3.2GHz P4 Prescott or Athlon 64 3400+ (2.4 GHz S754)

[Mears]

I'm going to be putting together a HTPC pretty quickly here, and I'm trying to decide on which CPU to go with. I have a 6600GT AGP based card that I will be using and need to use a uATX motherboard. Since the only 2 uATX S939 mobos out now and in the foreseeable future only have PCI-E, I'm limited to S754 if I go the Athlon route.

I've read some reviews and it seems like the A64 is going to be the best performer in everything but decoding and rendering. I will be using as many FFDShow bells and whistles as the HTPC can handle, so I would think this would favor the P4. However, I've also heard that the P4 runs a bit hotter which require better cooling (more/louder fans). What would you do?

 

[Rip the Jacker]

a64

 

[Blazer]

Amd 64 then

Never a preshot !

 

[Amaroque]

If you want a quiet HTPC, I'd use an A64.

 

[V00D00]

I would go with P4 because it's a HTPC, but yes, if you want it quiet you'll have to spend a few more bucks on a decent HSF.

 

[wisdomtooth]

Putting a Pres-hott into a small form factor case would present you with a daunting cooling challenge. I would avoid it if possible.

I would go Athlon64 as the others mentioned, but if you must go P4, look for a Northwood/Socket 478. Far easier to cool, and still packs a respectable punch.

HTH.

 

[neoreturns]

If you plan on using the HTPC for anything HD I strongly recommend the A64. Read on avsforums.com for more info but hands down the A64 will demolish the P4 for anything 1080i or 720p or even WM9 HD

 

[Thegonagle]

Prescott == too hot.

That's one reason I recently grabbed myself an extra 2.4C Northwood before they were gone--because I have two extra i865 motherboards and I'd like to build myself a silent PC/HTPC as soon as I can justify buying the rest of the components. (And if I didn't have the extra motherboards already, I'd go with AMD inside.)

 

[Goi]

Originally posted by: neoreturns
If you plan on using the HTPC for anything HD I strongly recommend the A64. Read on avsforums.com for more info but hands down the A64 will demolish the P4 for anything 1080i or 720p or even WM9 HD

Really? Last I heard the P4 is still better in ffdshow post processing. I know my overclocked P4 2.8C is faster than my A64 3200+ in that.

 

[Pariah]

Intel's strength has always been in A/V, and it still is. P4 is still the choice for HTPC's, though I don't quite understand why you think you need such a highend CPU for a HTPC. Even MS WM9HD doesn't require anything that highend. So long as you stay away from the socket 775 Prescotts, cooling should not be an issue:

P4 3.2Ghz Northwood: 58.3 Watts, A64 3400+: 56.1 Watts (100% load)

 

[Mears]

Post processing.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Pariah
Intel's strength has always been in A/V, and it still is. P4 is still the choice for HTPC's, though I don't quite understand why you think you need such a highend CPU for a HTPC. Even MS WM9HD doesn't require anything that highend. So long as you stay away from the socket 775 Prescotts, cooling should not be an issue:

P4 3.2Ghz Northwood: 58.3 Watts, A64 3400+: 56.1 Watts (100% load)

Why didn;t you use the cooler A64, since you choose the cooler P4. The Athlon64 3200+ winchester is 30 watts !!!!!

 

Thread on the topic w/ Poll - Good thread on a friend's site, has a poll, you should check it out.

 

[Zebo]

A64 3400 is the best bang for the buck highend processors...faster than 3500 in every benchmark, faster than 3.6 pentium in 80% of benchmarks....and it's only $200!!!

http://www.behardware.com/art/imprimer/525/

this is a no brainer if I ever seen one... add the $100 rock DFI LP and nothing stock can touch this setup in terms of price, stability or features..

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Putting a Pres-hott into a small form factor case would present you with a daunting cooling challenge. I would avoid it if possible.

I would go Athlon64 as the others mentioned, but if you must go P4, look for a Northwood/Socket 478. Far easier to cool, and still packs a respectable punch.

HTH.

+1

Athlon 64 runs cooler, eats less power.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Pariah
Intel's strength has always been in A/V, and it still is. P4 is still the choice for HTPC's, though I don't quite understand why you think you need such a highend CPU for a HTPC. Even MS WM9HD doesn't require anything that highend. So long as you stay away from the socket 775 Prescotts, cooling should not be an issue:

P4 3.2Ghz Northwood: 58.3 Watts, A64 3400+: 56.1 Watts (100% load)

Not anymore. Every a/v bench you show me a P4 winning I'll show you one for AMD as well. And all the AMD 64's have way less power consumption than the 3.2. From techreport, a site I trust infinity more than TH.

http://techreport.com/reviews/...n64-fx55/index.x?pg=15

or SPCR
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article169-page3.html

 

[Terumo]

No Prescotts in HTPCs. Relative just built one and considering the tight space and little space to move air, you'll have to go for a standard P4. It's so tight in those cases even rounded cables are out. He has taken folding flat ATA cables to a new art just to squeeze everything into one of those Sonata HT cases.

