Athlon OR Pentium for HL2!?

Animal

Animal

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Ok , i need some advice plz people. I am planning on getting a new processor. Which would be better, a pentium 4 3ghz 800fsb or a Athlon 3ghz+ 333fsb. I know there is a large price difference but i'm willing to pay it if it means better performance with HL2 and other games.

Also, is there a specialised type of RAM you can get for pentium 4's i thought i heard about that somewhere, if so is it better then normal DDR?

THX!
:cheers:
 
1. THIS IS NOT THE RIGHT FORUM

2. the p4 is faster by a good bit.
 
P4 is better. but if you could wait only a month you can buy even better then P43.2 its(AMD 64fx)
 
Re: p4

Originally posted by Coolpot
p4 = sux, basically
Click to expand...

wow...no...it doesn't...at all..

yes this is the wrong forum, but 800mhz fsb is far superior. pay the moneys and get it...and don't forget about hyperthreading.

intels have been blowing AMD away recently...they're the better buy for now
 
If you absolutely must have the fastest chip available, you have to go for the Pentium IV option.

However, if you have more sense than money, I would go for a Barton Core Athlon, as they provide far better performance for the money.
 
This is why you post shit like this in the hardware forum.......


you wont get people saying


"p4 = sux, basically"

"AMDs are crap"


Neither of witch is true.
 
Oh yes for the RAM

No overclocking= go and buy Corsair DDR400

you want overcloking = the best now is Corsair DDR500

:cheers:
 
Its really quite simple, get the best you can afford (discount the top couple of models from both amd and intel as they will be huge price increase for little performance) amd's are cheaper and faster clock for clock but even then they cannot keep up with intels much higher clock rate on the p4's(which are as you would expect are more expensive).
 
do not buy a barton core AMD processor...they are crap for the money right now...agreed...take this to a hardware forum so you can actually get some good advice.

try a website that has nothing to do with HL2...you'll still find HL2 fans there who will have been talking about this already.

http://www.anandtech.com/

or just search around on your own :p
 
Originally posted by Maskirovka
do not buy a barton core AMD processor...they are crap for the money right now...agreed...take this to a hardware forum so you can actually get some good advice.

try a website that has nothing to do with HL2...you'll still find HL2 fans there who will have been talking about this already.

http://www.anandtech.com/

or just search around on your own :p
Click to expand...


how is a 2500+ crap for the money?
 
bartons are crap for the money because:

he's gonna have to buy a motherboard too...and probably different ram. and considering that he can't upgrade to anything good from a barton, he's gonna be wasting his money buying that stuff.

amd's pretty much abandoned the barton line...it's not a good upgrade path...which is why it's a waste of money, imo...sure bartons are cheap...so i guess they're "good for the money" in a way...

if you buy a p4, the motherboards you're gonna be checking out are most likely gonna be compatible with the newer p4's that are due out.

so yea...either wait for new AMD stuff....or get a p4 if that money's burning a hole in your pocket and you NEED to upgrade before hl2 comes out :)
 
Athlon all the way. Im going to be buying an Athlon XP 2500+, and overclocking it to a 3000+ or 3200+. Saves me the money.
 
read my post...

you're gonna be spending more when that barton's not fast enough anymore...what are you gonna upgrade to? the fastest athlon xp? still not that good when you consider the p4 upgrade path and the new AMD stuff coming out.

imo, waiting is a better idea than buying any current AMD technology
 
Originally posted by Maskirovka
read my post...

you're gonna be spending more when that barton's not fast enough anymore...what are you gonna upgrade to? the fastest athlon xp? still not that good when you consider the p4 upgrade path and the new AMD stuff coming out.

imo, waiting is a better idea than buying any current AMD technology
Click to expand...

the 2500+ is still a good deal if you dont have alot of cash.
 
Well, people usually search for the best bang for their buck. They don't necessarily need the *fastest* unless your a hardcore gamer. I usually overclock everything (CPU, RAM, GFX card) to it's max - and still plays at a stable rate.
 
agreed...i did say in my post that it's still a good deal in that way...i just think that if you can wait it's better to wait.

if your current system is crap and you only have like $300...then by all means go with the bartons

but you're not gonna have much to upgrade to without buying a new motherboard and ram :\
 
Basically its like this, intel has faster clock speeds, and a faster fsb. The downside is they do not perform nearly as good as they should. *NOTE* Yes they are slightly faster than amd in benchmarks, but not by much. Now, ask yourself this question. Is it worth it to me to pay hundered(s) more for an intel when I can get an athlon xp which can not only run my games just as good, but cost me less? I think you will find my answer to that in my sig. Good day. :cheers:

P.S. I have worked in technology for several years now, and have to say I will never buy an intel chip (cpu or chipset) after having learned what I have from working in the field. There will always be intel fanboys, amd fanboys, but as for me, I prefer to make my decisions based on facts about the product itself.
 
