Is Prescott a good time for an upgrade?

[ltj311]

My current system is:

AMD Athlon XP 1500+
(2)256mb PC2100 Cas2.5
GF4 Ti4200 64mb
40gb Maxtor 7200rpm 2mb cache
XP SP1

I've been wondering when the next solid upgrade would be for me. I just read up a little on the Prescott and it seems to be the next viable step.

Knowing that it's coming out in Q4, I'm worried that it won't come out before Half-Life 2. I'm a serious gamer and I want to make sure to have my upgrade complete before it comes out.

EBGames has it coming out on Sept. 30th. Do you guys know exactly when the Prescott will be released?

Or should I just upgrade to a P4 3.0w/HT 800fsb and a 9800/5900 Ultra. This also makes me curious if either Nvidia or ATI will have there next big vid card by the time HL2 arrives.

I also have kind of a curiousity question about switching from AMD to Intel. Any of you guys that has experience with this please feel free to comment. Or maybe this is just a dumb question.

Is there a different "feel" going from an AMD PC to an Intel PC? Basically the intangible aspects of the PC aside from speed/performace. Make any sense?

Obvoiusly there is something different about these two chip makers when you consider that AMD compares there CPU's to the P4's with these 2800+ etc. numbers and not just the core clock speed like Intel.

Basically I just wanna know that I won't be "missing" anything going from AXP to P4. Because I will admit that this computer has performed beautifully for me. A few very minor problems and that's it.

I appreciate all comments. Thanks.

 

[c0d1f1ed]

Invest in a motherboard with 800 MHz FSB and get a relatively cheap 2.4 GHz Pentium 4. Then when prescott comes out wait a few months more for the first price drop.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I'm pretty confident you won't be missing on anything. If you get 800Mhz FSB and HT, your new system will probably make your old system look like a turtle. There is nothing your old AMD processor has that your new won't have, and if you want state-of-the-art, the Intel chips will deliver much more than AMD's.

If you want Prescott, but end up getting a 2.8C/3.0C/3.2C or whatever, don't worry, the current 800Mhz FSB Intel-chipset boards all support prescott. So you can always upgrade later.

One more small thing: I've had very good experiences with HT. I read extensive reviews on the subject on the net, but nothing compared to the actual experience. And I can tell you: it's quite simply wonderful. It's powerful. It's not just another small thing. It works. Anyone who still wants to say that XPs multitask better is just plain stupid. <b>Long live Hyperthreading!</b>

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Mephistopheles on 06/02/03 07:36 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[ltj311]

If you want Prescott, but end up getting a 2.8C/3.0C/3.2C or whatever, don't worry, the current 800Mhz FSB Intel-chipset boards all support prescott. So you can always upgrade later.

This makes me feel alot better. Knowing that I could get the 2.8C(seems to be the best 800fsb value seeing as you can safely OC to 3.2) and be able to put a Prescott in the same MOBO is nice to hear.

 

[dwb122]

This is exactly my plan. I was about to get an Asus P4P800 and a PIV 2.4C 800, then I saw news of the Prescott. It really pizzed me off, but I suppose I should be pretty safe with an 800mhz FSB mobo for quite a while, and a 2.4C for 180 bucks ain't bad at all.

 

[peter21]

If you don't need to upgrade now, there really isn't any need to. Your system seems to be powerfull enough, and your options and prices will be better when HL2 comes out (like they always are in the PC industry). It might be wise to wait for the springdale and canterwood chipsets to settledown also. But if you are like me and can't wait, like alot of people have mentioned these boards can handle a prescott up to the 3.6 GHz i think when they will be changing the socket. I will check it out and get back to you.


--------
The only thing that i truly know...

is that i know nothing at all.

 

[peter21]

Ok i checked it out the Socket-478 will go up to 3.6 GHz. Intel will release two versions of that chip the S-478 one and a S-775 one. This will be aound middle of 2004, I'd say.

This was taken from Anadtech's site here is the URL and i put an excerpt of the article underneath:
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1826&p=2" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1826&p=2</A>

Things don't heat up until Q4, when we see the long awaited introduction of the Prescott core. Right now Intel is the unequivocal performance leader on the desktop, but what do users of the fastest CPUs today have to look forward to? Prescott of course. We've been preaching for months that Prescott would be the next CPU to upgrade to (much like we suggested waiting on migrating to the Pentium 4 until the Northwood core was released), and that time is almost upon us.

The Prescott core will be introduced at two clock speeds - 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz. The 3.2GHz part will obviously overlap with the forthcoming 3.2GHz Northwood part, while the 3.4GHz speed will be a Prescott-only core. The other thing to keep in mind is that both of these CPUs are still Socket-478 parts, you won't see the first Socket-775 CPUs until Q2 2004, which we will talk about next.

The 3.4GHz Prescott will close off 2003, but in Q1 '04 we'll see another speed bump to 3.60GHz. This 3.60GHz processor will be the one to stay away from, because it is still a Socket-478 CPU. In the following quarter, Q2 '04, Intel will introduce a Socket-775 LGA version of the 3.60GHz Prescott processor as well as 775-pin versions of the 3.2/3.4GHz Prescott processors.

--------
The only thing that i truly know...

is that i know nothing at all.

 

[ltj311]

You make a good point peter. There really is no reason for me to upgrade right now. I keep trying to justify it but I really can't. Damn reliable computers!

I'll probably just wait till Septemeber right before HL2 comes out and upgrade then. I'm sure to get a much better deal in 3 months.

Thanks everybody.

 

[scottkli]

The next chip Prescott is supposed to debut with Hyperthreading 2, the same 800mhz bus and 1mb L2 Cache.
Following that comes the Tejas 775 pinless socket chip 1066bus. Who knows when we will see these chips appear. Also look forward to the clawhammer 64bit chip from AMD. Havent read much on it yet but who knows. Maybe this December or next Tax Season.