Socket 7 processors--AMD K6-2 & K6-3

Factual Questions
1

I am currently running a Socket-7 style motherboard on my home system and would like to do a processor upgrade. Presently I am running an AMD K6-2 333mhz processor, but I would like to purchase a slightly faster processor to toss in. My motherboard can support both K6-2 and K6-3 processors up to 450 mhz, so the problem is deciding which one to get.

Normally I would have just picked the K6-3 and been done with it, but I’ve noticed something strange lately. It seems that the K6-2 processors are more plentiful than the K6-3s, and when the K6-3 processors can be found, in some cases they are cheaper than K6-2 processors of the same speed. (Check prices at TigerDirect for an example of this.) This makes me tend to think that maybe the K6-3 processors could be a bit flaky, but I’ve not read anything to tell me this is true.

Do any of you run a K6-3 processor? If so, does it appear to be stable on your system? (I know I should probably gut my system and plop in a new MB running a 1ghz Athlon, but I don’t want to sink a lot of cash into my system and I don’t need to have the fastest clock speed on the block. I figure that I’ll puchase a new processor and put another 64 megs of memory on-board and I’ll be set.)

2

Tom’s Hardware Guide is running a feature on this question this very day - http://www.tomshardware.com

It looks like the K6-III is a K6-II with L2 cache onboard and some power management features. The cache should give you some performance improvement.

The poor availablity and cheaper price for the K6-III is probably because it is being supplied to OEMs only. They can sell them on to you, but you probably won’t get a box, a manual or a warranty. So it’s your choice - L2 cache but you’re on your own, or no L2 cache but you get some documentation.

3

I’m going to check out the Tom’s hardware article right now.

If anybody else has thoughts or ideas on this, please write in.