argh.. amds prices keep falling

[Zarick]

I was dead set on putting together an intel system.
Now amds proc, and mobo prices are falling. This is making it really tough to go for intel. I wish intel was a little more competitive price wise.

 

[shud]

Yep...unless you have bundles of money to spend, AMD is for sure the way to go. Googlegear just dropped the A7N8X a couple dollars. $125.99 with free 2nd day shipping.

The only bad thing about it is that neither newegg or googlegear have any sort of price guarantee...so if you order something one week, and the next week they drop the price, you're screwed.

 

[MikeMike]

if you call newegg and the price dropped like the day after you purchased, sumtimes they will credit you back.

MIKE

 

[BD231]

Me to, but with the NForce 2 chipset your not really missing out on anything with Intel to be honest(they do have the performance lead, but it's not a huge one in most common tasks). The Barton/T-Breds ARE at the end of their life cycle though, heat output is becoming to great which is an annoyance. All in all you'll be happy either way.

 

[Lord Evermore]

It depends on how you look at it. Some people would say the Barton processors are over-rated by AMD, so a 2800+ doesn't really compete with a 2.8GHz P4, so compared to a 2.6GHz P4-C which costs only a bit more, they aren't much cheaper.

I'm just pissed that I bought a 2.1GHz XP Palomino two months ago, and for the same price can now get a Barton 2500+.

The system my roommate is building, an Abit IC7 and a P4 2.4GHz, for about 340 dollars, certainly seems like a good deal.

 

[Zarick]

for the price of a 2.4c albatron board and 512 ram
I can get a 2500 barton, epox board, harddrive, and a gig of ram.

I would prefer to go intel.. amd just annoys me.. I hate having to buy a better heatsink because they put out so much heat. The least amd could do would be to release a decent hs/f with their proc.

I wish intel would get more price competitive.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Zarick
for the price of a 2.4c albatron board and 512 ram
I can get a 2500 barton, epox board, harddrive, and a gig of ram.

I would prefer to go intel.. amd just annoys me.. I hate having to buy a better heatsink because they put out so much heat. The least amd could do would be to release a decent hs/f with their proc.

I wish intel would get more price competitive.

That 2.4 is going to have a shot at making 3.5ghz..

And 512 is still fine for the most part... Especially with a speedy 3.5 and a solid video card.

 

[Zarick]

I am just not an overclocker.
Being that my main gaming computer is also a family computer I cant risk making an error

 

[Davegod]

its less to do with amd putting out LESS heat Q) than the Intel, but Intel provide a better heatsink.

http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm
2.8ghz Max. power dissipation= 70w
2800+ Max. power dissipation=68w
3.0ghz Max. power dissipation= 82w
3000+ Max. power dissipation=68/74w

of course different story entirely if you dont beleive in the PRatings (lets aviod going after that one ). opteron supposably puts out even more than a 3.0 intel.

My consideration when upgrading cpu is cpu+mobo+hsf; work out the preffered combinations of each and decide which gives me the better balance of cost, features and performance... no point comparing just cpu since its the package that counts imo .

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Zarick
I am just not an overclocker.
Being that my main gaming computer is also a family computer I cant risk making an error

You could come here for help, it really is a simple process.. Slowy bump up that fsb, check for stability.



Good Luck.

 

[Chobits]

Well heat wise they put out roughly the same...it is just that the Pentium 4 spreads that heat over a MUCH wider area. The heat issue was crazy with the T-birds and Palominos but with the Tbred As and Bs and even Bartons the issue has gotten much much better.

But yeah, 96 dollars for a retail 2500+ is an insane deal. Just get something like a SLK800 + Big fan @ low rpms and you are good to go my friend

But usually the heat issue plays more into overclocking, not running at stock speeds ( Tom's has a comparison of Stock heatsinks on the AthlonXPs and he says that they are very well for the processor providing you are not using it to overclock. Then again I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to buy a better Heatsink if they overclock. Though I bet its nice buying a Retail P4 and pushing it pretty far on stock cooling...but to each his own )

But in the end it comes down to a slight annoyance of a bigger heatsink vs a few hundred dollars as you have presented and in that situation I can live with the minor annoyance of buying a nicer heatsink

As for price competative...well they dominate in video encoding, they have the consumer brand name ( yesterday I ordered a system from newegg for my best friend and their parents really trust me but when I told them I was going to not use a Pentium 4 processor they became very apprehensive and I had to sit there explain stuff but it seems they are preparing for the worst or something) , are competative in most levels, and they do own the lead on the high end processors, have their own mobile chip that rivals Apple in power consumption, Early benchies of Athlon64 show the Pentium 4 still leading... so I don't see why they need to be so competative since they are in such a comfortable position and frankly if I led Intel I wouldn't drop prices.

It is AMD that needs to be competitive and that is why they are

And don't get me wrong...I'm no fanboy of Intel nor AMD...well that is a lie a "AMD 4 Life" type of guy and unless the person is doing cideoencoding as the sole purpose or alteast the major reason I steer them toward that nice green color.

Green used to be my favorite color as a child you know

 

[tbates757]

Originally posted by: Zarick
I am just not an overclocker.
Being that my main gaming computer is also a family computer I cant risk making an error

Sure ya can, it's called Norton Ghost

 

[dexvx]

Think of it the other way around.

