P4 or AMD

AMD all the way

Get a P4 1.7ghz and o/c the hell out of it?

P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!

heh. its more than just the CPU man.
each system requires different ram types to bring out its optimal performance, PC2100 or PC2700 for amd, PC2700 and higher, or RDRAM for the P4.

also motherboards differ in price. bear that in mind too.

<b>"True communication is possible only between equals, because inferiors are consistently rewarded for telling their superiors pleasant lies than for telling the truth."</b>

Yep, rdram generally costs 2x more than ddr and generally intel motherboards cost more than amd motherboards.

"If you sign up for AOL now, we'll give you 1024 hours of slow service and disconnects free of charge"

RDRam is not twice as much as DDR, and the price difference between intel mobo's and amd is around $5-$10 for the good ones.

Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.

AMD

This is just a Ford vs Chevy type question.

What do you actually want to use the computer for?

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If you overclock go with an Intel P4A or B. If you do not intend to overclock get an AMD XP.

"Just the facts ma'am"

Did AMD fix their Thermal diode?
I think there was a right up on new MOBO's are coming out/ been out, with built in thermal diode built on to them. Hey I might be a little behind.

and if you plan to overclock CERTAINLY don't get a p4 1.7
this is the willamette core, .18 micron, runs hotter than northwood, only 256 L2, bad overclocking! get a 1.6A or somethin instead if you're tryin to overclock a low end P4

hmmmm .... you do realise once you buy a p4 or amd you gotta buy a mobo, ram, and probably a new case. total is about 600 bucks or around 1000 canadian. Unless you plan on using the CPU as a keychain?

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

new case huh? you mean new power supply.

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

Hmmm...another Chevy vrs. Ford discussion!

Prices today are:
Intel PIV 2.0 Ghz: $ 167
AMD Athlon XP2400+: $194
Intel PIV 2.2 Ghz: $ 218

Under these circumstances, I'd go for the XP2400+...
...but then you can't buy it yet!!!
And like everyone else is saying, you also have to consider the heatsink, cpu fan, motherboard, RAM, etc...

Buy a Toyota!!!


__________________________________________________
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for the cost of a new power supply you can get a new case with power supply for the same wattage..

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

sometimes, but a new case is not required.

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

it's still the same cost though

Life is irrelivent and irrational.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=9933" target="_new"> My Rig </A>

"Did AMD fix their Thermal diode?
I think there was a right up on new MOBO's are coming out/ been out, with built in thermal diode built on to them. Hey I might be a little behind"

Are you referring to a motherboard function?

"Just the facts ma'am"

If you plan to use it for scientific calculation or anything dealing with math programs get AMD. In Matlab XP1800+ is 25% faster than P4 and dual Xeon at 2.0 Ghz.

I'm Canadian and I can assure you this is not enough, even for a low cost Celeron 1GHZ setup!!!

You need to expand MUCH further. (I also hope that 200$ limit doesn't include tax yet)
Lowest AthlonXP here is 110$, plus a cheap ECS board for 89$, you still need RAM, so even the cheapest setup will run 300$ easily, for something decent for home use and some fair gaming.
You need to specify more man, not just ask which for how much, we need info on your current inventory and what is to buy!

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Like Eden said, I'm a Canadian too, and if you're looking for under $200 for the CPU, AMD's really the best choice. Something like a XP2000+. That'll cost you ~$181 for the retail box.

BTW, to a poster further up, if the XP2400+ is $218USD or something, I'd get the P4 2.4B, which are selling for ~$200USD.

...And all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put my computer back together again...

RBC has the Pre-Order of the XP2600 and XP2400, yeah they are more expensive than the competition (the XP2600 is less expensive than the P4 2.6GHZ, but seeing as most agree, the 2.53GHZ is competing it, and it costs less)

AMD needs to price drop or hurry the XP2700-2800 release SOON, I hope not another paper launch as said. They even said not before OCT 30 that the XP2600 would come out!

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Yeah, I said it when they first "launched" the XP2400/2600+. I said that at high end, Intel actually is starting to have a better price/performance ratio. I mean, the P4 2.4B is selling at <$190 at googlegear.com.

...And all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put my computer back together again...