If you had my rig, what would you do? (P4 vs Athon)

Red

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2002
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This is my rig:

P4 3.0 w/ HT on a ASUS P4SD-LA (800mhz FSB, 8x AGP, 4 rear AGP, 2 front, etc, etc)
512 PC3200 RAM
Western Digital 250GB harddrive, 7200rpm
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
Audigy

If I were to keep all of my existed hardware, except get a new Athlon mobo + CPU, would performance be similar? I do video stuff (make DVDs) and play games occasionally.
 

adams828

Senior member
Nov 29, 2003
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is there a specific reason you want to switch? just curious, as that seems like a dang nice system you have running there already
 

Red

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2002
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Originally posted by: adams828
is there a specific reason you want to switch? just curious, as that seems like a dang nice system you have running there already

Couple reasons (1) Had the same rig since August and I usually mix things up a lot more often than that =)

(2) Many people say Athlons perform better than P4, so just curious.
 

egale

Senior member
Jun 5, 2002
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Don't think you will find anything that will perform much in any better. I might add another 512meg though.
 

flexy

Diamond Member
Sep 28, 2001
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i think your're cuckoo :) But i am willing to trade my XP1900+ for your P4 3Gig :)

Btw. i personally would really keep that system....at least until i see some PCI express stuff and other new stuff coming..like 1st quarter next year or even later....



 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
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Well, It all depends. The Pentium 4 and the Athlon XP have long been rivals in performance. In general, an Athlon XP 3000+ is around the speed of a 3.0C P4. An athlon XP 3200+ is mostly around the speed of the P4 3.2.

Many people will cry foul and say otherwise. The truth is, the P4 and the Athlon XP are very close in performance. People will say P4 3.2 woops an athlon xp 3200+ when that is not the case. Some things the difference stretches more then others, but in general, the Athlon XP's model number is equivelant to the P4 of that Ghz. an Athlon XP 3200+ is similar to a P4 3.2Ghz.

While the P4 is better at media encoding, the Athlon XP is the processor for gaming, Desktop use, and Buisiness apps.

Your current system is very fast, i see no reason to change it around.

Bottom Line: Although the Athlon XP 3200+ and P4 3.2 are not exactly the same speed, they are around each other with each other winning and losing in performance tests. I myself would take an Athlon XP 3200+ over a P43.2 anyday. But that is only because the Athlon XP is better suited for the tasks i do. Many people would take the P4, and many would take the Athlon XP. It is a matter of what you use it for.
 

Red

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2002
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Originally posted by: dguy6789
Well, It all depends. The Pentium 4 and the Athlon XP have long been rivals in performance. In general, an Athlon XP 3000+ is around the speed of a 3.0C P4. An athlon XP 3200+ is mostly around the speed of the P4 3.2.

Many people will cry foul and say otherwise. The truth is, the P4 and the Athlon XP are very close in performance. People will say P4 3.2 woops an athlon xp 3200+ when that is not the case. Some things the difference stretches more then others, but in general, the Athlon XP's model number is equivelant to the P4 of that Ghz. an Athlon XP 3200+ is similar to a P4 3.2Ghz.

While the P4 is better at media encoding, the Athlon XP is the processor for gaming, Desktop use, and Buisiness apps.

Your current system is very fast, i see no reason to change it around.

Bottom Line: Although the Athlon XP 3200+ and P4 3.2 are not exactly the same speed, they are around each other with each other winning and losing in performance tests. I myself would take an Athlon XP 3200+ over a P43.2 anyday. But that is only because the Athlon XP is better suited for the tasks i do. Many people would take the P4, and many would take the Athlon XP. It is a matter of what you use it for.

I see. Thanks for the info!

So I wonder if it would be a good deal trade trade my mobo + P4 3.0 proc for an athlon xp 3000+ and mobo? Would that be a pretty even deal?
 

adams828

Senior member
Nov 29, 2003
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Originally posted by: Redhotjrm


I see. Thanks for the info!