Originally posted by DjBourgeoisie
Basically its like this, intel has faster clock speeds, and a faster fsb. The downside is they do not perform nearly as good as they should. *NOTE* Yes they are slightly faster than amd in benchmarks, but not by much. Now, ask yourself this question. Is it worth it to me to pay hundered(s) more for an intel when I can get an athlon xp which can not only run my games just as good, but cost me less? I think you will find my answer to that in my sig.
Click to expand...

but what can you upgrade to with your current setup? you have to buy new mobo/processor :\

basically...don't listen to us...go do your own research...use our advice as a stepping stone and form your own opinions.
 
Originally posted by Goombatommy
Athlon all the way. Im going to be buying an Athlon XP 2500+, and overclocking it to a 3000+ or 3200+. Saves me the money.
Click to expand...
Actually your already clocked faster than the 3200 with a 2500. The 3200 clock speed is default 2.2 ghz. The real performance advantage of the 3200 is the fsb (400 mhz) and a larger cache.
 
Originally posted by Maskirovka
but what can you upgrade to with your current setup? you have to buy new mobo/processor :\

basically...don't listen to us...go do your own research...use our advice as a stepping stone and form your own opinions.
Click to expand...

What makes you think I need to buy a new mobo or cpu if I want to upgrade? Have you never heard of flashing your bios to support faster chips? With my current system, trust me, I dont need to upgrade for a long time. If one feels they have to have the latest and greatest all the time, your going to be wasting your money, I upgrade once every year and 1/2 at the earliest, and by a peripheral at a time, not the entire system (unless I have maxed it out).
 
Originally posted by DjBourgeoisie
Basically its like this, intel has faster clock speeds, and a faster fsb. The downside is they do not perform nearly as good as they should. *NOTE* Yes they are slightly faster than amd in benchmarks, but not by much. Now, ask yourself this question. Is it worth it to me to pay hundered(s) more for an intel when I can get an athlon xp which can not only run my games just as good, but cost me less? I think you will find my answer to that in my sig. Good day. :cheers:

P.S. I have worked in technology for several years now, and have to say I will never buy an intel chip (cpu or chipset) after having learned what I have from working in the field. There will always be intel fanboys, amd fanboys, but as for me, I prefer to make my decisions based on facts about the product itself.
Click to expand...
This article from Anandtech.com shows how the XP3200 is beaten by the much cheaper P4-2.6C in the vast majority of the benchmarks. Especially in games the barton chips are quite slow compared to the P4's. How's that for a fact?
 
Fastest as of now is the P4 3.2Ghz on a 800mhz bus, despite what the communists at apple would like you to think. AMD is definitely the best price/performance.

The Barton is a decent upgrade, and provides great overclockability. Despite what some numbnut said previously, the Barton does not require an entirely new motherboard or whatever. You'll need a 333mhz fsb capable board, or a 266 board that can OC to a 333mhz fsb. Its just a new core...

I would recommend something in the 2600+ to 2800+ range. Good performance, and its much less $$ than the faster processors. With good ram, you should be able to OC up to 3200+ speeds. And with a faster fsb with the OC, it performs much closer to its Pentium counterpart.
 
If you're the sort of person who upgrades every 6 months, then the Barton line isn't great, but if, like me, you upgrade very rarely and replace your whole mobo/processor/RAM/Garphics Card in one go, it's not a problem.
 
Originally posted by Arno
This article from Anandtech.com shows how the XP3200 is beaten by the much cheaper P4-2.6C in the vast majority of the benchmarks. Especially in games the barton chips are quite slow compared to the P4's. How's that for a fact?
Click to expand...

exactly :p

and what chips is AMD making that your nforce chipset will support..even with bios updates? look for some and let me know. please, don't be condecending...yes i've heard of bios updates.

i didn't really want to get into all this, as the post was originally just a guy asking a question...

this part of the article arno posted says

With the introduction of the 800MHz, Intel has put the nail in the Athlon XP's coffin - whatever chances AMD had at regaining the performance crown with the Athlon XP were lost when Intel introduced the 865PE and 875P platforms. Luckily for AMD, the Athlon 64 is just around the corner but it's clear who the winner of the Northwood vs. Barton battle is.
Click to expand...

and they're right. wait for the athlon64 or get a p4...that's the best choice as of right now.

nobody's saying your system is crap, djbourgeoisie...it will probably run hl2 nicely and i'm sure it gets high fps in all current games.

it's just that all upgrades depend on a person's current system and current financial situation...and this guy said he didn't have a problem with money...and obviously his current system isn't anything special
 
Originally posted by rage_fan
I would recommend something in the 2600+ to 2800+ range. Good performance, and its much less $$ than the faster processors. With good ram, you should be able to OC up to 3200+ speeds. And with a faster fsb with the OC, it performs much closer to its Pentium counterpart.
Click to expand...
It's true that with some overclocking you could achieve a speed close to that of the P4 counterpart. However, then you disregard the fact that the P4 counterpart can be overclocked just as well, if not much better.

