Athlon 2800+ VS. Pentium 4 2.4 MHZ 800 FSB

[niwi7]

I am looking to purchase a new comptuer from www.cyberpowerinc.com..its a great site i found on cnet with cheap prices!

im going to get==

an x-dreamer case with a neon light
60 gig HDD
512 3200/400 MHZ RAM (also these MB's have some dual ram thing...do i need 2 diff chips of 256 ram to get this to work or just 1 chip of
Geforce 4 Ti4200 (i have this at home so im just gunna pop it in)
Then there comes the processor....which 1 should i get? Which one outperforms the other? the Athlon 2800+ [512 L2 CACHE] combined with a MSI K7N2 8x AGP, 400 FSB, 400DDR, LAN, AUDIO, USB2 OR for an extra 20 bucks should i get a Pentium 4 2.4 Mhz w/ 800 FSB (i heard this was a gr8 new feature) with an ABIT IC7 MB (same features as other MB)


i can get complete AMD system (w/o video card or sound card or monitor b/c i have those at home) for 678

OR the Pentium system (w/o video or sound card or monitor bc i have those at home) for 703


i mainly play counter-strike, unreal tourney, quake 3, and basic AIM and IE

or should i keep my shtty athlon 1800+ that i ahve rite now (i was gunna sell it on ebay for like 400)

 

[sman789]

i'd go with the p4 but the ic7 has no lan.....but if you really want to save money why not just get a lower rated athlon and save a lot of dollars (2500+)

 

[Duvie]

I think the amd 2800+ will be faster in a majority of things, but that is a close price gap.....

Are you going to oc any??? I think that is where that 2.4c may shine and be why you take that over the 2800+...It is probably more certain you can get 3200+ range with the athlon ocing but 3-3.2ghz is quite normal afor the 2.4c if nt being conservative...so basically that performance gap should go away if not reverse slightly...

 

[niwi7]

thanks...well if it doesnt hurt the processor i dont c why i couldnt OC it....maybe just a little bit...plus im getting 2 extra case fans installed too (its only like 19 bucks more plus they r colorful lol) ....how much worse does the 2500 perform than the 2800...i think its significatly worse....and also do u think i will get 400 for my 1800? btw thats another thing if i were to go with a 2500 is it really worth upgrading? wuts the deal with this amd 2500, 1800, 2800 thing...they arent actually that many mhz...my 1800 is like 1.3, the 2800 is like 2.3 and the 2500 is like 2....am i rite? also is lan important on a MB i can just pick up a card for like 10 bucks....however i was readin and the mbs with lan built in r suposed to make internet go faster or sompin....plz help me out with my ?s thanmks!

 

[Duvie]

The 2500+ is likelyg oing to end near the same level as the 2800+ can oc you will just save money and give more headroom.....

If you OC I really like the Intel chip here...

 

[niwi7]

k any1 else? also wut r advantages for 800 fsb vs. 500-something fsb vs. the fsb of an athlon...for example i no sum1 here told me to change the fsb of my 1800+ to 133 instead of 100...i did that and it DID increase teh clock speed but i was gettin freezes and then 1 time it said processor unstable or sompin so i immeditely changed it back...so i dont have a gr8 experience with OC

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: niwi7
k any1 else? also wut r advantages for 800 fsb vs. 500-something fsb vs. the fsb of an athlon...for example i no sum1 here told me to change the fsb of my 1800+ to 133 instead of 100...i did that and it DID increase teh clock speed but i was gettin freezes and then 1 time it said processor unstable or sompin so i immeditely changed it back...so i dont have a gr8 experience with OC

Hmmmmm!!! 1800+ is a 133fsb chip...Without it the chip would have loaded up at 1150mhz not the 1533mhz that the 1800+ is....

I didn't have that much luck with early xp and tbird ocing so I went to Intel and I haven't needed to look back for awhile...

 

[niwi7]

any1 else besides duvie have an opinion?

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: niwi7
any1 else besides duvie have an opinion?

I'd say that with the games you play being that bit older, you may find that the performance of the new CPU/Mobo combo may be less obvious.

If playing in high res is your thing, you may do well to up the proc on your current mobo to the most it'll take (Even consider a 1700+ JIUHB which can do around 2.5Ghz if a good one) and upgrade your GFX to a 9700 or 9800. Would work out about the same $$'s and future proof your graphics.