i need to decide between a P4 506(2.66Ghz) or an AMD, the pentium is cheaper on one hand as i only have about 170.0 dollers and the 2.66 is know to overclock easily past 3.4Ghz. i couldnt find an athlon 64(939) for less than 169.0(3200+). Any ideas? or should i just stick with my first idea of the Pentium? Thank You.

yeah, the pentium is barely a pentium...it is pretty much junk. I say spend a little more money on your cpu and get a athlon 3500 (200 bucks).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103603

What are you planning on doing with your computer anyway?

why would i get a 3500 lol? i have a 3200 oced to over 4000+ speeds. i just wanted to try something different, and i heard pentiums are better at folding. plus the only other solution for price being under 170(thats including ram) is going socket 754. i do not plan to upgrade this is an as is system for its entire life. heres my list

pentium 4 506(2.6Ghz)+Mobo 100.0
Corsair Value Select 512Mb 35.00
Spire SP-507B7 22.99
Artic cooling 18.00(for hot 9800Pro)
176.00
all from newegg.com
and i am selling my duron rig for 170.0

the only future upgrade woul probably be another 512Mb of ram.
but if you can find a comparable(or better) system for under 180.0 i check it out. Thank You.

As far as Folding goes, Intel users no longer are getting the insane amount of points they used to get.

After a long flamewar that spanned across multiple (deleted or locked) threads, the Pande Group decided to remove WUs based on the QMD core (even though they officialy say that they were done collecting data).

QMD WUs were only handed to Intel CPU due to Intel cheating with their compilers and libraries and taking advantage of an abusive EULA.

If you really want to go with Intel to experience something different, here is a nice Intel Pentium 4 simulator :

1- Get and AMD system
2- Unscrew the fan from the heatsink
3- Put the fan on the bottom of your case, the vibrations generated by the loose fan will complete the illusion.

Here you go ! Your AMD system will now be just as loud and prone to overheating as a Genuine Intel system would be !

ok well any suggestions on what kind of AMD to get? i only have 170 dollers i spent 210 on my 3200+mobo and my other money source is going twords a 7800GT. i saw a AMD 3000+(venice) 754 with mobo on tigerdirect for 169.99 will the 754 cripple it? and does the 754 have dual channel ram? ill look up some benches and see what happens. any suggestions are welcome.

S754 doesn't have dual channel memory so it's performance would be more limited. The cheapest AMD S939 is the A64 3000+ which sells for $131.26 right now.

http://www.pcnation.com/web/detail [...] tem=G08139

The problem with the 506 is that it doesn't include HT which is critical to Prescott's performance. As well, even if you overclock it the base FSB is still very limited when you start at 533MHz so you're still going to be bandwidth limited.

The Intel equivalent of the A64 3000+ would be the 531. It sells for only $142.14 right now and is actually cheaper than the 520.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=P4_531

Oh, I just noticed something. My best recommendation for you would be to get a 805D which has just been released. It's a dual core processor running at 2.66GHz with 1MB of L2 cache per core. What's even better is that it's only $145 putting it in the same price range as the A64 3000+ and the 531D. If you want good folding performance, dual core is the way to go and this one is cheap. These are actually 8xx parts that can't run stably at 800MHz FSB and so use a 533MHz FSB. However, this does not mean their maximum net clock speed is limited and they retain all the features such as 64-bit support and EIST. In fact, they have been tested to up to 3.7GHz.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819116001

I have a s754 3200 @ 2.45ghz, and a s939 3200 @ 2.5 ghz. Bothe are folding 24/7 The s939 is marginally faster, but mostly because the s754 is an older chip, and cant OC as well. The 754 chip available now are venice chips, with dual channel disabled. I guess that answers your second question.
The s754 chips lack the # of pins required for dual channel support.
Since the s754 chips start 200mhz faster, you may be able to get a serious OC with the higher mutiplier. As far as comparing that chip to the Intel offering, there is no way the Intel chip could keep up.

yeah that dual core does look pretty awesome, i think ill wait for the benchmarks. i guess i can spend a little more, anyone know the performance of these compared to the a64s? Thank You.

but i guess you also have to consider that im running a 9800pro and the proc would be highly bottlenecked, i didnt plan on building a new system that could compete but an older one that would run all of last years games. in dual core games like COD2 would the Pentium D be way better?

I picked up my 3700+ for around ~$200 US a few months ago off of ebay. If you never plan on upgrading the machine then 754 is the only way to go. Cheap and 90% of the speed you'd get from any 939 chip.

get an opty 144 and oc like crazy but you got a budget then get the 3200

If the games you play support dual core processors the difference can be drastic. In fact with the latest dual core patch in Quake 4, the 820D is actually faster than the FX-57.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipse [...] i=2668&p=8
The chart at the bottom.

In terms of COD2, although the dual core patch is out people have actually noticed decreased performance with it. They obviously have some kinks to work out.

Even in single threaded games, the performance should be acceptable especially if you plan on overclocking. You won't beat the latest high-end dual cores, but it should be fine.

My concern for you is that 9800Pro. That's an AGP card while almost all the Intel motherboards nowadays are PCIe based. You probably will have problems finding a AGP motherboard, especially one that supports dual core processors. AMD's platform has also switched to PCIe although they may have more AGP options available.

The 805D actually wasn't supposed to be released until March, but Intel decided to quietly launch it early. There aren't many benchmarks out yet and the only one I know of is the one from HKEPC. You'll need a translator though.

http://www.hkepc.com/hwdb/pd-805-1.htm

more like 99%... compare 2 of the same chip on each socket, the dual channel doesnt slow the chip down at all.. barely slowler in real life apps... its faster in benchmarks i think... i have a 3700+ on socket 754 and am not regretting it at all, although i do regret getting an agp board since i really want an x1900xt

that looks good itd be pretty good for future games with that support. i wish amd would come out with a cheaper dual core, i would definentally buy that.
im still waiting on stalker and thats basically what this second system is for, the 9800Pro will run everything max im sure. but with the 506 there are a ton of them going with those asus av whatever with agp support thats why i was looking at those first i think its a via chipset for 100. i dont have enough money for an opty or 3200 i guess ill see whatever comes in cheaper but with the pentium d 805(145) i would have to get a mobo(50) aftermarket cooling(30) ram(35). i think im pretty much at a dead end route, ill see if i cant scrounge up some money. i was just thinking somthing better than my duron, which i now hate with a passion, i would keep it if it installed windows properly.

If you are still thinking of sticking with Intel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819112203

Celeron D 3.06Ghz You cant beat the bag for the buck.
What motherboard are you thinking of?
Your video card is an agp card and most of the motherboards for socket 775 are pci-e.

Also congrat's on selling that old system for that much, you found a sucker