AMD vs Intel CPUS

[Top_gun]

depending on how my marks go... i may be getting a new computer. After giving me a $2000 budget to start planning, i have come to the tough part. Picking the CPU

Intel P4 2.0GHz A $469.00
or
AMD XP 2100+ $440.00


Here is what else I'm plannin':
256 PC2700 DDR-RAM
Geforce4 Ti 4200 128RAm
Creative Live 5.1
350W PSU
LG 16X DVD ROM
LG 40X 12X 40 CDRW
Mator 80G 7200 and a 20G 7200 (tha latter for backup)
Asus P4B533(if Intel)/Asus A7N266-WA(if AMD)

All the benchmarks I have been seeing are tha p4 kicking the Athlon Xp (well, no, just from 0-20%). Then I noticed that tha P4s were wit R800 Ram and R1080 Ram while the Athlon Xps were using DDr-SDRAM. So that means if both were using DDR-DRAM, then the Athlon Xp would win over any P4?


One more thing, which has a better FSB? A year ago when i got this piece of crap (compared to today ), between a Athlon tm 1.2Ghz and a p4 1.7 Ghz ($1200 to $3000), the sales person said that the athlon has a 266 FSB and the p4 400 fsb. Yet he said that the p4 only runs under a single pump. Now I been reading that 2day p4 r running quadpumps to get the 400 and 533 FSBs. Is the Athlon Xp still runnin under 266 and which is better?


All in all to sum it up...Which chip would perform better wit DDR-SDRAM (Im not overclockin tha cpu)

*prices in Canadia Dollars
**My parents arent going to buy anything online.

[Morgan_Lander]

Depends on what benchmark or program yer talking about.

With the Intel solution, you'll be able to make better use of that RAM. On the other hand, the Athlon board will allow you more tweaking power on the RAM when you run it at 266MHz, and I'm not talking about any overclocking either.

Clock for clock the Athlon is generally faster, and that's what I would advise.

That Asus (Athlon) uses the nForce chipset, which has a dual-bank memory system. If you go that route, be sure to buy 2 128MB sticks of RAM to get the best bandwith.

The second thing, if you go with the Athlon system, that board has good on-board audio, so you can toss the idea of getting the Live. If you go with the Intel solution, the Live! isn't the best card you could spend your money on. Two good (and better sounding) alternatives are the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz and the Hercules Fortissimo II.

The last thing I'll add is regarding your cooling. Are you buying the CPU boxed or OEM? The reason I'm asking is because if you buy OEM, you'll need to purchase a separate fan for the CPU.

[Top_gun]

nope, just boxed...so tha Athlon will be tha better choice?

[Morgan_Lander]

In my opinion, yes.

[Wiggo]

The coolers that are packed with the boxed Athlons are only just adequate for standard operating conditions going to an OEM Athlon and getting a good copper HSF (Volcano 7+ or better) would be much better unless you live in a temperature controlled enviroment. :smokin:
<center>:cheers:</center>

[Bahamut Zer0]

Alpha PAL8045 or the ThermalRight AX-7 are very fine heatsinks to keep any Athlon CPU nice and cool.

Theyll cost you more, however. Remember- the Boxed Athlon comes with 3 years warranty. Cost difference between Boxed and Tray CPU is something in the vicinity of, say, 10buks. Well worth the money for 3years warranty as opposed to one.

[Top_gun]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/26491A_SftwrPrf.pdf

I guess this answers my question. Athlon 2100+ XP it is...

[Ehhe Yebeb]

an XP 2100+ will easily outperform a p4 2GHZ in multimedia and arithmetic CPU tests. The only reason you see higher benchmarks from the p4 is because it is using PC800RDRam as opposed to PC2100 or 2700DDR, which is stupid really since the two systems are not equally matched. If you see a benchmark of an XP 2000+ against a P4 2GHZ bothing using PC2700DDR, then you will see that the athlon XP disposes of the P4 very easily.

[Morgan_Lander]

That's because the P4 was meant to have RDRAM behind it.

[Top_gun]

R RAM is too expensive and looks to me that is isnt going to have much of a future cuz Intel is dumpin Rambus. Anyway, Im going tha DDR way.

It also seems to me that if I want to upgrade in teh future its easier to upgrade for tha P4 instead of the AMD. I heard that P4 will be stickin wit the 478 socket for 1-1/2 years while AMD will be releasing Baron and Clawhammer in .5-1 year which will be on totally different sockets.

[Ehhe Yebeb]

The bartons wont be on different sockets, they are just the .09u XP's. Anyhow, they have been on socket A for a fair while now, but just because the socket is changing doesnt mean upgrading to the P4 is going to be better. Especially when you consider that a clawhammer clocked at 800MHZ outperforms a P4 williamette clocket at 1.6ghz

[Ehhe Yebeb]

Anyway, i wouldnt trust that they will stick on 478. Not after that 423/478 confusion

[Top_gun]

The bartons wont be on different sockets, they are just the .09u XP's. Anyhow, they have been on socket A for a fair while now, but just because the socket is changing doesnt mean upgrading to the P4 is going to be better. Especially when you consider that a clawhammer clocked at 800MHZ outperforms a P4 williamette clocket at 1.6ghz

HOLY CRAP!!! I wonder what Intel has to counter this. Anyway thanks for all your help. As once I get my report card, I'll be gettin new computer wit Athlon Xp 2100+ will be

[Morgan_Lander]

I'm not surprised AMD is milking the Socket A platform for all it's worth. They stuck to Socket 7 for quite awhile. The Slot A platform was probably their shortest-lived platform, but they still tried to keep consumers from getting totally screwed.

[Wiggo]

A lot has changed since last year when "Barton" was to be a 0.09micron SOI part as seen in this latest roadmap from AMD
<center><img src="http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/styleone/roadmap060502.gif"></center>
with "Barton" just being an upgraded 0.13micron part with 512KB L2 cache but "Clawhammer" should be out soon after relegating the now Athlon line to the budget PC market where it will take over from the Durons though socket A will be with us for some time yet. The 0.09micron SOI version of the "Hammer" family has been delayed till later next year now. :smokin:
<center>:cheers:</center>