Current Choice - Intel/AMD?

[SkyDiver]

Hi Everybody,
I last upgraded my motherboard to an Abit KT7-RAID. I've kept it alive by upgrading to a 1400 T-bird, 768 MB Ram and a Radeon 9700Pro.

I now have an excuse to upgrade my MB/CPU. (With a stay-at-home wife and 3 kids, I need an excuse.)

Based on current hardware and that available within the next 2-3 months, should I stay with AMD and nForece2?
Should I consider Intel at all? I haven't kept up-to-date w/ Intel platforms.

I have 5 IDE devices, so I probably want RAID, too.

Any input would be appreciated.

 

[Budmantom]

Good question, I read that after 3.2ghz intel will go to a different socket, I am not sure about amd it's hard to tell they are talking about going to a 400mhz fsb but the hammer is still suppose to be @ 333mhz.

You can't go wrong with amd or intel. IMO if you want to oc go with amd and the xp2100 but if you go with intel go with the 2.53ghz chip (great bang for the buck).

 

[SexyK]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Good question, I read that after 3.2ghz intel will go to a different socket, I am not sure about amd it's hard to tell they are talking about going to a 400mhz fsb but the hammer is still suppose to be @ 333mhz.

You can't go wrong with amd or intel. IMO if you want to oc go with amd and the xp2100 but if you go with intel go with the 2.53ghz chip (great bang for the buck).

Don't forget that you can OC that P4 also. Get a decent P42.4b and you'll probably be hitting the 3.0+GHz range. What kind of a budget are you on?

 

[SkyDiver]

I haven't determined my budget. Basically, I want a good board that will last me two years or so. I don't really overclock. ( No time to play around that much. )

I don't want to get a bleeding edge CPU because I'm not willing to go that high up the price/performance curve.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

In the rest of this 2nd quarter of the year, Intel will release cpus with the newer 800mhz FSB and HT technology, they will release the 2.4, 2.6, 2.8, 3.0 and 3.2 ghz cpus all within this quarter. They have also planned a price cut on May 11. After the price cut and all those cpus are selling, then I think Intel will come into more and more budgets since thats 5 new processors on their line.

If the 800mhz FSB lives up to what is expected by it alongside the HT technology, then it may well be worth the money.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

By the way, whats your excuse if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Ophir]

low/mid-end: AMD - anything from 1700+ to 2100+ have a great price/performance ratio

high-end: Toss up - Go with whatever's cheaper. At this point the gains between going intel or AMD are going to be minimal in both price and performance. Go with whichever mobo you can find which gives you the features you want at a price you like.

 

[SkyDiver]

We home school our kids and we're moving a second kid onto a computerized curriculum. My third computer isn't new enough to handle the software, so that is my excuse to pawn off my old KT133 MB for a newer one!

My excuse is....education!

 

[Budmantom]

You might also want to check the hot deals section, they recently had a dell 4550 2.66 with a 60gb hd for about $420 then you turn around and sell your computer for about $300 (minus your 9700) and you are ready to roll.

 

[Electric Amish]

No doubt in my mind....

Nforce 2 mobo + Athlon XP

amish

 

[Snoop]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
No doubt in my mind....

Nforce 2 mobo + Athlon XP

amish

Exactly, my erda+ 2400+ (2.0 ghz) overclocked to 2.4ghz, stable as a rock, has put the nforce chipset as #2 only behind the BX in terms of stability and ease of usage for chipsets in my mind. I have never built so many systems without any trouble as I have since I starting using the nforces.

 

[SkyDiver]

Pardon my ingnorance, but is erda+ a mobo?

 

[onelin]

I think Ophir summed it up well. Low/mid end go AMD, high end...it's really whatever's your fancy. Pick a good motherboard. That's how I ended up w/ my current A7V333-R instead of an Intel... couldn't find what I wanted at the time...although this time it's the other way around

Personally, my next system (by the end of summer at the latest) will be Intel. The prices are close, and I won't need a mega HSF (athlon stock HSF is not very good, Intel's is plenty sufficient)... plus those Canterwood & Springdale motherboards will be sweet.

