A Tale of Three Processors

[Persephone]

The three processors I have been considering are the Athlon XP 3000 (400MHz FSB), the Pentium 4 3.0GHz (800MHz FSB), and the Pentium 4 2.8GHz (800MHz FSB). I am really not sure about the P4 2.8 and XP 3000 because they are so close in price. Would it be easy to overclock a P4 2.8 up to a P4 3.0 (or higher)? Please help me sort through my confusion.

 

[stingeragent]

Well, I personally was gonna get a 2800+ but people say the 2500+ easily o/c's to 3200+ speeds so.........

 

[Persephone]

I see that the 2500+ is highly regarded among o/c'ers, however my apprehension about getting the 2500+ is that I doubt my overclocking ability and if I fail to make anything out of o/c'ing I still want to be left with an above average processor.

 

[Duvie]

Well personally both the 2.8 and 3.0ghz if oc'd may end up at the exact speed so therefore look at what may save some cash..

I wouldn't even consider the 3000+ and if yo get the 2500+ oc'd to 3200+ speeds it still wouldn't compete with a p4 oc'd to 3.2-3.6ghz and wherever you may land in between there....


This is a blindly pro amd site...I now when to side wit amd but it doesn't seem like money is to much of a limitation here...meaning this is not like a guy trying to build a complete system for 500 bucks....Athlon 64's compete with p4c's not bartons, IMO....

 

[VIAN]

At that speed Intels, I wouldn't bother with AMD XPs

 

[sugarkang]

intel zombies.

look. everyone has seen the benches. YES INTEL IS TEH KING OF TEH INT3RNAT.

now, for the rest of us who don't have that much money to spend, the athlons have ALWAYS had a better price/performance ratio. people say that the athlon xp 2500 and pentium 2.6C are similar in performance. BUT consider the price difference:

12/04/2003
Intel Pentium 4 2.6 GHz 800 MHz NewEgg $174.00
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ NewEgg $ 85.00

there's a 99% chance you can OC your 2500 --> 3200. is it faster than an OCed P4 2.6C? NO OF COURSE NOT.
Is the P4 worth double the price? NO OF COURSE NOT.

if you want the latest and greatest and most expensive, buy INTEL.
for the rest of us proletariats, there's AMD.

There's a reason why this board is pro AMD.

1. just notice how highly informed the average user is on this board.
2. It runs better in all round office applications... (see the benches) this is what we use the most when we aren't playing games.
3. it performs about on par with intel on games.

I'm going to put the $90 i saved on the chip to buy a nice video card.

yes, i'm aware that aXP performs horribly against the P4 in video/audio encoding and 3d apps.

video encoding:
but honestly, are you sitting there watching gordianknot/virtual dub/xmpeg encode your movie? (well actually, i do)
no, the sane people on this board let the computer do the work overnight, so it doesn't freaking matter one bit.


audio encoding:
you can rip an entire CD in a couple of minutes these days at 192kbps.
do you care if your cd burner is 50x vs. 52x? the difference is a matter of seconds now.


3d apps:
studio max and related products are things that i never use. unless this is your job, the bulk of us computer users don't give a crap about this kind of performance.

 

[BlvdKing]

I agree with sugarkang. The performance of the Barton vs P4C is not worth the extra money to me.

Out of the three CPU's listed the 3.0C seems like the best deal to me.

 

[Technonut]

This P4C vs Barton Article just came out....

As we have seen, the 3.2GHz Pentium 4C surpasses the Barton 3200+ in most of the benchmarks; many with a significant margin. Certainly, we do understand that the new AMD Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX processors are capable of outpacing the 3.2GHz Pentium 4C. But when the retail price and availability of the AMD 64 processor and platform are taken into consideration, the 3.2GHz Pentium 4C processor remains a good alternative to the faster AMD chips.

However, if you are on an extremely tight budget, the AMD Barton 2500+ is still a very good deal. Especially since the majority of the Barton 2500+ that we have seen so far seems capable of reaching the 3200+ speed grade at stock voltage or with just a small voltage boost.

 

[Killrose]

Look at the benches and overclocking reports of the various Intel and AMD processors, price out and pick your motherboard, ram and cooler you might need to reach your goal, then take a good look at your wallet and make sure you can afford it all.

And don't forget that in two months it's all going to be worth about half of what you paid for it.

 

[treckmey]

I know it's speculation, but what do you think the price range for the P4 2.6C will be in 2 months?

 

[paladiin]

And don't forget that in two months it's all going to be worth about half of what you paid for it.

Not necessarily. Over the summer I picked up a Barton 2500+, Epox 8RDA+, and 512MBx2 Corsair PC3200 XMS RAM. Total devaluation has been about $10-$15. Of course, starting low usually means there's not much room for prices to fall!

 

[Camofrog]

i would deffinitely reccommend the P4 3.0ghz they are very OC'able, + as long as you are getting a good mobo too then it will be well worth it in the end.

 

[myocardia]

Mikey, if you're looking for the absolutely lowest price, go with an Athlon 2400 (266 fsb, before overclocking), any decent nforce2 mobo, and some good ram. My 2400 runs as high as 2.5 ghz, but I usually run it at 2.4, because of the temps it reaches at 2.5. Anyway, a 2400 running at 2.4ghz kills a 2500 running at 2.2ghz (the 3200+ that people keep talking about).

Assuming you're interested in not breaking the bank, buy some Ultra PC3700 from tigerdirect.com here. It's guaranteed to run at CAS2 all the way up to it's rated frequency, AND it's guaranteed to work with any new chipset. Oh, and as far as you being able to "successfully" overclock, do it with Clockgen, and I guarantee you that you'll be successful. Clockgen is a Windows overclocking utility that is awesome. All you need to do is setup your voltages, and ram timings in the BIOS, then boot to Windows and use Clockgen to overclock the FSB. That way, if you try to go too far, it will crash. Once Windows reboots, everything will be back to normal (stock speed), and you can try again. ANYONE can do it that way, plus your processor is always at it's rated speed when Windows boots, so you aren't taking any chances with installing software, defragging, etc.

 

[sugarkang]

informative post. i'll try that clockgen out.

i OCed a little too far last time and all microsoft programs wouldn't start properly even after i set the multi back down.

as far as the 2400 being a better overclocker than the 2500, well... i dunno if that's true. i mean it could be and it couldn't be, not disagreeing. it's just that if 2400 was *the* chip, wouldn't people be talking about it instead of the 2500? i think chances are higher at getting successful OC with the 2500.

besides. the given OC seems to be 3200+. people just sorta expect that now as a minimum.
it's all about how much you can raise the fsb past 200.

mine is currently at 215mhz x 11 = 2.365ghz stable 11 hours of prime95 = 1.75volts
I hit 220mhz x 11 = 2.420ghz @ 1.80volts but the ambient air got too warm.
people have gone even higher with better ram.

and for all intel lovers: there's no pentium in the world that can match this speed for $80.
no matter what the hell you overclock.