Your procs will sell better in the future.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Zarick
for the price of a 2.4c albatron board and 512 ram
I can get a 2500 barton, epox board, harddrive, and a gig of ram.

I would prefer to go intel.. amd just annoys me.. I hate having to buy a better heatsink because they put out so much heat. The least amd could do would be to release a decent hs/f with their proc.

I wish intel would get more price competitive.

Except that in games that only need 512 the 2.4C will beat down the 2500+ -- for games the 2.4C is better compared to a 2800+ Barton than a 2500+, and the 2.6C beats a 3000+. AMD's price drop to $260 on the 3000+ is not a great deal, just pricing it evenly with the equivalent 2.6C.

Of course for MS Word and some 3D modeling apps the PR ratings are still accurate.

 

[shud]

I take it the heatsink/fan that comes packaged with the retail barton 2500+ is pretty bad?

What's a cheap alternative hs/f? I'm going to order a 2500+ within the next week or so.

 

[Chobits]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: Zarick
for the price of a 2.4c albatron board and 512 ram
I can get a 2500 barton, epox board, harddrive, and a gig of ram.

I would prefer to go intel.. amd just annoys me.. I hate having to buy a better heatsink because they put out so much heat. The least amd could do would be to release a decent hs/f with their proc.

I wish intel would get more price competitive.

Except that in games that only need 512 the 2.4C will beat down the 2500+ -- for games the 2.4C is better compared to a 2800+ Barton than a 2500+, and the 2.6C beats a 3000+. AMD's price drop to $260 on the 3000+ is not a great deal, just pricing it evenly with the equivalent 2.6C.

What is your definition of beat? I did argue for Intel somewhat but there "beat" is such a vague word. It could have beat it by a huge more, or rather a smaller amount, and in many situations even a negligable amount.


Didn't I state Earlier that Tom in an article stated that RETAIL Heatsink/Fan does an adequate job of cooling provided you don't oveclock? And a 2.6C "beats" a 3000+? Now this I'd like to see



Zarick- Depending on your needs (If you will overclock a little, a lot, or none at all) I would say a SK-7 (Or was that AX-7? Regardless let us say the little sister of the SLK-800) for minor overclocking and if you will do something greater I'd say SLK-800 or even 900 depending how important cooling is for you. For the Fan A YS TEch or a Panaflo should do the job

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: tbates757

Originally posted by: Zarick
I am just not an overclocker.
Being that my main gaming computer is also a family computer I cant risk making an error

Sure ya can, it's called Norton Ghost

How does Norton Ghost fix it? hes talking about overclocking and with that if you burn the cpu.... you're screwed

 

[Davegod]

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=1023606

 

[shud]

Hm. If i OC 2500+ to 3000+ speeds, would I still need one of those pricey $40 hs?

 

[Sid59]

the 2.4 P4 800FSB HT looks very very tempting.

 

[BmXStuD]

AMD XP IS $37-42 ONLine.

 

[mastertech01]

What is crazy is the prices of MP processors for us Dually users.

$282 - Athlon MP 2800
$205 - Athlon MP 2600
$158 - Athlon MP 2400
$136 - Athlon MP 2200
$199 - Athlon MP 2100
$122 - Athlon MP 2000
$140 - Athlon MP 1900
$130 - Athlon MP 1800

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: Chobits
[What is your definition of beat? I did argue for Intel somewhat but there "beat" is such a vague word. It could have beat it by a huge more, or rather a smaller amount, and in many situations even a negligable amount.

here are some links, we're still waiting for an Anadtech look at the 3200+ and 2.4C - 2.8C.

Quake3, 2.6C beats a 3200+ and 2.4C beats a 3000+
http://www17.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030521/800fsb-09.html#opengl_benchmarks

Commanche 4, 2.6C beats a 3200+ and 2.4C beats a 3000+
Unreal Tournament, 2.6C ties a 3000+ and 2.4C beats a 2700+
Splinter Cell 2.6C beats a 3000+ and 2.4C beats a 2800+
http://www17.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030521/800fsb-10.html

The worst the 2.4C did was to beat the 2700+. The 2.6C seems like the sweet spot for a P4, since it gives you at least 3000+ performance (and often 3200+) for $230 (retail boxed).

 

[shud]

The whole "this beats this" argument is stupid. I ran Counter-Strike on a 1ghz, 128mb ram, 32mb GF2 MX for a year. It never lagged, I got 60fps. All these people would come on with their 1.7ghz system back then and get 70fps and think it was a big deal.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as you can run a game at a decent resolution with smooth frame rate, go with the lower priced hardware.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: shud
The whole "this beats this" argument is stupid. I ran Counter-Strike on a 1ghz, 128mb ram, 32mb GF2 MX for a year. It never lagged, I got 60fps. All these people would come on with their 1.7ghz system back then and get 70fps and think it was a big deal.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as you can run a game at a decent resolution with smooth frame rate, go with the lower priced hardware.

The last sentence is true, but what about newer games? You can't only use COunter Strike as a base variable because there are games coming like Doom 3 and Half Life 2. If you know how Carmack has been with his games in the past, you'll know you need more than 1ghz speed.

And how is it stupid? I bet you the day you see more advanced games graphically, you will wonder how they do it. Also, what about AA and AF? Those make a world of difference if you run at 1024x768 and an even bigger difference in quality at 800x600 and help sharpen the image up above 1024x768.