Athlon XP vs. P4

[a4hire]

Hi all
I am thinking of buying a new computer. There is the new athlon Xp that sounds good. But is it better than a P4 ? I am not sure which way to go. The new athlon systems have DDR memory. IS this any better than the pc 133 memory on the pentium motherboards. I would like to get some feedback. I know that a lot of computer experts visit here. I was going to post this at the Xara forum but it is off topic so I thought I would see what kind of feedback I get here. Thanks in advance for any input.

[ghi stecyk]

another source to check on is http://www.cpuscorecard.com

amd is more efficient in design compared to intel chips. ibm and motorola cpus are even more efficient.

ghi

[Klaus Nordby]

Check out the top hardware guru sites: anandtech.com and tomshardware.com.

I've long decided that my next 'puter shall be an AMD. Their brand new Athlon XP1800 can - as most hardware sites seem to agree - kick Intel's butt. I've already seen a guy with an AMD AthlonXP 1800+ (Palomino 1.53 Ghz) over-clocked to 1.8Ghz - and heard rumors of people hitting the 2GHz barrier. So I'm getting that 'puter within a month or so! The real headache is deciding on the motherboard, so much is happening in that field. The best one right NOW may be the EPOX 8KHA+ with the KT266A chipset - but that could be changed next week. Still, you can't go wrong with and AMD Athlon these days.


K


K

[raffon]

There is usually a screen in the bios with the CPU temp, fan speed etc. Also there might be a utility for Windows that comes with the Motherboard that will do this also. I only use Intel Motherboards and they all have a monitoring utility.

Ich bin ein New Yorker

[williama]

Each family of processors includes its own special instruction set, over and above the basic set. Applications can be compiled so that they are optimised for a particular processors extra instructions, so they'll run faster on that processor than if they'd just been compiled for the basic set.

I've not seen any issues with programs optimised for one, not working on the other. It could also be that the installation program will install the appropriately optimised exe for the system that it's going to run on.

[smorg]

...thanks for remembering the Thermal Grease, but be careful. That stuff "flies through the air" and ends up in your hair if you're not watching closely (hehehehe, I "watched" it do just that to a neighbor installing a new CPU). [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[smorg]

Hi, Bruce:

I have an AMD and I swear by them! Intel doesn't like reviewers to let slip, but some do, that they've never solved or fixed the floating point problem in their chips, which I'm told primarily affects calculations and math. I've never seen any reviews on how it impacts graphics work.

The only caveat I would warn you of with AMD is that they run hotter than Intel so I would invest in a high-quality cooling fan, perhaps two.

[a4hire]

Klaus and William
Sounds Like I might switch to AMD. I think I can get a faster computer for less!

[a4hire]

Hi all
I am thinking of buying a new computer. There is the new athlon Xp that sounds good. But is it better than a P4 ? I am not sure which way to go. The new athlon systems have DDR memory. IS this any better than the pc 133 memory on the pentium motherboards. I would like to get some feedback. I know that a lot of computer experts visit here. I was going to post this at the Xara forum but it is off topic so I thought I would see what kind of feedback I get here. Thanks in advance for any input.

[\"W\"]

I'm also giving AMD a hard looksee. I ran on a P4 w/512 mg of "rambus" (at work), and it was rather nice. But, if AMD can do the same or better for cheaper, it's logical to consider it for an upgrade at home here.

But, the reason I'm posting, is what smorg had mentioned about heat issues. I take it the processor ships with 1 fan, but how can you mount another? Is there room for it? Sorry, I don't understand. Or do you just screw another one on the fins?

Thanks for all the info this thread has brought.

Wayne

[This message was edited by "W" on October 25, 2001 at 07:39.]