come vote: amd or intel for upgrade

[iwantanewcomputer]

The Deal: I'm upgrading my bro's dell, swapping out p4a 1.4, 256 rdram, p.o.s. vid card + mobo.
I'm looking for the best price/performace system here, maybe a little heavy on the performace side. i want a new processor/mobo/ram/ maybe vidcard for 3-4 hundred, the less the better. mostly for internet, music, divx movies, and games, but not many new 3d games so the vid card's not that important. Of course i want to do some overclocking here, but can't afford a good hsf or high quality memory.

The Contenders: (prices listed from newegg)

1) p4 2.8c retail, faster and cooler than prescott, notmuch more than the 2.4, a lot less than 3.0-- $182
unknown motherboard, i need suggestions if i'm going to get a p4, but something 865 or 875 -- $120ish
corsair value select 512--$82
total = $384 "That's too much Bob!" - idiots on the price is right

2)mobile athlon 2500+, seems to be a favorite around here, could afford a good hsf for a good OC--$88
abit nf7, another favorite, sata and usb 2 will be useful-- $95
corsair value select 512--$82
quality heat sink, something to get it a decent oc that's cheap and quiet, suggestions?---$30ish
total = $295-room for an extra 512 or vid card

3) athlon 2500+ (barton, non-mobile) it's good stuff at that price, comes with hs, sill good 4 oc--$ 81
ditto on the mobo and ram
total = $258-room for 512 and vid card

the way i see it i would probly be able to get the 2500's to 3200 performance with the good mobo and ddr400, getting the 2.8 to 3.2 speeds might take some better ram or a 5:3 divider. here's a link to good benches comparing them.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20030623/p4_3200-09.html
Let the arguments begin!

 

[Soulkeeper]

if price is your main concern then definately get the 2500+ mobile imo
if you go the P4 route i recommend the abit ic7 series motherboards (nf7-s is great for athlons)

 

[Tiamat]

If i were in your shoes, i would do something like
Mobile Barton 2600+ 45W 110$ http://www.excaliberpc.com/product_info.php?products_id=3874
ABIT NF7-S ver2.0 or AN7 for $95
Mushkin PC3500 Level one (160$?)
Thermalright SLK948U ~ $37
Panaflo 92mm "m" ~$12
~400$ which is too much...


You probably can get OCZ PC3500 ram for like 120$
a Mobile barton 2400+ 35W for 100$.
Thermalright ALX800 ~ 16$
Panaflo 80mm "m" ~8$?
I have seen the NFs-7 ver 2 dip into the 75ish$ range on sale frequently. keep your eyes open! its an awesome deal when it happens!
so ~350$ perhaps.


svc.com
frozencpu.com
sidewindercomputers.com
excaliberpc.com
newegg.com

are all sites i use.

Perhaps one of these sites has cheaper prices than what i listed.

But to address your primary question, I would go with Choice 2
OC the barton to 2400mhz or 2500mhz, get a Geforce 6800GT and OC that, and you have a hell of a gaming box that can play Doom 3 or halflife 2 probably at higher than 1024x768.

 

[Zebo]

Duron 1.8 and shuttle AN35N less than a $100. Nothing can touch this OC'd price/performance ratio.

All those other systems seem a ripoff.

 

[shelaby]

you dont even need the 35w mobile 2400, i have the 45w 2400 and i am runnin it at 2.45 stable, and it is much less than the 35w version

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

yeah these all llook pretty good but i think he wants to spend more now so the p4 is looking better. it seems like you could oc that a fair amount and it would beat the oc'ed athlons like a drum.

so lets say i went with the 2.8c and abit ic7 (should i get max 2/3 when i can get a refurbed normal one for $54, and do these have vga/pci locks), the cpu has a 14 multiplier, i could probly get a 225 fsb (cpu = 3.15Ghz) with the stock hs and good case fans (is this reasonable). and have 375 mhz for some cheapo memory. maybe it could go 235 fsb=>3.29GHz cpu and 391mhz mem with 5:3 or set cpu mult. down (not sure if you can do that on this setup) and increase fsb more

lemme know and thanks 4 the help

 

[Acanthus]

mobile

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer
yeah these all llook pretty good but i think he wants to spend more now so the p4 is looking better. it seems like you could oc that a fair amount and it would beat the oc'ed athlons like a drum.

