Athlon or Pentium ?????

I'm looking to buy a new PC - currently have a Pentium I, 200 MHz (Don't laugh) !!

I am wondering about ->

Why are Athlon AMD processors cheaper than Pentium IV ??

The AMD 2 Gig is quoted as being substantially faster than a 2.2 Gig Pentium IV, according to benchmark test. If so, then why is it cheaper ????? is it really true ? is Pentium more expensive becos its got a brand name ie like BMW ? or is it a better chip ??

And the Celeron chip is cheaper still ?????? are they inferior chips ????

Anyone any opinion on the Benchmark test? supposed to be a test using "typical office applications" ????? they don't seem to be using the graphics cards ??? i mean my 200Mhz is ok to use for "office applications" !!

Steve,

What are you going to use it for??

It's dead easy to go off into a blah-blah megahertz this many that many argument. Firstly decide what it's for!

To use your car analogy, you wouldn't want a Ferrari to take on a camping holiday.

If you're using it for games / video editing / etc, go for the biggest fastest processor etc possible.

For a bit of C programming (esp. DOS based) and writing the odd letter, stick to your 200Mhz & buy lots of beer instead!!!

Cheers,

Rob.

oh i want a big fast beast of a PC !!!!!!
i want a 2 gig, with 64 meg graphics card etc for games, separate DVD and CD slots for easier copying, 128 meg RAM etc

but still wondering about these different chips ??????

Go with an Athlon they are sweet! But 128mb of ram isnt enough anymore, you need at least 256! I have an Athlon XP 1900+ and its pretty sweet, Im gonna hold out on another upgrade untill AMD lets the hammer go :)

At this point you're probably best off with the Athlon, in terms of performance/price it beats the pants of the P4, and make sure you get DDR 333 Ram, (the best motherboard for an Athlon that supports DDR 333 Ram, seems to be the VIA KT333), memory speed makes a huge difference to how fast a system will run.

athlon is more economical
pentium is more powerful

i have an athlon. have been using amd chips ever since pentium-90
one more phrase of advice: amd and intel both make chips. they're companies. unlike microsoft vs. linux, amd and intel are very similar.

look up a benchmarking site to get a better idea
note: amd chips overheat more. consider getting a good fan and gel with it.

Which chip is better? I'd say Intel, but every computer I've built for myself and others runs AMD.
The way I look at it, Intel is like a classic muscle car - proven and powerful.
AMD is like a tripped out import - cheap and fast.
Both are great automobiles.

I run a 1.2G AMD with 768MB. I think it gets the job done.

I have heard that AMD's Althon architecture won't let the chip push over 2Gs. Anyone know more?

i wouldn't get a celeron. My sister has a celeron 700mhz, and it is a lot slower then my pIII 700mhz.

The pentium 4 is not more powerfull! It has a longer pipeline meaning it could outpreform the athlons but it doesnt. On a clock for clock basis the Athlon XP's totally destroy the Pentium 4 in all benchmarks other than things designed for the pentium 4's. And the Athlon's heat problems are supposed to be solved with the new ones that are .13 micron which should be around any day now. As for not being able to push over 2ghz with an athlon that is so untrue! My friend has had no problem running his Athlon XP 2000+ at 2.134Ghz (with the use of some extra cooling in there of couse).

Quote:

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Originally posted by ygfperson
note: amd chips overheat more. consider getting a good fan and gel with it.

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I've got a friend who had tons of problems with an AMD
overheating. Then again I know others who haven't had any
problems with theirs (though they probably upped the fan, etc.)

I've got a P4 1.8gHz with 256MB RAM and it rocks. Never tried an
AMD personally.

howdy,
my AMD Athlon 750 is a screamer it runs circles around the 1G Intel machines.....when the over heat alarm isnt beeping.
seriously my AMD 750 on an ASUS K7m MB is sweet but it overheats even with 2 cpu fans and 5 case fans.

M.R.

My Athlon XP has one fan on the heatsink, and 2 case fans, plus a hard drive cooler, no problems ever with overheating, case temp stays between 70f-83f and the CPU runs around 109f-113f under heavy loads and I can play games onlin for hours and the temp has never gone over 115f.

I have an AMD AthlonXP 1700+, and I have to say it is great. I have never had an overheating problem, and it is super fast. I also have a GeForce4 MX...Get the GeForce4 Ti...With 128 MB VRAM.

I also think the Athlon is the better choice at the moment.

As to the problems they experience. Most are due to the motherboard or power supply. Some are due to the dual VIA chip sets (north and south bridges). I have a EPOX MB with a VIA and an AMD chip set that has never given me a problem. (Though the EPOX have now been discovered to not be 100% compatible with the ATX form factor and I hear that they will not take the heatsink wrapped around the GForce4 cards, as well as some fans)

Buy a good MB (say the Epox, but do your research) and don't pass the monitor's power thru the PC, give the monitor its own power plug. (Spending a little bit more on a quality power supply can help)

Celrons are the cut down P4 chips. They have half the onboard cache that the P4 has. Not good for number crunching / CAD / software rendering. Spend the extra to get an Athlon.

No matter which way you look at it above 1GHz is fast.
I personally went for a P4 1.5 because it was the cheapest thing I could find.
However I do agree with Clyde, don't cut costs on the memory, that'll speed your system up a lot.

AMD now rates their chips by speed rating instead of clock speed.
I meant that the architecture restricts the clock speed from more than 2Gs. That's what I've heard at least. I'm just wondering if that's true.
But, that doesn't prevent them from designing a new faster chip.

Code:

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Athlon XP Model #    Clock Speed    Speed Rating
1500+                  1.33 GHz        1.5 GHz
1600+                  1.40 GHz        1.6 GHz
1700+                  1.47 GHz        1.7 GHz
1800+                  1.53 GHz        1.8 GHz
1900+                  1.60 GHz        1.9 GHz
2000+                  1.67 GHz        2.0 GHz

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I used to run Epox boards and I loved them. Right now I run a Athlon 1.2G-C 266mhz and a MSI K7T Turbo board w/RAID (nice board). I also have an Intel P3 700 right now but that's going to go to my brother. I like my Athlon better.

I'm also in the jibs for a major facelift... [pIII 450 512 pc133 sdram, underclocked at 100, along with my ata 100 hd not being used up fully either...] so i'm guessing a p4'll be the way to go eh? i might end up getting a 1.7 or something like that, i figure because it has a 400 mHz fsb and plus isn't the RAMBUS stuff better [since after all you do have to bank it...] what about a motherboard? any suggestions? Thanks, in total i guess i'm looking to spend around 3 hundred it seems... :( hehe... but due time damnit! :)

Well if your in need of an upgrade hold out just a lil longer and wait for AMD to release the HAMMER(x86-64), its performence is going to crush anything you know of today. Ive had the pleasure of reading some nice white papers about it and all I can say is i wish i didnt build my pc last december, but I couldnt live another year with my crappy celery 400.

"and plus isn't the RAMBUS stuff better [since after all you do have to bank it...] what about a motherboard? "

Rambus never really took off, due to its higher price, now that DDR 333 and with DDR 533 looming, Rambus i think is on the way out.

The best site out there for this stuff (IMO) is :

www.tomshardware.com

ive got pentium III 650mhtz with 128mb of ram. Do I need more of both?

> lil longer

how much longer?!?! haha... hmm... so i guess an athlon'll do me then. and what's all this jazz with speed rating and clock speed? what does it mean? i'm guessing you mean that the speed rating is the equivalent p4 then eh?