Which Processor?

[EineBeBoP]

Ok, guys need sum help

I'll be upgrading my processor (CPU) and Motherboard (MB) soon, but I ahve to decide....

Pentium 4 or AMD athalon processor??

I have 2 gamer friends who say go AMD, but I ahve a friend I really respect, who says to go P4 ("especially for gaming")

Which do I choose? I have the $$$ for both (new MB, CPU, and case) but I want to see what everyone who actually uses these things thinks about them.

please vote, my computer depends upon it.

(oh, ill be getting about a 2.5 P4 [and whatevers equal to that in AMD])


Thanks for ur help!

--Eine

[diluted]

athlon xp

[glsauron]

If your going to OC, get a XP2100 and a real nice cooler and crank it up to a 200X11. Or if you dont want to OC, a P4 2.4B is a little more speed, and even with stock cooling you can take it to 3Ghz+ if you ever feel the need.

Mobo- XP use an nForce 2 based A7N8X delux from Asus, for P4 think about a Granite bay based Gigabyte or Asus, if you wait about a month and a half the 800Mhz FSB P4s will be out, they will rock. Either way grab 2 sticks of matched DDR400 (PC3200) 256MB sticks.

Always an uphill battle in the computer world.

[Mauser101]

I've been an avid AMD man for the past 4 years, but thanks to the cache size available in the newest P4's, I may be going for an Intel chip again.

Seriously though, it doesn't matter. If you're buying a new chip you're going to be pumping out more processing power than PS will need anway.

I'm planning on going with a P4 2.8ghz precessor in the near future. Still, AMD is a viable alternative thanks to their cost.

Can't wait for the Clawhammer to be introduced. That'll blow the P4's out of the water and still cost less than the newest P4 on the market (unless Intel gets off their butts and ramps up the Itaniums).

EDIT: glsauron- My understanding is that none of the ASUS boards are AGP 8x compatible yet. Is this true?

OCing brings in a whole new relm of options that'll just confuse the issue.

EDIT2: Scratch the cache size on the newer P4's. I ment the FSB. Which I understand is running at 512 as opposed to the 333 on the Athlons. Clawhammer is slated for a 3rd or 4th quarter '03 release (hopefully).

[Hamma]

Moved to lounge.

(buy the P4)

[glsauron]

I agree with Hamma, wont matter for PS anyway...if your running a DDR based motherboard your fine anyway for PS.

Mauser101-
cache is no longer an issue, Barton brings 512kb L2 to the AMD faithful.
FSB the P4 does rock all AMDs. currently at 533 vs 333. In 1.5 months P4 will move to an 800 FSB so 800 vs 333. And I said if you go with the AMD you have to get a t-bred B core 2100, and then move to a 200FSBX11 only way to be competative. not only do you have the extra FSB speed, but also increases the overall core clock too. And yes, OCing does bring a whole new slew of issues to the table. 8X is available on the nForce 2 platform, the A(AMD CPU)7(Athlon)N(nVidia chipset)8X(AGP speed) Delux, the high end nForce 2 board.

CHammer will be released at ~2.0Ghz clock (thats the target anyway) and boasting a 3.2-3.4 relative performance rating. By then intel will be chomping at the bit to release 3.2-3.6Ghz 800FSB HT enabled P4s. No advantage except for the 64 bit, but nobody is running XP 64-bit edition, so no way to leverage it anyway.


And Im running a 1.8A running at a 2.4 clock. If you OC the current best bet is a 2100B core 200FSB X 11 Mult (nForce 2 lets you adjust multiplyer) or a 2.4B with a 150 to 166FSB (No mult adjustments possible. Be nice if that was in springdale/canterwood but it's not possible)

[mistled]

guys, he's talking about getting a P4 2.5. Don't compare things like the 800MHz FSB which won't affect what he's buying.

I say go AMD 2700 or 2800+ .... I'd say go P4 if you were talking about getting a 3.06 chip (b/c of hyperthreading), but you aren't, so go AMD

[powdahound]

AMD definitely! My xp2100+ (1.73ghz) benchmarks faster than the 2.2ghz P4... Enough said there. However, I easily OCed the cpu to 2.3ghz with almost no temperature increase. AMD will save you money you can spend on other things. The nForce chipsets for AMDs are awesome as well, and you'd also benefit from them. AMD all the way.

[powdahound]

Originally posted by {BOHICA}mistled
I say go AMD 2700 or 2800+ .... I'd say go P4 if you were talking about getting a 3.06 chip (b/c of hyperthreading), but you aren't, so go AMD

Hyperthreading right now is not that big of a deal. Not many things really benefit from it, nor is it work the insane ammount of money that chip costs.

[glsauron]

{BOHICA}mistled- The 800Mhz FSB/HT enabled chips will get all the way down to 2.4 chips. A 2.4 or a 2.8 would fit what he'd be looking for.

powdahound- only expensive because it's only on the 3.06, already the fastest around. When the P4Cs come out the 2.4 is gonna be around 175-180 for a chip that should be able to beat a 2.53 pretty easily in most situations.

2700/2800+ would be outa his price range Im thinking. a 2.53 P4 would work excellent for him. Pair it with a Asus GB board and he's good to rock.

Or go with a 2700+, A7N8X delux and a twin PC2700C2 memory. Good set-up.

[mistled]

Originally posted by powdahound
Hyperthreading right now is not that big of a deal. Not many things really benefit from it, nor is it work the insane ammount of money that chip costs.

Very true for now. But I'm assuming that he'll keep this rig for a while, so if he were looking to spend insane amounts of cash anyway, I like the potential hyperthreading has (not that I it will help gaming though).

The nForce chipsets for AMDs are awesome as well, and you'd also benefit from them.

nForce boards rock.

[�io]

Athalon is great, it's better than both the P4 and the Athlon.

[mistled]

Originally posted by glsauron
{BOHICA}mistled- The 800Mhz FSB/HT enabled chips will get all the way down to 2.4 chips. A 2.4 or a 2.8 would fit what he'd be looking for.

2700/2800+ would be outa his price range Im thinking. a 2.53 P4 would work excellent for him. Pair it with a Asus GB board and he's good to rock.

Key phrase here being "will get all the way down". I'm assuming that he's buying now, and doesn't want to wait for a faster fsb before he buys.

Yeah, I didn't price the chips before I mentioned them. If you've got the cash for a P4 2.5 and a new board, just go with whatever AMD and nForce board you can get for that same price and the AMD combo will outperform it.

[Squeeky]

I like the P4

[m00c0w]

Just go w/ the AXP d00d, w/ the money u'll save u can get some extra goodies, i've told u a million times man.

(btw its ISS)

Athalon ... LOL