Processor Upgrade

[sirles]

I need to buy a new processor for my motherboard MSI K7N2G-ILSR.
I am after AMD but I notice there is various types ie Barton, Thoroughbred etc.
My machine supports as follows:
CPU
�� Supports Socket A (Socket-462) for AMD® Athlon™/Athlon™ XP /Duron™
processors @ FSB 100/133/166
�� Supports 600MHz up to Athlon XP 2700+ MHz processor or higher

Can someone give me some sound advice on which type my motherboard can use?

[Neon]

If the BIOS is up to date, then the board will support most of the Athlon XP processors.

The 200 MHz FSB Athlon XP processors are not supported at their stock frequencies, but those would run at a lower frequency. There are only a few of those anyway:
Athlon XP 3200+ - AXDA3200DKV4E
Athlon XP 3100+ - AXDC3100DKV3E
Athlon XP 3000+ - AXDA3000DKV4E
Athlon XP 2900+ - AXDA2900DKV4E

Note that there are two similar 166 MHz FSB processors that ARE supported:
Athlon XP 3200+ - AXDA3200DKV4D
Athlon XP 3000+ - AXDA3000DKV4D

All of the other Athlon XP, 2800+ and slower, are supported.

Barton indicates 512KB L2 cache on die, whereas Thoroughbred has 256KB L2 cache. There are some chips with the same performance rating that have different cores. For example, there are Athlon XP 2600+ Barton and Athlon XP 2600+ Thoroughbred.

In the code numbers above,
4=512 L2 cache (Barton)
3=236 L2 cache (Thoroughbred)
E=200 FSB
D=166 FSB
c=133 FSB

So you have to look at the code numbers to distinguish between processors with the same performance rating.