AMD ? any sotfware issues ????

[rarebear]

I want to buy a new MB and CPU...
I friend just told me stay away from AMD it has issues with WIn2k and 3D Studio Max will not run and a lot of other software problems..

I see people on the MB forum talking about OC and speed and stuff but how do they run appz..

 

[KaiLord]

The only issue with Win2k I can think of is some AGP problems but AMD has released a fix for this Here.

As for 3D Studio the Athlon family excels in 3D type apps.

 

[outlamd]

Your friend has been misinformed. AMD works just as well as any other processor out there. I am currently running Win2K Pro on an Athlon (T-Bird) 700. It has been a model of stability for me. Others will say it has been problematic, but's it's really a matter of personal experience. Furthermore I haven't come across any apps yet that have any problems with the AMD chip either. You can't really go wrong with an Intel or an AMD, I just opted to save the money from the processor cost and re-invest it into other parts.

 

[rarebear]

Thanks Dudes,
I am really thinking of a AMD but I see Gateway and I think Dell stopped carrying them and hear some stories but I have known a few people that have AMDs I just want the perfect sys well perfect MB and CPU and that AMD 760 chip looks like it will rock with the DDsRam

 

[Mem]

I`m using Win98,but there are no software issues, rock solid is the popular term.

 

[Marsupial]

The current crop of AMD processors are excellent, but while chipsets for these are doubtlessly superior to those from the AMD socket 7 days, there is still much to be desired. IMO, I would stay away from AMD chipsets for now as the 750 (although I'm sure you won't get a mb with this) has had a history of problems and the 760 appears to have some problems too. Even the via kt133 (which I've got) is somewhat lacking in areas such as memory performance, and agp implementation. Wait for the upcoming crop of AMD DDR chipsets to mature and things should be fine. As for software issues, if you've got a good ps and a decent heat countermeasures, you should see no problems after you tweak the settings a bit (assuming no problems like bad memory).

 

[earthman]

My Athlon has been totally stable and blows the doors off the celerons I used to have.

 

[lepper boy]

stay away fomr Dell and Gateway...... nasty......... nasty....... nasty.............

 

[AC]

Don't the AMD CPUs have faster FPU units as compared to those of Intel CPUs?

Floating point/integer processing is essential for 3D rendering, right?.

Macs are also well known for their floating point processing, but they are ridiculously expensive. Software availibilty for MacOS is limited; Linux is about the same?

 

[JackHawksmoor]

but I see Gateway and I think Dell stopped carrying them

Gateway is selling more AMD systems than ever. Dell's never sold anything but Intel.

 

[Ladi]

AMD doesn't include the same 3d instruction set as the Intel chips, but generally speaking, few or no software is written so specifically to Intel products that it will not run at all on an AMD chip. Most software takes both manufacturer's sets into account and will run equally well on each. Occasionally, you will need patches, but those are usually pretty available from the software maker.

Chances are, your problem won't come from the CPU, but from the rest of your hardware, esp the motherboard. I've seen some isolated issues with most of the AMD boards, but I don't really think it's any worse than Intel in that respect...

As a side note, Dell is a great system to recommend to friends who aren't overly tech-literate...they're fairly stable systems and they've got great tech support (so you can tell your friends to call them instead of you in the middle of the night)...

~Ladi

 

[AC]

Do you mean MMX?

According to AMD CPU Information Display Utility, my TBird supports MMX and MMX2 as well as 3D!Now and 3D!Now2.

Is my CPU lying?

 

[JackHawksmoor]

No, SSE. MMX is just for integer math. Intel and AMD each use different SIMD instructions to for floating point math, AMD's is 3DNow!, and Intel's is SSE. I believe SSE is regarded as being supiror to 3DNow! (which is older, having been introduced on the K6-2), but it's irrelevant since the Athlon has supiror floating point performance to begin with.

AMD's Sledgehammer is supposed to have full support for SSE, and presumably for 3DNow!.

 

[Techwhore]

I believe SSE is regarded as being supiror to 3DNow! (which is older, having been introduced on the K6-2),

This is true. However, the athlon utilizes a set of instructions named Enhanced 3dNow! which is superior to SSE. To take it another step further, the latter PIII's have SSE2 which is equivalent, give or take, to AMD's Enhanced 3dNow! Either way, i'll re-state what someone said earlier, no programs are specifically written for one SIMD instructions and not the other... some maybe optimized for it, but not restricted to it.

 

[BenSkywalker]

The Athlon is hands down superior to the Intel offering for a Win2K machine running 3DSM.

In terms of render times, the most processor intensive aspect(as I'm sure you know), the Athlon is in a completely different class.

Click here to see exactly how it compares to the Intel offerings.

The 1.2GHZ Athlon is over 50% faster then a PIV running at 1.73GHZ, roughly 75% faster then a 1GHZ PIII. Just make sure you have enough, high quality, RAM and a decent vid card and you are all set

 

[Mem]

Just a quick note on SSE2 & 3DNow! etc,you have to remember it does not matter if the Intel SSE is superior to 3DNow! because you can pick up a faster Athlon then the Intel version for the same price which shifts the speed back to AMD.

 

[Dan]

I've run everything from DOS 5.0 to Win3X, to Win9X to WinME and Win2K on AMD chips and never had a software compatibility issue. To be blunt, your friend doesn't know what he's talking about.