P4 2.53 w/G4ti4600 or AMD XP 2400 w/9700pro?

[quantumgroove]

I've decided that it's about that time for me to upgrade my PC.
Specifically i want to upgrade my CPU, MB, ram and Video card.
The problem is i want to keep it as cheap as possible but get the best bang for my buck.
I've been doing some research on what to get and have come up with two options which are the following.
Option1)
P4 2.53Ghz
Asustek P4T533-C Motherboard intel 850e
2x RDram 1066Mhz 256MB
Geforce 4 Ti 4600
Total= $853

Option2)
Athalon XP 2400
Asus A7V8X KT400 chipset
1x PC3200 512mb ram
Radeon Pro 9700
Total= $815

I'm going to be using this setup for gaming and graphics design as well as the ussual stuff.
I'd like some body who knows anything about these setups to give me some advice as too
which of these two setups you would recomend to me.
Thanks for your time!

 

[Adul]

I wouldnt bother running the athlon on pc3200 ddr. Esp on the kt400 chipset. You are better off finding a kt333 MB and good pc2700. You can same some money that way. If you are into gaming big time then getting a 9700 would be a better choice

 

[dullard]

Welcome to Anandtech. Honestly, you'd be quite happy with either setup. I think they both will give roughly equal performance overall. Sure some programs will run faster with one machine, but others will run faster on the other machine.

I myself don't think you will get the best "bang for your buck" with either setup. You went with all top-of-the-line parts on your AMD setup. That is always where companies make their biggest profits. I think going one step down often is unnoticibly slower yet saves a bundle. If I were in your position, I'd take both processors down one notch to save $50 each (2.4 GHz P4 with 533 MHz fsb and 2200+ XP). Similarly, I'd save $50-$100 by taking the video cards down one notch as well. With that, you'd get about the same performance in a $600-$700 computer instead of a $800-$850 computer.

I'm not the best to recommend on motherboards, so I'll let someone else comment on those choices.

 

[mchammer187]

I would go with a P4 on a DDR setup (845G) and if you have to lower it to 2.4 or 2.26

and get the Radeon 9700 instead of the Ti4600

 

[quantumgroove]

What motherboad with an intel 845g would you recomend?

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: quantumgroove
What motherboad with an intel 845g would you recomend?

asus p4b 533V or abit BG7

i have also heard good things with the Epox 4G4A+ but have heard bad things too

my roomate runs a BG7 w/ PNY PC2100 (Samsung chips) and his 1.6A does 2.66 so i have only good things to say about this board

 

[Wingznut]

If you have $850 to spend, here's my recommendation:

$237 = P4-2.53ghz
$100 = Epox 4G4A
$150 = Corsair 512mb PC2700
$345 = ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
-------
$832 = Total

(All prices taken from Newegg and Mwave.)

 

[fkloster]

P4 2.53 w/G4ti4600 or AMD XP 2400 w/9700pro?

Take the P4

 

[quantumgroove]

So i take it that generaly going with the RDram @1066 isn't really worth the money
Also i've heard that the radeon 9700 pro doesn't have as great a driver support as the Geforce line of cards.
Is this the case or am i just hearing individualized complaints from poeple and not a general feeling of instability
with the radeon 9700 cards?

 

[dullard]

You can estimate that the RDRAM give a 10% performance boost. However it is quite expensive compared to some of the cheaper DDR solutions. I really think RDRAM is the better technology and I buy it exclusively at work for that reason. However I just bought a new PC 3 weeks ago and I had to go with DDR to get the best bang for the buck.

 

[Spicedaddy]

Another vote for P4/DDR with 9700pro... just because that's what I have.


mobo: Asus P4B533V or Epox 4G4A (Mwave.com usually has good prices)
ram: 512MB Corsair PC3200 (check out googlegear.com)
vid card: Radeon 9700 retail (ecost.com has it for 330$)
CPU: Fastest 533FSB P4 you can get (check mwave)

 

[Markfw]

I don't know where you are seeing the 9700 negatives, but it is a great card with much improved driver support than they used to have. It is also far and away the best video card, way above the 4600(check the reviews on any of the sites, like Anandtech or tomshardware). As for the CPU, I like your choice of the 2400, as it is way better than the 2600 price/performance wise, and runs way cooler than the 2200 (also overclocks great). As for the memory, all of the reviews I have seen show the KT400 chipset as great, but currently, the 333 (PC2700) memory actually works better.

