Athlon v P4 - Overall (AMD probs w/multitasking?)

[BlueHornet]

Hey all,

What are the overall differences, all else being equal (not considering price), between the two processors?

I have heard that, although AMD seems to rule gaming, there are multitasking issues compared to the P4. Are these claims valid, if so, what is the effect? When up/down'n files off the net, will there be a performance difference? (Appearently DELL stopped using AMD due to high return rates, claiming multitasking issues as the cause.) thx.

peace,
-=i3lue}{orneT=-

<font color=blue>---------------------------UPDATE---------------------------
Which is better when it comes to stability? Which will be better ready for upgrading in the future? thx<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by BlueHornet on 02/05/03 09:02 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[nja469]

Dell has never sold AMD based systems, so AMD systems being returned to Dell due to performance is not correct. The only reason any company doesn't sell an AMD based system is because Intel wants it that way.

 

[LancerEvolution7]

AMD does not have issues multitasking, its just not as efficient as Intel in it. Just as intel isn't as efficent when it comes to gaming. But the performance loss in both cases is pretty small so it really doesn't matter. The lower amd xps rule in price/performance and intel just rules in overclockablilty. It all depends on what you want. Oh as the above person said, Dell NEVER used AMD. Dell's product quality also seems to be going downhill.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Multi tasking issues? what multitasking issues?
Can i have what you are smoking please!

Admittedly the P4 has recently got a boost in performance with hyperthreading on the 3.06Ghz cpu but it all depends on what you are doing. In certain situations hyperthreading can even slow things down.

In the end it comes down to having lots of fast efficient ram, a optimised motherboard and a nice fast cpu.

P.S. Dell doesnt sell AMD because intel bribed...errr *caughs* persuaded them with bags of money not to.

I like AMD cauz its fast, cheap, reliable and a well balanced cpu. The P4 has allways had a particular weakness with pure Floating Point Calculation code, of which i use alot of being involved in mollecular modelling.


<b>My Computer is so powerful Suron Desires it and mortal men Covert it, <i>My Precioussssssss</i></b>

 

[dhlucke]

Whoever told you this lied to you. They most likely have alterior motives and you should watch your wallet.

<font color=red>
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[Spitfire_x86]

P4 is a modern K6-2, without software support, it is horrible. Diffference between K6-2 and P4 is, P4 has enough power for gaming without SSE2 optimization, and SSE2 is much more versatile than 3D Now!

<b> "You can put lipstick on a pig, but hey, it's still a pig!" - RobD </b>

 

[sonoran]

>>>When up/down'n files off the net, will there be a performance difference?

When uploading or downloading files - I doubt the processor is going to be your bottleneck anyhow...

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

they both (intel and amd) do exactly the samething.

Dell has never sold an AMD system. There are NO issues with AMD CPU's other than heat. multitasking is an operating system term and not a cpu term. CPU's function in hertz. if it is a 1.4ghz processor it operates at 1.4ghz. The OS handles all of that.



Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

 

[BlueHornet]

yeah and what about the heat of the AMD's is it only a real issue if you overclock?

 

[juin]

http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000355

Like on this the so well know Athlon FPU get smash again.

Just next to the lab and the bunker you will find the marketing departement.

 

[nja469]

AMD chips do not have heat issues that I'm aware of. When buying any CPU, intel or AMD, you buy a cooling device that is recommended for it. Any retail boxed CPU you buy at a store, or any system you buy from a retailer will come with the appropriate cooling device, which consists of a heatsink/fan.

Someone has told you wise tales about AMD CPU's, which is really sad in my opinion. Both are reputable companies with quality products. One is a huge conglomerate and the other is barely afloat, but still is managing to release quality products at competitive prices. I would forget the misinformation that was fed to you and buy a system that has what you want at the price you want, regardless of the company that made its CPU.

 

[dhlucke]

Heat is an issue no matter what CPU you overclock.

