The Great Debate - AMD or Intel

[Dave_07]

Hey All

I'm thinking of buying a new system and i'm having a little bit of trouble deciding between these two cpu's.

Basically the choice is between the Intel P4 2.8 GHz (800FSB) and the AMD Athlon Barton XP3200+ (400FSB).

The system will (Hopefully ) be a supped-up gaming rig and thust needs to be able to handel next generation games.
I've been told that the superior Mhz & fsb level of the p4 puts it ontop. However on the other hand, i've also be told that the AMD's extra featuers ie mmx, 3dNow!+ put's it ontop...

So which cpu would be best for gaimg ?

Cheers, Dave.

[Russ]

well. it breaks down simply, are you rich?

if yes, get intel, the fastest one you can afford (or would like to speand)

if no, get an 1700 JHUIB and an nf7 v2 and clock it to 2.5 ghz

personally i'd go intel (cant belive im saying this :E )

[Jcb33]

AMD 1700+ or 2500+ @ 2.5Ghz will beat upto bout 3.5Ghz P4

[Dave_07]

Sorry I should have said, i'll probably be running everying at stock speeds.

[Agent]

Originally posted by Dave_07
Sorry I should have said, i'll probably be running everying at stock speeds.

So how much cash you got to spend ?
Just the system you need, or a moniotor, keyboard mouse ect.. aswell ?

[Dave_07]

Yup, the whole thing will be from scratch.
I've been working my butt off and have saved up about £1800.
Could stretch to 1900.

[Byatt]

If you've got that sort of money - go for the P4 - the current springdale and canterwood platforms are basically superb, and feature laden, and P4s tend to cause less thermal problems in the summer.

As an AMD fan, however, I will now have to spend the next week apologising to my entire spec. for betraying it.

[SKILL]

personally i am dissapointed with my P4 setup over my athlon setup,

for a 900MHz increase in clock speed, SETI is only 10-20 minutes faster per WU, and 3DMark is less than 1500 3dmarks higher (2001), for a £135 processor i expected more tbh

[Agent]

Originally posted by SKILL
personally i am disappointed with my P4 setup over my athlon setup,

for a MHz increase in clock speed, SETI is only 10-20 minutes faster per WU, and 3DMark is less than 1500 3dmarks higher (2001), for a £135 processor i expected more tbh

Thats because the cost : performance ratio of AMD's is unbelievable at the moment.
2400Xps for about £60
2600's for £75

Cost wise they cant be beaten, its only when you get to the high end of the processing market intel is winning at the moment, and even then, at a stupid price IMO.

[Matt]

personally id just go with the best you can afford. personally for me thats AMD, and currently pound for pound, you can get a lot more AMD for your money i think.

[Dave_07]

Are AMD not going to be setting out a new line soon, i can't remember the factory name of it at the moment...
Could these be AMD's answer to 800fsb p4's ?

[Agent]

Originally posted by Dave_07
Are AMD not going to be setting out a new line soon, i can't remember the factory name of it at the moment...
Could these be AMD's answer to 800fsb p4's ?

64bit is the next big step

you *can* acctually buy them at the moment if your willing to pay premium prices

[Zaphan58]

AMD have the hammers witch will be there next line of chips hopefully, they have constantly been delayed all year there will eb the, SledgeHammer and the ClawHammer when they finally arrive that is anyway. To be honest the bottom line is that AMD offers better value for money but Intel offers faster performance because they have such a high FSB (800) witch at the moment AMD just cant match.

[Matt]

a bit OT but, are the 64bit chips compatible with 32bit stuff? u dont need a 64bit OS and Apps etc?

[Agent]

Originally posted by Matt
a bit OT but, are the 64bit chips compatible with 32bit stuff? u dont need a 64bit OS and Apps etc?

The AMD solution will allow 32bit app's to run on them, intels wont.
Im not 100% up on 64bit at the moment, need to check a few things before i say anything more

[BlackSheep]

Originally posted by Agent
The AMD solution will allow 32bit app's to run on them, intels wont.
Im not 100% up on 64bit at the moment, need to check a few things before i say anything more

apparently the new Intel 64Bit chips (in the pipeline - not Itanium which is already out) will run 32bit apps but very poorly as they do so via Emulation and not dedicated like AMD's hammer.