I vote for the 2400/9700.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i vote for the athlon too
great system
and great vid card
also get the best and fastest mem you can that holds the good timings
it'll come in handy when overclocking

 

[oldfart]

Originally posted by: Wingznut PEZ
If you have $850 to spend, here's my recommendation:

$237 = P4-2.53ghz
$100 = Epox 4G4A
$150 = Corsair 512mb PC2700
$345 = ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
-------
$832 = Total

(All prices taken from Newegg and Mwave.)

I agree.
You can get a 9700 a bit cheaper if you go OEM.

 

[cmdrdredd]

P4 + DDR + 9700Pro = AWESOME!

 

[Ben50]

You should go for the P4 setup but only if you get 1066 rdram. If you don't get that, the athlon system will be as fast or faster overall and definitely faster in games with the 9700 as opposed to the Ti4600. Plus, the athlon and the 9700 will both overclock well if you are willing to oc.

 

[fkloster]

Originally posted by: Ben50
You should go for the P4 setup but only if you get 1066 rdram. If you don't get that, the athlon system will be as fast or faster overall and definitely faster in games with the 9700 as opposed to the Ti4600. Plus, the athlon and the 9700 will both overclock well if you are willing to oc.

1) i850e with PC800 rimms or PC2700ddr is still better than the athlon system
2) P4's overclock better than Athlons

 

[Markfw]

fkloster, the 2400's are supposed to overclock pretty good, but since they are just available as of today, it will be a "wait and see". I wouldn't go out on a limb until this data comes in. They might overclock better than the P4 !!

 

[cmdrdredd]

"You should go for the P4 setup but only if you get 1066 rdram. If you don't get that, the athlon system will be as fast or faster overall and definitely faster in games with the 9700 as opposed to the Ti4600. Plus, the athlon and the 9700 will both overclock well if you are willing to oc."

DDR + P4 = better overclocking than RDRAM and even better overclocking than Athlons. I'd take a P4 and a i845G with some good DDR333 over ANY athlon platform out there.

 

[CrazySaint]

Originally posted by: dullard
You can estimate that the RDRAM give a 10% performance boost. However it is quite expensive compared to some of the cheaper DDR solutions. I really think RDRAM is the better technology and I buy it exclusively at work for that reason. However I just bought a new PC 3 weeks ago and I had to go with DDR to get the best bang for the buck.

I think that saying that RDRAM is 10% faster (than i845G + PC2700) is a bit generous. I'd say its closer to 0-10% overall, averaging around 5-6%.

 

[sandorski]

IMO, the cpu/mobo difference(aka P4 vs Athlon)is of little concern, but definitely get a Radeon 9700 Pro.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: sandorski
IMO, the cpu/mobo difference(aka P4 vs Athlon)is of little concern, but definitely get a Radeon 9700 Pro.

I wholeheartedly agree here. Any high-end proc today can get the job done, so put the extra money in the vid card. And RDRAM is not worth the extra cash.

 

[quantumgroove]

Well after reading through all the post i think i'll go with a
P4 2.4 GHZ
I don't quite know what MB and ram combo i'm going to pick but due to overwhelming support for the Radeon 9700 pro i'll go with that. I guess price watch has a price quote for 309+shipping for a Radeon 9700 pro retail. Sounds pretty sweet!
thanks to all those who replied!

 

[Duvie]

quantumgroove,


make sure you get the 2.4b chip with the 533fbs...just reminding you!!!


Crazysaint is right on the money...10% rdram is not only laughable but downright inaccurate...I did a comprhensive review using a tomshardware review where with same speed processor he ran a pc800 with 400mhz ddr a pc800system with a 533fsb and a pc1066 with a 533fsb and in most cases the average was only 5-6 percent over the pc800 with 400mhz fsb...Then you add in most pc2700ddr systems with p4's already outscore pc800 400mhz system and you can say 5-6 percent comparable to ddr platform. Then add in many can run 400mhz ddr with sis chipsets with no ocing and that makes them higher then pc800 533fsb systems and therefore rdram usually only is 3-4 percent higher....

 

[lambasa]

Originally posted by: Wingznut PEZ
If you have $850 to spend, here's my recommendation:

$237 = P4-2.53ghz
$100 = Epox 4G4A
$150 = Corsair 512mb PC2700
$345 = ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
-------
$832 = Total

(All prices taken from Newegg and Mwave.)

Excellent call... I think that would be my choice also