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[jimbo99]

I would hardly say that building a multi-billion $$ fab facility where they can produce 1 million processors a week is "barely afloat".

Heat is/was a big issue with the process in emergency situations, such as when the cooling unit falls/breaks off (for whatever reason--shipping, etc) for the AMD processors. I do not know if they have resolved this with the more recent productions.

Because a company doesn't have a speedy upgrade path to high megahertz doesn't mean it isn't a working viable company. Sometimes silence from a company means they are working harder behind the scenes to produce something better in the long run. I've seen this an overabundant number of times from various companies.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Jimbo99 on 01/29/03 11:14 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[paulj]

Thanks I will remember that the next time I run 3D Resistive Magnetohydrodynamics Plasma Simulation

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

Considering this was taken STRAIGHT from that link....

The massive bandwidth of the Pentium 4 seems to be one of the key reasons why the Athlon is a lot slower in this benchmark.

I wonder now...si it REALLY that almighty FPU that got smashed juin?? Or the fact that the benchamrk used utilized a LOT of bandwidth and SSE2 coding..????

Disable SSE2 on the P4 see hwo well it does in comparision to the Athlon FPU that gets "smashed again"....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

 

[paulj]

The greatest burden in the code is a huge matrix inversion that tests the floating point of any processor to the limits. Also as the matrix is so large, <b>it tests memory handling pretty well.</b>

That's not a pure test of fpu.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

Exactly! =)

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>

 

[paulj]

I don't purport to have all the answers but there are some differing results in more practical applications. Why is the XP2800+ faster in <A HREF="http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000329" target="_new">ScienceMark 2.0 Primordia</A> which is an fpu intensive test.

Ace's Hardware says with Primordia "<b><i>the FPU unit is simply occupied all the time."</i></b> Here the XP2800+ beats the 3GHz P4 w/ hyperthreading.

<font color=red>The solution may be obvious, but I can't see it for the smoke coming off my processor.</font color=red>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

This thread is gettin sidetracked.

<b>My Computer is so powerful Sauron Desires it and mortal men Covet it, <i>My Precioussssssss</i></b>

 

[nja469]

Yea, whole different subject at this point.

 

[ZER0]

<<<The only reason any company doesn't sell an AMD based system is because Intel wants it that way.>>>
wrong the reason our company stays away from amd systems(we sell the on request) is cause they have more problems support wise(when we sell intel we sell intel boards).

 

[ZER0]

<<<P4 is a modern K6-2, without software support, it is horrible. Diffference between K6-2 and P4 is, P4 has enough power for gaming without SSE2 optimization, and SSE2 is much more versatile than 3D Now!>>>
ur obviously retarted. the k6-2 had terrible chipset support, ran hot as hell, and was on the edge of stability(my k6-2 500 had to run at 2.4v to run stable +.2 over stock).

 

[flamethrower205]

I regularly find myself running a quantum simulation/ rendering something in 3d s max, playing a game like cs, running kazaa, mirc, aim, a bunch of other stuff and everything runs fine. Whoever told u that has no idea what they're talking about, and as stated, dell never sold amd systems due to an agreement made with intel.

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
- Mario Andretti

 

[Spitfire_x86]

ur obviously retarted. the k6-2 had terrible chipset support, ran hot as hell, and was on the edge of stability(my k6-2 500 had to run at 2.4v to run stable +.2 over stock).

I wanted to say, FPU and Software supportwise, P4 and K6-2 has similarities. Yes, it's true that P4 has much better chipsets compared to K6-2 and overclocks much better. But my K6-2 450 MHz was 100% stable at default 2.2V on a Gigabyte GA-5AA mobo (ali aladin V chipset). But it din't overclock a bit

<b> "You can put lipstick on a pig, but hey, it's still a pig!" - RobD </b>

 

[BlueHornet]

well thats a lot of help guys thx...(lack of comp knowledge leaves me totally confused)

peace,
-=i3lue}{orneT=-