Now is this what I really want to do?

[Mwnelson]

Hi All,
I have built 5 systems for my studio(all normal). I want to upgrade one of my graphic design cpu's, and take advantage of the low price of P3's. From what I think I've read, would this be the best plan for me?

To o/c I should:

P3 600(100mhz) to o/c to 8xx mhz( i will be happy with 8xx speed) - since EVERYONE says it will achieve this.
A high quality VIA 133 mb instead of a BX mb(even though EVERYONE says a BX mb is faster and I don't want a problem with o/cing the graphics card & memory).

Any suggestions?
Thanks for your imput and help...

 

[Dark4ng3l]

get a t-bird cheaper, faster, o/c just as good(if not beter)

 

[DarkMajiq]

For the same price as that P3 600, you could get a T-Bird 800 or 850 (800 is slightly less than P3, 850 slightly more), an Asus A7V motherboard (w/o audio) or an Abit KT7 and overclock that (or just leave it). Those can usually hit into the 900s quite reliably without a whole lot of extra cooling.

 

[Mwnelson]

The reason I chose the P3 is because its better(according to every review I've read) at graphics(photoshop) that AMD. Also, isn't the T-bird harder or more trouble to o/c?

 

[paulip88]

Are you sure that the P3 is better at graphics? It would seem to me that the Duron or Athlon would be better since they boast a far superior FPU.

Also, it seems that the Durons and TBird are faring better in the content creation benchmarks (though I don't know how this would translate to real world applications).

As for OCing, I would think that they would be easier to OC< especially if you consider possible issues with running the FSB and PCI bus out of spec.

The AMD chips are OCed using the multiplier, so the only component running out of spec is the CPU. However, in your case, you could do the same if you jack up the CPU to 133FSB.

 

[DarkMajiq]

From what I've heard, AMD has been beating out Intel in content-creatin BMBs (like paulip said). As well, if you were to get an AMD, you would be having the same speed or slightly faster out of the box as you would after O/Cing the P3.

As for ease of O/Cing, taking that P3 up to 133 FSB (6x133=800 MHz) would keep all of your other components in spec like paulip said, but go higher and you're going to start getting them out of whack, although they should be OK up to about 140 FSB (6x140=840, that's a really nig O/C though, gonna need a lot of cooling). Instead, why not get the AMD 850, which is going to be the same speed, guaranteed. For the same level of cooling on that, you could probably hit a GHz. And since you'll probably O/C using the multiplier, you won't have any problems with PCI or AGP. Even if you O/C using the FSB, you won't be taking it much higher, so you won't have any concerns.

The one thing that's &quot;hard&quot; about a T-Bird to O/C is that you're probably going to have to unlock the multiplier by penciling over the L1 bridges (here's a good article, or else just look around the forums here).

 

[dude]

The hard part is finding a pencil in a computer rampant world. . . .

 

[dude]

Even harder finding a sharpener.

 

[Mwnelson]

Now i'm really confused. I've read two more articles on Tom Hardware's site which says that a faster AMD is better than a slower P3 in normal operations. It still doesn't speak to the graphics issue(Photoshop) that is important to me.

Also, I'm a little worried about the permament &quot;locking&quot; of the T-bird that has been mentioned.

Or should I just purchase an AMD 800/850 &amp; a great mb and not read any more about o/cing?

Please, no flaming. Thanks

 

[paulip88]

I most normal operations, the AMD and P3 are about the same. For games, the P3 is better. For graphics and stuff like that, the AMD chips have a slight edge. Here is link to some benchmarks on AnandTech

What you want to look at is the Pentium IIIs that are on the VIA 133A compared to the Durons and TBirds, since these are the setups that you are considering. Granted the performance difference is probably marginal, it definitely helps when you are considering a cheaper AMD solution. Why pay more when you can get better performance from a cheaper system?

As for worry about locking the AMD chips, don't worry about it. It ridiculously easy to do. All you need is a pencil or something conductive to connect the bridges. Or alternatively you can just go for an MSI K7T Pro, 1.2GHz TBird and not overclock. This would cost about the same as a 900MHz P3 system.

Your call.

 

[Mwnelson]

paulip88

Thanks for your link to the test site, and what I read makes me happy. Should I be concerned with the next test SYSmark 2000 which shows the P3 6 points better than the AMD 800?
Sorry, I don't know enough to interpid the test correctly!

 

[paulip88]

Nope. You shouldn't. The P3 800 that was 6 points better was one running on a BX, which you already said you didn't want to use since that would mean running numerous devices out of spec.

The AMD Tbird 800 actually beat the P3 800 by 10 points when the P3 is running on the chipset you mentioned earlier (VIA 133A)

 

[Trifecta]

ok,

This is hard to not get in on...

what sorts of things are you doing with photoshop and the other graphic design stuff?

If you want power and you are using Adobe, go dual chip and stay with the P3s

otherwise, if you are like me, go and get yourself a duron 700 and overclock that bad boy to 1g. Then with the money you save from not buying a *ripoff* P3 600 at 150+...spend the money on your vid card.

I put in a Gloria recently and that thing simply chews up anything you throw at it...especially in video and 3d stuff, 3dstudio max is the gloriaIIs playground. You will run laps around someone with a p3 933 and a lesser card...

 

[mikelou26]

intel rules
and plus nvidia luvs intel
and p3 coppermine is the best to o/c
amd sucks

 

[Trifecta]

wow, such eloquent statements.

Try buying a chip from intel anywhere near the 60 dollar pricerange that can be overclocked to 950 and above.

I really love my P3700e, but my amd system is faster, and cost me about 1/4 of what I just spent on mt Intel puter

 

[Mwnelson]

paulip,

I'm convinced. Now should i consider the i815 or just stick with the K_7 mb's?

 

[paulip88]

People have come up with some interesting points. If you are considering going all out and getting a hard core graphics workstation, you may want to consider getting at multiprocessor system, which is currently only offered for Intel chips.

Anyway, about your question on mb's:

i815 - If you are getting a P3, this is a good choice. Just make sure that it is a i815e. Something like the Asus CUSL2 should serve you well.

AMD boards - For the AMDs, there is currently one chipset for the socket A CPUs that is widely available. The KT133. If you want to OC, I'd go with the Abit KT7 (RAID is up to you). If you don't want to OC, go with the MSI K7T Pro. The Asus A7V is also good, but you have to deal with DIP switches to OC and its also a tad more picky about components than the MSI.