Amd 939 or Pentium 4 3.4 (prescott)?

[lancer45]

AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 3500+, 2.2 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor or Pentium 4 3.6 ghz Prescott. Looking to make a system and need some help deciding which CPU to get. I do a lot of music/video encoding as well as games. Need a little help!!

 

[bob4432]

try to find benchmarks for the exact software you use and then pick accordingly.

 

[overclock]

I just went thru this dilemna. The P4 is better for encoding, depending on which program. But is generally faster than AMD. However, the P4 runs hotter than the A64. The A64 suppposedly kicks booty on games. Don't know since I don't play any. Since heat is a factor for me I went A64. Got the Winchester 3000+ last night and my MSI Neo2 Plat should arrive tonight.

Socket 478 (Intel) is on its way out. Intel won't be developing any more chips for it. LGA775 will probably support dual core if you buy the right chipset. Most of the "futureproof" LGA775 mobos require a new graphics card and new DDR2 memory. That is why I also went with the A64; I won't need a new video card or memory. Like I said, I don't game so having a PCI-E video card won't help me much.

Depends on your budget and what you want the most. My budget was limited so I went the way I did.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

In addition to what overclock said, the 939-pin boards are supposed to be compatible with the new dual-core chips AMD is coming out with relatively soon (only a BIOS update will be necessary). These new chips will also be sporting SSE3 instructions and may level the playing field with Intel for encoding, since that's supposedly where the P4's encoding advantage comes from. You can buy a regular A64 in the interim and you'll have a nice upgrade path come next year.

 

[slash196]

TastesLikeChicken, it's my understanding that the new 90nm cores coming out next year will NOT be dual core, but will support SSE3. I think the only dual core chips coming out next year will be server chips.

 

[Waylay00]

I agree with Chicken, get a 939 board and processor now and upgrade to the dual core processor when it comes out (not too long)

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Originally posted by: slash196
TastesLikeChicken, it's my understanding that the new 90nm cores coming out next year will NOT be dual core, but will support SSE3. I think the only dual core chips coming out next year will be server chips.

The 90nm Athlons w/ SSE3 are supposed to come out in the first part of '05. Dual-core, 940-pin Opterons come out sometime in the middle of the year followed by dual-core 939 Athlon64 for the desktop in the second half of '05.

This is all based on AMD actually following their roadmap, which is something they don't often adhere too. Nevertheless, the 939-pin socket seems to be a safe upgrade path for some time to come based on the existing information.

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

I have both worlds. AMD is very sluggish when running more than one app but kicks butt at games.
The P4 3.4c is lightning fast when it comes to running mulitple things. I leave folding running, and can switch between apps in an instant. Plus it can play D3/HL2 at a good frame rate.

Since heat is an issue with the newer Prescott chips, I'd suggest you go old school and build a similar system to what I have. A P4 3.4c (northwood) with an Abit IC7 Max3 Motherboard.
Only thing is, Newegg isn't carrying the 3.4c anymore, they're down to the 3.0c, so you'd have to look elsewhere for it.

You know, the equipment to make my system is almost 2 years old since it was announced, yet in a recent SuperPi contest over on the H, my system stayed in the top 10 for a few weeks.