I also read somewhere that the Athlon XP2500+ is actually a pretty good CPU for it's low price. But if you have the money, you should either get a P4 or wait for AMD's next CPU.
 
Wait for the Athlon64. AMD>Intel. The P4 relies exclusively on its high bandwidth of memory, it's a poorly designed chip otherwise, and clock for clock an Athlon XP whips it.
 
Originally posted by Arno
This article from Anandtech.com shows how the XP3200 is beaten by the much cheaper P4-2.6C in the vast majority of the benchmarks. Especially in games the barton chips are quite slow compared to the P4's. How's that for a fact?
Click to expand...
Well I would like to read that article, but the site doesnt load. It isnt hard to find a website that says one thing, and another that says just the opposite. I seriously doubt that p4 would beat the 3200 since the 3200 is about as good in benchmarks as the 3ghz p4's. Like I previously stated, I pick quality of engineering over hype, and intel uses alot of hype.
 
My current system is complete crap:

1.2ghz AMD Tbird
512 SDR RAM
geforce 2 ultra 64mb

so i need to seriously upgrade.

I already have a better graphics card i just need the other components now, i'm not very Knowledgeable when it comes to computers but i know enough.

I AM willing to pay for the extra performance if a P4 is much better. I just want it to be as futureproof as possible. Could you also recommend motherboards plz as i'm not sure which to get. Any opinion is welcome, and any experiences you have with either processor would be helpful!

THX:thumbs:
 
Originally posted by Animal
My current system is complete crap:

1.2ghz AMD Tbird
512 SDR RAM
geforce 2 ultra 64mb

so i need to seriously upgrade.

I already have a better graphics card i just need the other components now, i'm not very Knowledgeable when it comes to computers but i know enough.

I AM willing to pay for the extra performance if a P4 is much better. I just want it to be as futureproof as possible. Could you also recommend motherboards plz as i'm not sure which to get. Any opinion is welcome, and any experiences you have with either processor would be helpful!

THX:thumbs:
Click to expand...


P4 is excellent. But don't buy P43.2, its expensive and the performance ain't much increased over the 3.0GHz.

Or

If you want AMD. then Wait for late october and buy AMD64FX(its outperforme the 3.2 by %50).

its all depend on how much you like to spend and the time.
 
Well i would really like to upgrade for HL2, i mean it'll look like HL1 on my current system.

Max payne 2 also comes out in early october!:eek:

I'll be happy with whatever i can get now.

edit: i'll be going for the 3ghz versions of either brand because it's not worth the extra 150 pounds for 200 mhz.
 
This is all I am going to say (I'm never coming back to this thread, not even just to read):
You can get a P4 that is as fast or faster than the best Athlon XP ($400) for only $170... that's roughly %60 less.
The Pentium IV's also have much better memory bandwidth because of the 800MHz FSB.

If you can hold out... wait until you see some benchmarks on the upcoming processors from AMD and Intel.
 
Originally posted by OCybrManO
This is all I am going to say (I'm never coming back to this thread, not even just to read):
You can get a P4 that is as fast or faster than the best Athlon XP ($400) for only $170... that's roughly %60 less.
The Pentium IV's also have much better memory bandwidth because of the 800MHz FSB.

If you can hold out... wait until you see some benchmarks on the upcoming processors from AMD and Intel.
Click to expand...

yes
 
Java, certain parts of the P4 really DO suck. The FPU's and the branch prediction for instance...
 
Originally posted by G0rgon
P4 is excellent. But don't buy P43.2, its expensive and the performance ain't much increased over the 3.0GHz.

Or

If you want AMD. then Wait for late october and buy AMD64FX(its outperforme the 3.2 by %50).

its all depend on how much you like to spend and the time.
Click to expand...

Yeah, right 50%... Not exactly, its more like 20%
 
Well, dont have a lot of money, go with a AMD (2500+ maybe)
etc. CPU+400fsb supporting Mboard+DDR = <300$ is possble
Dont mind spending more money...but you cant wait and want to get it now. Buy P4 w/800FSB.
Dont mind spending more money and you can wait a bit, get a AMD Athlon 64 3200+. (Sept 23rd)
personal opinion of course :)
 
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