Around Dec 16th I asked for advice on which platform my next upgrade should be. The results (from a few forums) were about 10 to 1 in favor of AMD. Thanks to all who responded, even those who were a "little" emotional about which cpu.
I ended up purchasing a Thunderbird 900, and an Abit KT7-RAID motherboard. All AMD approved components (power supply and cpu cooling fan).
My experience may prove interesting to others who are undecided about which platform. I don't plan on starting a war, just answering those who responded to me.
I purchased a "barebones" system consisting of the case, motherboard, cpu, floppy, and memory. The cost of the barebones was less then the sum of the components. I added a GForce MX, modem, NIC card, and Sound Blaster Live.
Windows installed without a hitch. Paranoid about CPU temp, I found that at idle the CPU was at 30 degrees C (covers off). The 4 in 1 drivers that came with the board installed easily, and all drivers were installed for the peripherals. CPU temp now at 38 degrees. For my stability test, I decided to run the UNREAL FLYBY. Locked solid after 3 minutes. Rebooted, and downloaded the latest 4 in 1 drivers from VIA, and tried again. Locked solid after 15 minutes. So, I reinstalled the 4 in 1 drivers again, but this time did not use the default "TURBO" AGP mode, using "STANDARD" instead. Unreal ran perfectly (3 hours). At this time I checked the CPU temp, which was 42 degrees. I then let Unreal flyby run for 24 hours, no problems.
All my software was reinstalled (many games, Visual Studio 6.0 professional, graphic editors), and found no compatibility problems what so ever.
I placed the covers on the case, and monitored the CPU temperature. Idle temp rose to 42 degrees! My case has a 3 inch fan blowing into the case, but only has the power supply fan as an exhaust. This is not enough! I removed the case cover, and the temp when back to 30 degrees in about 1 minute. Running Unreal for a half hour with the case on showed the temp at 50 degrees. Too hot in my opinion. Removing the cover cooled it to 42 degrees in about 1 minute. Airflow is vital. I will add an exhaust fan to the case.
So, which platform do I recommend? I have built 9 computers over the past years, 6 Intel, and 3 Cyrix. They all "plugged" together, and worked like a charm. The Thunderbird was a little different, requiring proper motherboard drivers and tweaking. I have never had to test an Intel computer for 3 days to be sure that it was stable.
From my experience, if you are looking to buy a computer that will work out of the box with no tweaking, then buy an Intel processor with an Intel chipset.
If you are a hobbist (like me), then go AMD. There is a lot to tweak, and once you have it stable, it is a rock. Had I gone with Intel, I would have missed out on all the fun getting the system running well.
I would throw caution to the wind if you plan on buying an assembled AMD PC. Be sure the vendor knows how to build one. I saw many internet stores selling bargin AMD systems, with 235 watt supplies! God knows what they are using to keep the processor cool. Will they install the latest motherboard drivers and set it up to be stable? I doubt it.
A couple of things pushed me to AMD. One was price/performance. I made a budget for myself, and AMD gave me more bang for the buck. The system I have now can be upgraded to 1.5 G (when/if these Tbirds become available). Vaporware rumors say these new Tbirds will not require any active cooling. We will see.
Had I gone with a Pentium III, there is no upgrade path. The P3 is topped out at 1 G. My own feeling is that a 1 G P3 is nothing more then a 733 overclocked by Intel (no disrespect intended, let's not start a war). To upgrade from a P3 to a P4 will require a new motherboard and RAM, perhaps a case as well.
My Tbird 900 has been running (covers off, didn't get an exhaust fan yet) for 5 consecutive days. Not a burp. Stable as a rock. In a couple of weeks I'll start to play with BIOS settings to see if improvements can be made.
Thanks to all who responded! Any comments on BIOS settings?
I ended up purchasing a Thunderbird 900, and an Abit KT7-RAID motherboard. All AMD approved components (power supply and cpu cooling fan).
My experience may prove interesting to others who are undecided about which platform. I don't plan on starting a war, just answering those who responded to me.
I purchased a "barebones" system consisting of the case, motherboard, cpu, floppy, and memory. The cost of the barebones was less then the sum of the components. I added a GForce MX, modem, NIC card, and Sound Blaster Live.
Windows installed without a hitch. Paranoid about CPU temp, I found that at idle the CPU was at 30 degrees C (covers off). The 4 in 1 drivers that came with the board installed easily, and all drivers were installed for the peripherals. CPU temp now at 38 degrees. For my stability test, I decided to run the UNREAL FLYBY. Locked solid after 3 minutes. Rebooted, and downloaded the latest 4 in 1 drivers from VIA, and tried again. Locked solid after 15 minutes. So, I reinstalled the 4 in 1 drivers again, but this time did not use the default "TURBO" AGP mode, using "STANDARD" instead. Unreal ran perfectly (3 hours). At this time I checked the CPU temp, which was 42 degrees. I then let Unreal flyby run for 24 hours, no problems.
All my software was reinstalled (many games, Visual Studio 6.0 professional, graphic editors), and found no compatibility problems what so ever.
I placed the covers on the case, and monitored the CPU temperature. Idle temp rose to 42 degrees! My case has a 3 inch fan blowing into the case, but only has the power supply fan as an exhaust. This is not enough! I removed the case cover, and the temp when back to 30 degrees in about 1 minute. Running Unreal for a half hour with the case on showed the temp at 50 degrees. Too hot in my opinion. Removing the cover cooled it to 42 degrees in about 1 minute. Airflow is vital. I will add an exhaust fan to the case.
So, which platform do I recommend? I have built 9 computers over the past years, 6 Intel, and 3 Cyrix. They all "plugged" together, and worked like a charm. The Thunderbird was a little different, requiring proper motherboard drivers and tweaking. I have never had to test an Intel computer for 3 days to be sure that it was stable.
From my experience, if you are looking to buy a computer that will work out of the box with no tweaking, then buy an Intel processor with an Intel chipset.
If you are a hobbist (like me), then go AMD. There is a lot to tweak, and once you have it stable, it is a rock. Had I gone with Intel, I would have missed out on all the fun getting the system running well.
I would throw caution to the wind if you plan on buying an assembled AMD PC. Be sure the vendor knows how to build one. I saw many internet stores selling bargin AMD systems, with 235 watt supplies! God knows what they are using to keep the processor cool. Will they install the latest motherboard drivers and set it up to be stable? I doubt it.
A couple of things pushed me to AMD. One was price/performance. I made a budget for myself, and AMD gave me more bang for the buck. The system I have now can be upgraded to 1.5 G (when/if these Tbirds become available). Vaporware rumors say these new Tbirds will not require any active cooling. We will see.
Had I gone with a Pentium III, there is no upgrade path. The P3 is topped out at 1 G. My own feeling is that a 1 G P3 is nothing more then a 733 overclocked by Intel (no disrespect intended, let's not start a war). To upgrade from a P3 to a P4 will require a new motherboard and RAM, perhaps a case as well.
My Tbird 900 has been running (covers off, didn't get an exhaust fan yet) for 5 consecutive days. Not a burp. Stable as a rock. In a couple of weeks I'll start to play with BIOS settings to see if improvements can be made.
Thanks to all who responded! Any comments on BIOS settings?
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