So I wonder if it would be a good deal trade trade my mobo + P4 3.0 proc for an athlon xp 3000+ and mobo? Would that be a pretty even deal?

uhm.. not even really, more like a good deal for the person you traded it to :p

i agree with everyone, unless you've got $ burning a hole in your pocket, wait for a while. and if you want something faster and amd, get a64. it will be faster in some instances, but it's pretty dang expensive right now
 

beatle

Diamond Member
Apr 2, 2001
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Originally posted by: Redhotjrm

So I wonder if it would be a good deal trade trade my mobo + P4 3.0 proc for an athlon xp 3000+ and mobo? Would that be a pretty even deal?

I don't think so... The AXP is very competitive in games, but doesn't really take the crown for speed most of the times. The fact that it's inexpensive makes it a clear choice for a gamer on a budget. In addition, the Soundstorm audio on some motherboards is the best (IMO) onboard sound on the planet. For encoding media, if the program supports SMP well, the P4 will usually walk away from the Athlon.

If you traded your system for an Athlon, I'd be looking to make a couple bucks in the process.
 

Macro2

Diamond Member
May 20, 2000
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I'd hold on to what you have until we see a Windows64 OS for the Athlon64 and then switch to a FX. Unless you like Linux which is already a 64 bit OS.
 

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
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This is my opinion so criticise all you like.

I look at it this way... 3.0 ghz Vs 3.2 ghz or equivilent (3200+). You could most likely overclock and gain the extra 200mhz performance if you are that desparate

I dont know your motherboard so read/ignore this as applicable. As someone said, unless something you want like SATA RAID, PCI Express or other neat motherboard feature comes along... I see no reason to change your Motherboard and unless you want to have the bragging rights on the fastest processor or you think that encoding something 5 minutes or so faster is worth the $$$... then imo, its not worth changing processor at this moment.

You Radeon 9800 Pro is nearly top of the line... even now.

Also, as someone said... the best bang for buck upgrade here would be imo another stick of PC3200 to take you up to the gig. 1 gig should keep you happy for a long time.
 

robcy

Senior member
Jun 8, 2003
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Surely you have a bag case of the switch bug. In that case, trading for equal would be pointless. since your current hardware has some value, sell the 3.0c and get a 3.2EE. That is the only way you will see a marked improvement over your current setup, the improvement will probably be very noticeable in digital media (Converting DVD's). IMO the 3.2EE would be it, Ive see one in action, and the thing rips.
 

axemanxt40

Senior member
May 13, 2003
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For Athlon XP you rig flat out beats it in gaming...I really wouldn't switch if I were you. If you wanna spend some money though, I would throw another stick of 512 RAM in there.

Unless of course your talking about setting up an Atlon FX system...in which case it will be faster, but I think its a tad premature for that system...and your money would be better saved to wait for the next generation of technologies like PCI express and such!
 

FishTankX

Platinum Member
Oct 6, 2001
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I call BS on the 3200+ equaling the 3.2. Anand himself found the comparison invalid.

If your making DVD's, your encoding speeds might fall as much as 20-30%.

The P4 rules the encoding world, DivX, MPEG-2, you name it. THe P4 destroys the Athlon in it.
 

InlineFive

Diamond Member
Sep 20, 2003
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If it helps I have an fast AthlonXP 3200+ which can (1) encode video which is being streamed off of a camcorder, (2) run SETI@Home in the background, (3) download multiple files, (4) surf multiple webpages, (5) and be viewing gigabytes of files on the computer all with no lagginess. :)
 

randumb

Platinum Member
Mar 27, 2003
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Originally posted by: dguy6789
Well, It all depends. The Pentium 4 and the Athlon XP have long been rivals in performance. In general, an Athlon XP 3000+ is around the speed of a 3.0C P4. An athlon XP 3200+ is mostly around the speed of the P4 3.2.

Many people will cry foul and say otherwise. The truth is, the P4 and the Athlon XP are very close in performance. People will say P4 3.2 woops an athlon xp 3200+ when that is not the case. Some things the difference stretches more then others, but in general, the Athlon XP's model number is equivelant to the P4 of that Ghz. an Athlon XP 3200+ is similar to a P4 3.2Ghz.

While the P4 is better at media encoding, the Athlon XP is the processor for gaming, Desktop use, and Buisiness apps.

Your current system is very fast, i see no reason to change it around.