FYI: The last two systems that came into this house were AMD. (t-bird 900mhz and my current athlon xp 1900+)

 

[Electric Amish]

Originally posted by: SkyDiver
Pardon my ingnorance, but is erda+ a mobo?

Yup. Epox EP-8RDA+

amish

 

[Ionizer86]

CPU Pricing. It looks like an XP2100+ or 2200+ with a T-Bred Rev. B core will do you wonders for around $80 or so (Make sure you're getting a Tbred B). Those things can be taken up to like 2.5ghz or beyond (For reference, on Tbreds, XP2800+ is 2.25ghz, so 2.5ghz will be way beyond 3000+). Any P4 Northwood is a good amount above $100 (next page on the CPU pricing list from Sharky).

 

[magomago]

If you care that much for price/preformance try the 1700+, else go with the 2100+ b/c its also cheap (~55 dollars compared with ~85 dollars)

As for the motherboard try the Soltek Nforce2 board or the Epox Nforce2 board. If you are willing to pony up more cash go with the Asus A7N8X because of all its extra goodies (deluxe version).

i'm also a price/preformance person so I'm bias to AMD (as you can see )

 

[nick1985]

id go AMD, but im just a fanboy so that probably has no meaning

 

[eklass]

1st... amd fanboy here

2nd...i think at this point the processor playing field is pretty level

3rd... however, lack of hype from intel lately worries me

if you're totally not sure either way, stick with what has worked. personally, since my 486 DX2 system, i've always had AMD/VIA.. so from 80MHz all the way up to 1.6 GHz, i've stuck with what's worked and not once been disappointed

really though, if you have to ask, it's a legitamate question... if there was a clearly better processor beyond all doubt, would the competitor even be in business still? food for thought, take it with a grain of salt.

 

[SkyDiver]

Thanks for all the input! The reason I asked about Intel is that I've had a few (two) incompatibilities with my AMD system.
1) Comanche 4 will not work on my VIA chipset under WinXP. (Works fine on Win98SE)
2) My Visioneer scanner will not work on my AMD platform.

 

[Budmantom]

I doubt it has anything to do with AMD.

 

[SkyDiver]

The Novalogic people have noticed that the VIA chipset has the most problems with Comanche 4.

The Visioneer scanner is several years old. I think it is a 5300 USB. They flat-out state on their web site that they don't support AMD chips. (At least they did when I put the system together in '00.) Either the scanner or the Paperport software won't work with AMD.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: SkyDiver
The Novalogic people have noticed that the VIA chipset has the most problems with Comanche 4.

The Visioneer scanner is several years old. I think it is a 5300 USB. They flat-out state on their web site that they don't support AMD chips. (At least they did when I put the system together in '00.) Either the scanner or the Paperport software won't work with AMD.

Based on that info I'd lose my old scanner and VIA based board before investing in a P4&board as it'd be cheaper.

 

[bgeh]

i'd stay with the AMD and nforce2

 

[alexruiz]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Good question, I read that after 3.2ghz intel will go to a different socket, I am not sure about amd it's hard to tell they are talking about going to a 400mhz fsb but the hammer is still suppose to be @ 333mhz.

You can't go wrong with amd or intel. IMO if you want to oc go with amd and the xp2100 but if you go with intel go with the 2.53ghz chip (great bang for the buck).

The hammer DOESN'T have FSB.....

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: alexruiz

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Good question, I read that after 3.2ghz intel will go to a different socket, I am not sure about amd it's hard to tell they are talking about going to a 400mhz fsb but the hammer is still suppose to be @ 333mhz.

You can't go wrong with amd or intel. IMO if you want to oc go with amd and the xp2100 but if you go with intel go with the 2.53ghz chip (great bang for the buck).

The hammer DOESN'T have FSB.....

LOL. I knew there was something about that statement that bothered me. So sweet is the Hammer...