He also stuffed it with 2 400g Seagates and an ATI All-In-Wonder card.

....Need to get some pics of it.....

 

[Pariah]

You still don't need something that highend for post processing.

Why didn;t you use the cooler A64, since you choose the cooler P4.

For the same reason I didn't use a Pentium-M or XP Mobile. The only reason to go with a Prescott, is if you require the more up to date platform that socket 775 utilizes. Otherwise, as far as CPU performance goes, Northwood is a perfectly viable alternative.

The P4 dollar for dollar with AMD still wins the majority of A/V benchmarks. Which ones are more important to you will determine which you choose. For movie playback, it's irrelevant. Either CPU is way overkill for such tasks even with post processing.

And all the AMD 64's have way less power consumption than the 3.2. From techreport, a site I trust infinity more than TH.

Uh, yeah, great, it shows the same thing THG does for the CPU's that both list. Prescott use more power. Only problem is they don't list the 3.2GHz Northwood, which is the CPU in question here. Next...

 

[Terumo]

Originally posted by: Pariah

Uh, yeah, great, it shows the same thing THG does for the CPU's that both list. Prescott use more power. Only problem is they don't list the 3.2GHz Northwood, which is the CPU in question here. Next...

Which I believe was the processor used in that Sonata HT case with a mini-ATX Intel board. It's more than enough processing power to record HDTV shows and all. He researched real well and did it right (like reading the white papers, specs and more. Guy has thermaldynamics committed to memory :shock.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Pariah
You still don't need something that highend for post processing.

Why didn;t you use the cooler A64, since you choose the cooler P4.

For the same reason I didn't use a Pentium-M or XP Mobile. The only reason to go with a Prescott, is if you require the more up to date platform that socket 775 utilizes. Otherwise, as far as CPU performance goes, Northwood is a perfectly viable alternative.

The P4 dollar for dollar with AMD still wins the majority of A/V benchmarks. Which ones are more important to you will determine which you choose. For movie playback, it's irrelevant. Either CPU is way overkill for such tasks even with post processing.

And all the AMD 64's have way less power consumption than the 3.2. From techreport, a site I trust infinity more than TH.

Uh, yeah, great, it shows the same thing THG does for the CPU's that both list. Prescott use more power. Only problem is they don't list the 3.2GHz Northwood, which is the CPU in question here. Next...

The winchester is still an Athlon64, just a different die size, even closer than the northwood-presshot differences. You just choose to the ignore 30 watts vs 58 since I make my point.

 

[Goi]

Originally posted by: Pariah
You still don't need something that highend for post processing.

I'm not so sure. Even on my overclocked A64 3200+ at more than 2.5GHz, I'm not able to do all the post processing I want to do on mpeg4 material(Lanczos resize to 1600x1200 and denoise3d), something that my older P4 is barely able to do as well. The extra power would come in handy in such applications, especially when you're resizing to HD resolutions and beyond.

 

[Zebo]

P4 3.2 uses 95.838756W under full load.

http://www.cpuheat.wz.cz/html/IntelPowerConsumption.htm

I have no idea how anyone can take toms as gospel with zero methodolgy behind thier absurd numbers. Even intels own TDP of northwood at 3.2GHz is 82W. When toms showing 52 that should be you're first clue somethings seriously wrong with tom, since everyone knows intel is highly optimistic with thier TDP's..

 

[Pariah]

OK, now let's see a site that was actually able to get a 95W draw out of a 3.2GHz Northwood, which you later state as 82W. The mathematical theory is great, but if no one can actually reproduce those numbers, it doesn't mean squat. Those TDP numbers are probably about as accurate as THD numbers in audio and fillrate numbers for video cards. I don't see you questioning the 104.5W THG recorded for the Prescott 570 or other bloated numbers for the Prescott models, only the Northwood's 58.3W (not 52, where on earth did you get that?). It's well known that Northwoods are more environmentally friendly.

It is not difficult to quietly cool a P4 Northwood. You don't need exotic cooling, and for a HTPC, you will rarely be running max loads anyway.

 

[Terumo]

Originally posted by: Zebo
P4 3.2 uses 95.838756W under full load.

http://www.cpuheat.wz.cz/html/IntelPowerConsumption.htm

I have no idea how anyone can take toms as gospel with zero methodolgy behind thier absurd numbers. Even intels own TDP of northwood at 3.2GHz is 82W. When toms showing 52 that should be you're first clue somethings seriously wrong with tom, since everyone knows intel is highly optimistic with thier TDP's..

Tom is known to dislike Intel products with a passion from the start, long before P4s came on the market. Reading the site's take on an Intel product is like reading a take from a Redhat friendly site on Windows.

If it's not the processors it's RDRAM. It gets to be redundant after awhile. It's something if his site's preview says anything respectful of an Intel product. I was told the *previews* at Anandtech are more unbiased though.

 

[aidanjm]

Prescott in an htpc = insanity, surely?