Bottom Line: Although the Athlon XP 3200+ and P4 3.2 are not exactly the same speed, they are around each other with each other winning and losing in performance tests. I myself would take an Athlon XP 3200+ over a P43.2 anyday. But that is only because the Athlon XP is better suited for the tasks i do. Many people would take the P4, and many would take the Athlon XP. It is a matter of what you use it for.

600+ posts of this cr@p?

The PR ratings were only good for the P4B, but when the new P4C versions with 800mhz FSB came out, they distanced themselves a lot. An Athlon XP 3200+ is around the performance of a P4 2.8C. A P4 3.0C is unrivaled by any of the AMD processors, except of course the new AMD64 ones (Athon 64, Athlon FX, Opteron).
 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
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Hey, you call it crap all you want, but the P4 in no circumsatnce woops an athlon xp as people say. Sure the p4 3.2C is faster then the 3200+ most of the time, but it is not by THAT much. it is small enough of a difference to compare the 2. Maybe when you learn to read a little more thorough you will understand.
 

aka1nas

Diamond Member
Aug 30, 2001
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Dude, you don't need a CPU/ mobo upgrade at this point. If you have money burning a hole in your pocket, why not get a nice monitor or more RAM or set up a RAID array to hold all the video you are encoding?
 

justly

Banned
Jul 25, 2003
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AMDs PR is bull, well maybe.

Intels GHz rating could be called bull as well since GHz isnt the thing that gives the P4 the performance jump it needed to get where it is today. AMDs PR does scale in a relatively predictable pattern but it is more in line with the 533 FSB P4.

The thing is, most sites benchmark using only a fraction of the apps/games that are available so you might not see where the 3200+ is able to compete and win against the P4C (even with an 800MHz FSB). Granted the 3200+ has a much harder time competing with the P4C but if you want to see where the 3200+ can compete then you must look at some less common benchmarks. Here are two links to show what I mean.

look at all three games "Medieval War" "Age of Mythology" "Grand Prix 4"

look at the game "Splinter Cell"

The P4C does give the AXP a good whippin in many benchmarks but not all, as shown above.

Back to the topic, if you really just want something to play with get a AXP 2500+ and a inexpensive 400MHz socket "A" motherboard and play for a while then sell it. This will only cost around $150 and you will probably be able to get at least half of that back when you sell it.

If you are looking to replace what you already have then dig deep into your wallet because you will probably need to go with an Athlon FX or a P4EE to see a real difference.

 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
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3.2Ghz P4EE has less of a difference between it and the P43.2ghz then the 3.2ghz and a 3.1Ghz p4. The EE stuff is bull, it is only slightly faster and most of the time not any faster, and it is alot more expensive.
 

FishTankX

Platinum Member
Oct 6, 2001
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What on earth are you talking about? In the majority of the benchmarks a P4 3.2EE thrashes an Athlon64 3200+, which consequently beats a P4 3.2

I'd go back and read the P4 3.2EE article again. In Anand's article, quite a few times the P4 3.2EE blew the AthlonFX 51 out of the water. (Ofcourse, to be fair, the reverse is true.). And I think *everyone* agree the P4 3.2 and the AthlonFX 51 shouldn't even be serious competitors. Outside of heavilyi SSE2 optomized P4 optomized apps, or encoding aps, the AthlonFX 51 destroys everythin in it's path. If there was no P4 3.2EE the AthlonFX 51 would be quite the undisputed performance champion.

Example: QuakeIII
P4 3.2EE - 468 FPS
Athlon 64 3200+ - 413FPS
P4 3.2C 384FPS
P4 3.0C 371FPS

A less spectacular benchmark, DivX encoding. Not too cache dependent, right? Or so you think

P4 3.2EE 45.4
P4 3.2C 43.9
P4 3.0C 41.5

Still not good enough?

3d rendering, light wave
P4 3.2EE 42.5 seconds
P4 3.2C 46
P4 3.0 48.4

A far cry from what you claim.
 

FishTankX

Platinum Member
Oct 6, 2001
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About splinter cell: Do My eyes decieve me, or do I see the P4EE, the Athlon64 3200+, and the FX51 all performing the same??

This means that the AthlonFX 51 with 200 more MHZ and *twice* the memory bandwidth has *no* performance advantage over the Athlon64 3200+?