Well, it had better be twice as fast as the mobile seeing as it costs more than twice as much. On top of that, I think the mobile would put up a good fight against an overclocked P4.

Why did you even bother with the poll? Only 1 person out of 16 voted for the P4, and for all we know, that 1 person could be YOU.

 

[dejacky]

I've really gotta say those "barton" based AthlonXP mobile chips seem to overclock very well. I'd like to get 2.5Ghz on air cooling in my shuttle as an upgrade soon...

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

Why did you even bother with the poll? Only 1 person out of 16 voted for the P4, and for all we know, that 1 person could be YOU.

now now, dont be so judgemental. actually it wasn't, i voted for the mobile too just wanted to see what the numbers were like. thanks for looking out for me

PS the intel is't that expensive it's just under 400 with that abit, the mobile setup is about 300 do some fuzzy math and i get 33% more

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

1 more thing, i've seen alot of talk about the 2.8c hitting 3.2 speeds on air too, and 3.5 in other cases
I counted and the xp 3200 won 0 out of 27 of the benches in that link against the 3.2
the 3200 xp won 3 out of 27 against the 2.8c
the 2500 xp won 0 out of 27 against the 2.8c

i don't know how the barton's performance increases to 2.5 GHz, but it's probly about the same increase as the difference between the 2500 and 3200, and looking at those benchmarks that doesnt enough difference to keep up with a 3.2 or a 3.0, which would be less than a 2.8 at that speed, anyway in almost all of the benckmarks. It's close but it might be woth that extra 100 for the intel
thanks for any more advise

 

[Megatomic]

I voted for the mobile Barton combo. I need to get one of those chips before Doom3 hits the streets.

 

[Megatomic]

Also, here's another thought. If winning benchmarks is what the desired effect of this system is, going with the mobile barton rig saves alot of money, enough to be a good down payment on a videocard that would help infinitely more in gaming benchmarks than a slightly faster CPU would.

But that's just me...

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: iwantanewcomputer
1 more thing, i've seen alot of talk about the 2.8c hitting 3.2 speeds on air too, and 3.5 in other cases
I counted and the xp 3200 won 0 out of 27 of the benches in that link against the 3.2
the 3200 xp won 3 out of 27 against the 2.8c
the 2500 xp won 0 out of 27 against the 2.8c

i don't know how the barton's performance increases to 2.5 GHz, but it's probly about the same increase as the difference between the 2500 and 3200, and looking at those benchmarks that doesnt enough difference to keep up with a 3.2 or a 3.0, which would be less than a 2.8 at that speed, anyway in almost all of the benckmarks. It's close but it might be woth that extra 100 for the intel
thanks for any more advise

From what I have read, the XP @2.5 keeps up with a 3.6 in games. Maybe sombody here can find the benches.

 

[DreamInBlue]

is he not interested in an A64 2800+ (same price as 2.8c) with one of the new nforce 250 boards you can get a very decent OC. Also he would save money on ram b/c he wouldnt need more expensive dual channel ram.

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/CPU/Intel-P4-800MHz-FSB-CPU-Round%98up
for all you doubters of p4 overclocking on stock cooling

to answer those questions, don't care about benchmarks or high frames per second in 3d first person shooters, just something that can play an occasional game. other than that i'm just trying to figure out what the best mid range all around system is.
an xp at 2.5 and a near 3.6 are feasablt

 

[imported_theEman]

That Mobile AMD Athlon XP 2500+ is one amazing CPU. Nice overclocking capabilities, cheap, low heat for SFFs .

 

[yourdeardaniel]

if you can afford it, get 2.8 and overclock it to like 3.4-3.5
otherwise, if you're on a budget, get the mobile barton +2500, either way can't go wrong