Intel Absent from Gaming Titans

Check the May issue of Maximum PC, which compares 3 gaming systems.

Maximum PC asked Alienware, Falcon, and Voodoo to "send systems equipped with components they felt gamers would appreciate". System specifications were left to the manufacturers. Prices ranged from $3,400 to $6,100.

Of interest, all systems supplied were based on the 1.33Ghz Athlon. The P4 didn't make it.

Interesting.....


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Personally I believe AMD is the better gaming machine right now; so do all those high-end companies apparently;
however, I'm gonna pre-empt the Intel-fanatics out there by putting this quote out of that article down:

"Is the new T-bird Athlon the fastest gaming proc on the block? No. At 1.3GHz it whups the 1.5GHz Pentium 4 in most office-productivity apps. But when it comes to gaming the Intel silicon has the edge. The Pentium 4 Triumphs in the all-Important Quake 3 benchmarks. As well as the 3DMark2000 3D-gaming benchmark. "

I believe Maximum PC to be wrong there, for many reasons... but the quote is there nevertheless...

The point was that the companies were asked to supply machines geared towards gaming. Yet none of the companies supplied a P4. I found that interesting, and it makes a statement.

Without reprinting the entire article here, the paragraph immediately preceding the one you quoted states:

<font color=blue>"When we put out the call for the latest gaming rigs, we expected at least a few of the boxes to have Intel inside. But, once again showing its penchant for peeing on Intel's parade, AMD introduced its new 1.3Ghz Athlon just in time to be adopted by the vendors participating in this battle royale. That's right, every machine in this showdown features the same Athlon clocked at essentially the same speed."</font color=blue>

Were these manufacturers fearful that the P4 models they sell would not compete well when compared against the Athlons? It wasn't a price issue, as one of the systems was over $6,000 in price. In fact, later in the article Maximum PC reminds the reader that they asked the manufacturers to send their "best efforts". None had a P4 in their "best efforts".

I think it makes a strong statement about the P4. After all, gaming is one of its few strongpoints, yet it was omitted by choice.

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I agre with you 100%; I just posted that as a devil advocate

I'm writing on a 1.2Gig Tbird Voodoo computer as we speak ;-)
Can't imagine asking for anything more for gaming

I'm a regular on Voodoo's boards (Zweistein is my name there), and P4 isn't taken too seriously as a gaming rig for most part. They'll make it for you, and they'll make an awesome P4 machine. But if you're into gaming, you're much better getting a stuffed Tbird right now...

As of today, none. So why pay the premium for a slower P4, and more expensive memory?

Again, the point is not the specs of Maximum PC. They did not specify anything of the PC makers other then to supply their best gaming systems for comparison. None of them supplied a P4. Interpret it as you will.

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Area 51 is their top system? Why didn't they supply it? They were asked to supply their "best effort" game systems, not their most expensive.

The Voodoo Monsoon was the $6,100 system. I thought it was a bit much, especially for the nice custom paint job INSIDE the case. Great cabling job, but not worth the price for a pretty inside. But if equipped with a P4, it would have been another $500.

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Bet you did it for less the $6100 bucks!

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jlbigguy -

I don't see anything compelling about today's P4 either. That's not my point, though.


There are all kinds of gamers. Asking vendors to use "...components...gamers would appreciate" is inviting them to concentrate on the marketing issues and not the technical ones. This is how you end up with cases painted on the inside.

It would be more useful for MaxPC's readers if they would invite vendors to "...send systems appropriate for playing EverQuest." Or Quake, or some other popular game or game type. Let the vendors do their homework and explain their thinking. Give them a budget so they have to consider the tradeoffs and come up with affordable systems.


If they did reviews like that, I would subscribe.


beans

This wasn't about saving money. It was about the best gaming system the manufacturers could provide. One system had a RAID array made of 2 Seagate cheetahs (15k rpm), another had a 3 raid array. Nothing cheap here.

The P4 was simply not the top of the line product for these companies.

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