Who was better? Pentium 3 or Pentium 4?

[lindochico]

Hello guys!

This is my first post here. I just wanted to know if it is true that Pentium 3 procs. were better performers than early Pentium 4 procs.? I know I read something about it somewhere, but I don't remember where it was and I need some info. to discuss this fact with my fellows, Intel fanboys.

Thank you very much for any assistance you can give me...

[Nobuo]

I think the deal was the first P4s were only marginally better for a much higher price. It was a move to a completely new architecture which proved to have underwhelming results initially.

...I think. You're not far off either way. Why do you ask?

[Agent]

If your talking architecturally (mhz put to one side), then the P3 was better.
Say you had a P3 running a 1gighz, and a P4 at 1gighz, then the P3 would win the majority of tests – It did more work per clock cycle.
The Pentium M is largely based off the P3 core from what I have read.

[sawyen]

PIII ftw.. pentium 3 was so much more efficient than the first williamette core.. and is still with the current prescott. And yes, ditto with Agent, Pentium M is based largely on the P3 core..

A 1Ghz Pentium 3 was mostly faster than a Penium 1.4Ghz running DDR. RIMM was the only thing that kept P4 marginally ahead..

[Funkstar]

The very last 1.3ghz dual processor capable P3 they released (although i think quantities were limited) performed petter than the P4s hitting around 2ghz if i remember correctly. Media encoding scores were higher with the P4 i think, but i think it got it's ass kicked in 3D rendering or other floating point intensive tasks.

(could be wrong on some of this, it's alla little hazzy )

[kalniel]

*hugs his 1ghz pIII*

[DanceswithUnix]

Intel released a 1.3GHz P4, and that was clearly slower and more expensive than a 1GHz P3. There was even a class action suite against Intel on that, can't remember the outcome.

[Nat101]

The Pentium M is largely based off the P3 core from what I have read.

... And 'Conroe' is based upon the Pentium M. Maybe Intel read their own roadmap incorrectly!

[Agent]

... And 'Conroe' is based upon the Pentium M. Maybe Intel read their own roadmap incorrectly!

I wrote that, then deleted it as i wasnt 100% sure
It seems that most things Intel are doing today and P3 based

[Nat101]

I wrote that, then deleted it as i wasnt 100% sure
It seems that most things Intel are doing today and P3 based

Yeah, rumour has it that Conroe is a Pentium M for the desktop market. More conservative sources state that Conroe has been designed 'from the ground up', based upon the work done by the small, unfunded Israeli team responsible for Pentium M development... Either way, Conroe is therefore more closely related to the P3. No doubt Intel are keen to avoid further embarrassment

[Hottentot]

The Pentium 3 is definitely more efficient than the P4. More work per clock cycle and less power consumption. Early P4s were poor performers which is how AMD got their big break, loads of people switched from P3s straight to AMD chips.

here is a history link http://tomshardware.co.uk/2004/12/20...charts_part_1/


Even now my home file printer/server uses a P3 1GHz, mainly because its on 24/7 and the power consumption is about a 1/3 of a modern processor. Over the years its saved me a fair packet on the electricty bill.

[Mattus]

Always makes me laugh how the unlauded Pentium-M team produced a product considerably better than the P4 behemoth.