AMD 2800 or P4 2.6

[DeltronZero]

My last 2 computers have been AMD's and they've run great for me. I'm having trouble deciding which to get for my next PC. Here's the 2 CPU mobo combo's I'm looking at.

P4 2.6 GHZ 800MHZ FSB ($230)
ASUS P4C800 ($180)
Total = $410
-or-

Athlon XP 2800+ 333FSB($180)
A7N8X Deluxe ($105)
Total = ($300)

Both with 512MB PC3200 DDR Ram (~$100)

 

[Spitfire_x86]

What kind of 512 MB PC3200 DDR you are getting for $100? I hope it's not CL3.0 DDR. I strongly recommend Corsair XMS or Kingston HyperX CL2.0 DDR for best performance and stability.

P4 2.6 Ghz is slightly faster or equal to Athlon XP "Barton" 2800+.

If you are an overclocker, then buy Athlon XP 2500+. You can easily overclock it to 2.2 GHz (which is rated 3200+). Then it's faster or equal to P4 2.8 GHz (800 MHz FSB)

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[HardWareBoss]

The 2.4c and 2.6c both are nice chips for Over clocking. With the Asus P4C800 use PC 3500 from Corsair. Their Web site recomends using PC 3500 with Canterwood Mobos an Springdale as well.

 

[endyen]

Your addition is off a bit. The amd setup is only $285 while the intel setup needs more expensive ram.
The intel rig may be faster for some things, generally it's not, but it costs 50% more.It would seem that AMD still holds the price/performance crown.

 

[DeltronZero]

I was planning on getting 2 256 chips of this:

KINGSTON KVR400X64C25/256 256MB 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM RAM CL2.5

Is that bad? They're $48 each on Newegg.

Would I notice the difference between 3500 and 3200?

 

[endyen]

Crashman,if you're reading this correct me if I'm wrong. I have heard that the 800 fsb systems need a cas latancy of 3 to enable a charge stong enough to garantee no mem errors. That is why corsair recommends the pc3500. Matched pairs of ram are needed for the intel solution but not for the amd.

 

[Turk]

Hi! One more thing in favour of the AMD deal. If you go with AMD you'll get an excellent "soundcard" included. Because as long as you go with the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe (the non deluxe models hasn't got the Nvidia APU but instead uses cheap solutions) you'll get to enjoy the superb Nvidia APU sound! Its well comparable to the Audigy2 cards in soundquality but actually BETTER when it comes to the CPU utilization. The Nvidia solution will give you a 5% prefomance boost over any existing soundcard! Check this thg articel for more:
http://www4.tomshardware.com/game/20030405/index.html

With the above in mind, you'll see that the AMD solution also saves you another 100$ compared to the Intel one!

GL

Turk

PS if you go for the AMD, just be sure to check that the ASUS mobo is V2.0 or greater since they have the new northbridge Ultra400. It gives you a slight speed increase over the previous northbride.

 

[over_c]

You could reduce the price of the Intel rig by going with the Asus P4P800 (Springdale instead of Canterwood). It's going for about $125 on googlegear right now.
It is cheaper and without any significant losses in performance, provided you use the 1007 bios from Asus.

 

[Mephistopheles]

This is just me, but I'd certainly get the 2.6C with a P4P800. The extra price for the P4C800 is certainly not worth it... If you go with the 2.6, you'll certainly be faster than the 2800+... with HT, which is an added benefit... and quite a benefit! (plus the 800Mhz FSB)

And one more thing: though the A7N8X Deluxe is quite a good board and its onboard sound is quite respectable, it's not as good as a full-fledged Audigy 2 board... (that would be quite optimistic...) It easily matches an older Live card or something, that's for sure...

 

[DeltronZero]

What's the difference between the P4P800 and the P4C800?

 

[DjKlown]

the difference is the chipset. the p4p800 uses the 865 springdale chipset and the p4c800 uses the 875 canterwood chipset. The 875 chipset also has PAT(nothing but a marketing gimic if you ask me) and has a few more bells and whistles which you probably wont use. i see the two chipsets as the 865 as a soho and the 875 as a workstation chipset.

Mike

 

[DeltronZero]

What's the 875 chipset? Is that for future Intel Processors?

 

[DjKlown]

The 875 chipset was out before the 865 chipset. They were both released with in the past 5 weeks. The 875 offers very little for the huge price that accompanies it. If i were you i would go with the 865 chipset on any mobo( i recomend the ASUS P4P800 or the MSI neo).

It isnt for future processors its for todays processors that offer the 800 Mhz Front Side Bus(FSB) ie: the INTEL 2.4C,2.6C,2.8C,and the 3.0 Ghz CPU's.

Mike

 

[Spitfire_x86]

KINGSTON KVR400X64C25/256 256MB 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM RAM CL2.5

These modules aren't bad for DDR400 @ CL2.5, but they may not run stable at most aggressive memory timing @ DDR400 (it's not needed with AMD, sync memory clock with FSB will be faster).

Only overclockers benefit from PC3500 over PC3200.

