Does PIV's HollowGhz Fool You ??

".. Will you buy a PIV/PC just because of the big HollowGhz number, or does actual performance matter to you?"

i don't usually say never, but i will probably never buy a pIV


".. Do you think its proper for OEM's to market their PIV PC's by the big HollowGhz number and thus fool buyers into buying?"

hey, the point of marketing is to get people to buy what you are selling. emphasizing the mhz of a cpu is fair game. as long as they don't blatently lie about a cpu, it's ok. and i say "blatently lie" referring to claims that the pIV is the fastest cpu. that is an example of marketing and fact twisting since in a sense at 1.4 and 1.5 ghz, it is the fastest cpu.

"..how would you feel if a friend got tricked into buying one?"

i wouldn't like a friend getting tricked into buying one, but i wouldn't blame the oem he bought it from.

".. Would you suggest they return it immediately, or just figure they got 'what they deserve' for being so stupid?"

i would tell them why they were stupid, then tell them to return it.

".. Are you warning friends in the market for a PC about the PIV's HollowGhz ?"

all of my friends looking for a pc have a total budget that would buy onlu the pIV cpu. however, my father is getting tired of his p3 533 and mentioned the new pIV as an alternative (since he has a habit of wanting the newest thing on the market). i told him i wouldn't let him get it and i would sooner cut his credit card than let him get one. he got the point.

Will you buy a PIV/PC just because of the big HollowGhz number, or does actual performance matter to you?

Yes !! I Would buy a PIV "IF" i use then Computer to play Quake 3 at 640 X 480 and enjoy the high FPS.

Yes !! I would buy a PIV "IF" i wanna should my naive friend that i own a 1500 Mhz !!! machine.

Yes !! I would buy a PIV "IF" i believe whatever Intel say and i want "INTEL INSIDE".

Do you think its proper for OEM's to market their PIV PC's by the big HollowGhz number and thus fool buyers into buying?

Yes !! The PIV is instead a 1.4Mhz or 1.5Mhz CPU...

How would you feel if a friend got tricked into buying one?

Well, he is loaded....

Would you suggest they return it immediately, or just figure they got 'what they deserve' for being so stupid?

No !! I would ask to to Benchmark it using Quake 3 and Sisoft Memory Benchmark, play lots of Quake 3 (If not all) and be patient to wait for SSE2 optimised software.

Are you warning friends in the market for a PC about the PIV's HollowGhz ?

No !! They would be most satisfy cause they have "Intel Inside", "Fastest CPU", "1500Mhz!!!!", "400 Mhz FSB", "RD Ram", "Intel 850 Chipset" ,"Latest technology"..............

For myself.... I am poor, old cant afford a PIV and dont have the luxury to choose a "Expensive Branded Product".
I dont know what is the term OEM you mean to, to me OEM mean Own Effort Made computer.
I like to keep low profile and 1200 Mhz for me will do.
I am too old and slow to enjoy 300 FPS in 640X480 and just 60+ FPS in 1200X1600X32 with 2X2 FSAA will be just nice for me.
I am conservative so RDRAM will be too advance for me, dunno what RD means for.. More familir with SDRAM and with the word DDR infront of SDRAM sounds cold to me.

Pardon me for my poor englsh..

.... I'm sure you are better in English than I am in your language.

.... AMD Zone spent about an hour re-compiling High Quality x87 mPEG Conversion once more, this time for Athlon optimization, which puts the Athlon back ahead of the PIV.

I think that what it is really boiling down to is the split in software. Software optimized for which platform. Most of the software houses will not put out 2 different versions of thier x86 product based on the processor. They will opt for Intel because they have the biggest product base. They do not care who is "fastest", only who has sold the most. It sounds like OS/2 (and 3dNow) all over again. Software will be optimized for the P4.

The P4 is a different product than the Athlon. I am not saying better, or worse, just different.

I do agree that buying one right now is not a good choice. But once the software patches are available it will be a competitor.

I do think that thier marketing is not good for the industry. But I guess they learned well from Microsoft. Buy it now, it will work well later.

.. Will you buy a PIV/PC just because of the big HollowGhz number, or does actual performance matter to you?

Actual performance matters. Always has. I don't want to sound like I'm female bashing, (I'm not. in fact my sweetheart if the most wonderful person!) But some of the girls at college don't understand how I think highly of my computer when it's in an old grey case. No color, stickers or anything. Well, fact is it comes down to performance. Looks are one thing, performance is better. Granted it's fabulous when the two come together.  


.. Do you think its proper for OEM's to market their PIV PC's by the big HollowGhz number and thus fool buyers into buying?

The eternal question. Is it fair? I suppose so. Just because those are the numbers. You can't blame marketing for the gullability of people. True that marketing does sucker people in. When a consumer asks "is this better than the AMD 1.2GHz for playing games?" and the sales attendant responds "The Pentium 4 is the latest from intel. It's cutting edge. It'll do all your needs." That is, is my opinion, wrong and improper. It's misleading the consumer and covering over the true situation by withholding certain truths. but, the Business of America is Business, unfortunately.

.. How would you feel if a friend got tricked into buying one?

Pretty Miffed. Afterall, whether we like it or not, we ARE responsible for educating those who don't have the time, stamina, or talent to glean what we have inherited in the way of computer wisdom. His being duped is as much the sellers fault as it is mine. Afterall, this is MY friend.

.. Would you suggest they return it immediately, or just figure they got 'what they deserve' for being so stupid?

Suggest he return it. if he bought it now that is. Things may be different in the future.

.. Are you warning friends in the market for a PC about the PIV's HollowGhz ?

Not just Pentium 4's, but the whol MHz war in general. The oscillations of a crystal and the frequency of a pulse doesn't alway add up to sheer performance. Architecture is important too. Why do you think the Pentium Pro at 200 woops the Pentium Classic at 200? Architecture.

The Jolly Wizened Oaf!

I'm not sure you're right about software developpers only optimising for P4.

With something like Microsoft Office, you may be right but it won't make any difference to its performance. For games though, the developpers want to impress the reviewers more than anybody else and in this market, there will be a high proportion of AMD users.

Even so, if they've got any sense, they'll probably optimise for both.

Dai

.... As AMD starts using SSE(2), it will be easier to write SIMD optimized 3D software for both platforms, although Athlons can chomp thru it fast without SSE or 3DNow!.

..... Thanx for your thoughtful, reasoned replies to each talking point.

.................................................... -Buzz+

O'Reilly factor fan?

.... What's "O'Reilly Factor" ?