AMD & nVidia/VIA/SiS vs. Intel & Intel/VIA/SiS

[BujinZero]

Advocates from all sides, come together to talk me into a solution!

I'm typically a peripherals guy, so those selections for my new computer were easy for me, but I'm torn between a processor and motherboard combination! I want to use DDR400 (probably Corsair or GeIL), I don't plan on overclocking, and I don't need RAID, serial ATA, or integrated sound (have Audigy 2 instead). The only onboard hardware I would like is integrated LAN, but it's by no means necessary. I'll be using a Radeon 9700 Pro for graphics.

My main considerations are as follows:

1. AMD Athlon XP 2100 or above and whatever nForce 2 motherboard Anandtech.com ends up recommending (if it has what I want).
2. AMD Athlon XP 2100 or above and a VIA KT333 motherboard
3. AMD Athlon XP 2100 or above and wait for a VIA KT400A or SiS 746 mobo
4. Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB and Intel i845PE mobo
5. Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB and VIA P4X400 mobo
6. Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz 533MHz FSB and SiS 648 mobo

I usually play games and use Microsoft Word and Powerpoint (hell, I'm probably the only ATer majoring in English and Speech-Comm ). I'm currently leaning towards a P4 solution, based on the gaming benchmarks I've seen, though I'm not exactly sure how significant they really are. I value any input in this decision, as long as you have reasons other than "cause Brand X rules!" . Thanks guys!

 

[mechBgon]

How could you leave out the VIA C3?! And where's Granite Bay in your list of Intel platforms?

I'm just going to wait for some Clawhammer goodness. It will be interesting to see what happens when the strong Athlon FPU, the low-latency Hammer memory controller, SSE2 and an optional 1Mb L2 cache all converge.

 

[BujinZero]

Actually, Granite Bay was my first thought until I read the review written by Evan Lieb. It's price to performance ratio is not justifiable (unless it ends up being really cheap! ). Though as I browsed the forums a bit more, I've become intrigued by the SiS 655 chipset. Dual channel DDR333 for less money than Granite Bay anyone? I do wish, though, that we had an official ETA on these boards instead of the speculation and "short supply" that we seem to have now. I dislike corporate sloppiness and masturbatory press releases (grr...paper launches).

 

[Athlon4all]

Originally posted by: BujinZero
Actually, Granite Bay was my first thought until I read the review written by Evan Lieb. It's price to performance ratio is not justifiable (unless it ends up being really cheap! ). Though as I browsed the forums a bit more, I've become intrigued by the SiS 655 chipset. Dual channel DDR333 for less money than Granite Bay anyone? I do wish, though, that we had an official ETA on these boards instead of the speculation and "short supply" that we seem to have now. I dislike corporate sloppiness and masturbatory press releases (grr...paper launches).

I agree with you about E7205. The price/performance ratio of 850e vs 845PE has not been good at all, and I have stopped recommending 850e. E7205 doesn't change this situation at all. E7205 will be good for the market it was designed for, Workstation. With so low 512MB PC2100, E7205 will be nice (not to mentioN AGP8X support as well), but for the Enthusiast, and Desktop markets, 845PE, and SiS 648 rule.

Anyway, the P4 2.4B will topple the Athlon XP 2100 (of course the 2100 costs $100 less). You need an Athlon XP 2400+ to compete with the 2.4B P4. As for the platform, I'd just look at any 648 or 845PE mobo from any of the repiutatble manufactures with the features (or lack thereof). I would say I lean towards the 845PE. I'm thinking of the Asus P4PE (cheapest version). It does have 6-channel Sound, but it does have Broadcom LAN as well. Honestly, this is onje of the "dullest" mobo's out there today. It comes in about $125. I don't think you will get much less than that. i did just go to Newegg and there may be another board that is cheaper. That is Albatron's PX845PEV Pro. It is an incredible oc'er, but it also is one of the cheapest 845PE boards out there ($93) and does have On-Board LAN and 6-channel Audio. I would lean towards that board if you go P4.

Finally, I guess the other question you should ask yourself is how much you want to spend and then decide whether you want to spend $100 or $200. I suggest you look at AT's P4 3.06 review and see how big of a difference there is in Gaming benchmarks with say a 2100+/2.0A vs a 2.4B/2400+. My general rule is the cheaper the CPU, the more likely go AMD. The 2100+ beats the 2.0A in more benchmarks than say a 2600 vs the 2.53, if you get the idea. Email me if you would like to have more assistance. I would be glad to help further Jesus Bless

 

[Keltron]

what about Abit MAX-2 ?

btw i am also waiting till the claw hammer comes out for my next upgrade

 

[Athlon4all]

what about Abit MAX-2 ?

Great board, loads of features, I didn't recommend it to BujinZero because it has features that he doesn't want. But if you do want a feature filled, great ocing board, sure, the IT7 MAX2 v2 is great.

 

[BujinZero]

Hi guys

It's lookin like the Pentium 4 for me. Athlon4all, thanks for the informative replys! I enjoy sound opinion. What do you think of the SiS648 vs. the i845PE? Based on benchmarks and specifications, the SiS 648 looks like the one (Particularly the Gigabyte board running DDR400), but do you have any opinions against the SiS 648 in favor of the PE?

I appreciate it