaq I had before (386) didn't have a math co-processor. That meant no Quake or 3D rendering programs. After I picked up my Micron w/PIII I was floored at how much more I could do compared to the old processor. Great times!

 

[Tobit]

My favorite was my AMD 386DX40 for some reason. This was my second PC build, my first was a 12MHz 80286. For me, going from the 286/12 to the 386/40 was a lot like going to the i7 today. The 386/40 was also my first Linux box. Oh, the memories. I had alot of fun with the 486DX2 and 486DX4 series of CPUs too. Early Pentium days did little for me and, until the recent debut of the Core i7, I don't think I've been anywhere near as excited with new CPUs as I used to be back in the 386/486 days. I still own my 386DX40 CPU.

 

[SILVR 6]

i've only been involved with computers for a little over 10 years, however I would have to say that I'm rather fond of my Opty 165 which I don't have anymore. It was my first ump into dualcore computing. Back in march of 2006 is when I started using that cpu, a 900mhz OC was rather nice at the time. I look back now and thing in reality, for what i use my computer for, that Opteron 165@ 2.7ghz would suit me just fine.

Other notable mentions would be my duron 650@1ghz which was my first computer I ever built, and at the time the fastest athlon cpu's weren't even at 1ghz yet so it was quite the achievement to have a 1ghz cpu.

Right before I had my Opty I had a XP2500M @ 2.6ghz which was a rather sweet machine running on an NF7-S

For me it seems the newest computer i'm using has the best cpu, go figure. I like my build right now and I can't see myself building anything to replace it anytime soon.

In terms of longevity, my Duron 650@1ghz was my longest running part. Started in a KT7-RAID, then in a KT7A-Raid and then lived in my NF7-S until I got the Xp2500M to replace it.