If you are going for AXP 2800+, then you may consider buying Kingston HyperX PC3000 CL2.0. They will be fine for non-overclocking an overclocking upto 185 MHz FSB. They cost equal to your selected PC3200 modules.

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[sabbath1]

Say what? Intel needs more expensive ram? Excuse me, but where exactly did you get that from?

I'd say the price difference between Intel and AMD is minimal now with the release of Springdale and 800 FSB.

My system: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ / TwinMOS 1Gb DDR400 / Soltek 75FRN-RL /
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro / Antec True Power 550W / Western Digital Raptor / Hercules GTXP SC /
Samsung DVD / Lite-On CDRW

 

[sabbath1]

Hands down, I'd recommend the P4 2.6C or the 2.8C with Springdale chipset. Yesterday I ordered the ASUS P4P800 and a 2.8C P4 with 800 FSB and HT. Very recommended.

My system: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ / TwinMOS 1Gb DDR400 / Soltek 75FRN-RL /
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro / Antec True Power 550W / Western Digital Raptor / Hercules GTXP SC /
Samsung DVD / Lite-On CDRW

 

[sabbath1]

Matched pair is not needed for neither Intel or AMD solutions, at least not from my own experience.

My system: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ / TwinMOS 1Gb DDR400 / Soltek 75FRN-RL /
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro / Antec True Power 550W / Western Digital Raptor / Hercules GTXP SC /
Samsung DVD / Lite-On CDRW

 

[Ryan_Plus_One]

Care to explain why you reccomend the Intel setup? You've gotta back it up before you leave man!

And BTW you can combine all three posts into one meaningful one if you want to.

<font color=red>Proudly supporting the AMD/Nvidia minority</font color=red>

 

[Mephistopheles]

The 2.6C or 2.8C all have 800Mhz FSB and support hyperthreading. Generally, the faster bus will give it boost already, plus, you get the added benefit of HT. It's a very real one, though you can't measure it from reviews.

Is that enough for you?

 

[shadus]

I'd say go with the intel solution. P4P800 instead of the P4C800 though. Actually I'd sooner go with a 2.4c and overclock though... the intel chips are overclocking very very well as a group, on par with axp chips. The 2.4c's are going up to 3g or very near quite frequently.

Shadus

 

[markgun]

My current rule of thumb is if you're paying more than $100 for the processor then buy one of the 800MHz FSB P4s. It's a better investment IMO. Just check out TOm's latest review of the new P4. I also recommend the P4P800.

The AMD Athlon XP has lost further ground; its current flagship model, the XP 3200+, can only manage a performance somewhere in between those of the 2.6-GHz and 2.8-GHz Pentium 4.

However, if you want to save some money I'd go for a 2500+ Barton and OC it.
I'm probably gonna get flamed for recommending Intel :tongue:

 

[markgun]

The ABIT IS7 and IS7-G look like really solid boards too

 

[sabbath1]

Heh. Why is it that no one can recommend an Intel setup without having to explain why, when AMD recommendations tend to slip without notice?

Relax, man. I'm not going anywhere...
I just happen to think that Intel offers the best deal for now, for example when using the P4 2.8C together with a PAT enabled Springdale or a Canterwood, the mentioned CPU can match the performance of a more expensive Athlon XP 3200+. Intel offers better or similar price/performance ratio compared to AMD now, and since there's some extra quality aspects of the P4 CPU such as built in thermal protection and protective heatspreader, and in cases of boxed CPU's, you get a temp controlled fan, which you don't get with AMD. Thus my recommendation for now is to go with an Intel P4 with 800 FSB and Springdale chip.

Things might change in September though. It'll be exciting to watch.

Combine the three posts you say, hmm.
Well, The P4 sure don't need any better quality of the system memory than what AMD needs, and you don't need matched memory. I tried matched memory with my last P4, and that sure didn't help stability. Can't answer for all users though, I'm just saying from own experience that you can get off with non-matched memory just as well.


My system: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ / TwinMOS 1Gb DDR400 / Soltek 75FRN-RL /
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro / Antec True Power 550W / Western Digital Raptor / Hercules GTXP SC /
Samsung DVD / Lite-On CDRW

 

[speeduk]

sabbath, you upgraded from a 3000 barton to a 2.8 p4? You have too much money . All for what, a 10 percent performance boost at most?

2100xp @ 2245mhz (204x11 @ 1.825v)
Epox 8RDA3+ Nforce 2 ultra 400
2x512mb pc3200
ATI 9700 pro
3DMARK 2K1 = 16,050

 

[sabbath1]

Yes that's right, been using a 3000+ for two months now.
But I certainly don't have too much money, I wanted a better upgrade path, and the better quality of the P4 processor. And, besides, I only have to pay a little more than $100 to get the P4 system.


My system: AMD Athlon XP 3000+ / TwinMOS 1Gb DDR400 / Soltek 75FRN-RL /
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro / Antec True Power 550W / Western Digital Raptor / Hercules GTXP SC /
Samsung DVD / Lite-On CDRW