help with picking a CPU

[MainFramed]

i dont know if i should go p4 or a AMD ATHLON, i hear great things about these AMD Athlon thunderbird... i just dont no if i should go pentium or athlon, i want a really fast and strong system..please help me

 

[MainFramed]

anyone.....¿?¿?¿?¿

 

[Siddhartha]

It would help if you indicated what your budget is and what appls you intend to run.

Both products will give you a "really fast and strong system".

It comes down to whether you intend to overclock your system or not:
1. Go with Intel if you are going to overclock.
2. Go with AMD if you are not going to oiverclock.

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
It would help if you indicated what your budget is and what appls you intend to run.

Both products will give you a "really fast and strong system".

It comes down to whether you intend to overclock your system or not:
1. Go with Intel if you are going to overclock.
2. Go with AMD if you are not going to oiverclock.

I'll append that a bit:

1. Go with Intel if you are going to overclock and place a stronger emphasis on "ease of OC" than price.
2. Go with the higher rated AMDs (XP1800+ or higher) if you are not going to overclock.
3. Go with the Athlon XP 1600+ (from newegg) if you want to overclock but have an extremely tight budget.

 

[cmdrdredd]

personally I'd go with a P4 system right now. A 2.26Ghz P4 with a 533Mhz FSB supported mobo will outperform almost every athlon out there especially if you turn the FSb up just a bit...say to 150Mhz or you can run memory timings really high ;-)

 

[MainFramed]

just wondering...(as you can tell this is my first computer that i am building and i am learning about all this stuff) what is overlocking and whats not overlocking? then i will be able to tell more about my postion

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: here4amission
just wondering...(as you can tell this is my first computer that i am building and i am learning about all this stuff) what is overlocking and whats not overlocking? then i will be able to tell more about my postion

Overclocking is when you run a component in your PC (in this case, your CPU (as well as mobo and RAM)) faster than spec. For instance, if you got a P4 1.6A you could increase the FSB speed and dramitically increase your CPUs clockspeed (most people get 2.4GHz or more when they overclock a P4 1.6A).

 

[SteelCityFan]

We also need to know your budget. If you want the absolute fastest CPU that would be a P4 2.53Ghz, but those are pricey at least until the 2.8Ghz P4 comes out in a month or so.

... any P4 above 2.26 at 533FSB or the 2.4Ghz 400Mhz FSB P4 will outperform AMD's latest.

 

[MainFramed]

well actually i talked to a friend of mine & i think i am gonna get a AMD DURON 950 MHz, but thanks for everyones input, it helped me make this decsion.

 

[cmdrdredd]

what do you plan to do with it? If you're gonna play the latest games you need an Athlon/P4 not Duron!

 

[MainFramed]

relax dude i aint playing the latest games with this computer