P4 3GHz or Athlon64 3000+

frisbfreek

Member
May 30, 2004
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Hey everyone. Sorry if I haven't searched the forums enough and repeating this question, but I'm building a new system and I still can't decide between a P4 3GHz or an Athlon64 3000+. The Athlon64 seems to be favored here... is it that much better than the P4? I hear that the Athlon64 is basically the best run for the money right now... but I've looked at some reviews and it seems to only be better at certain benchmarks and not others. The way I see it, the P4 has hyperthreading, which seems like a big plus, and it has 4 DIMM slots so I could potentially upgrade more RAM, where as the Athlon64 motherboards only have 2 or 3 DIMMs. Also, I won't be overclocking unlike a lot of people here in the forums... so I don't know if that changes things.

Thanks for the help.
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
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Well, like we tell everyone else who asks that same question, if you're a gamer, get the Athlon64. If you're into encoding video, or can make good use of hyperthreading, then the P4C is what you should get. Just don't be fooled by Intel's hype, though: if you regularly do 2 cpu-intensive things at the same time, the hyperthreading is very much worth it; but, if like most of us, you only do one cpu-intensive thing at a time, even if you're doing something else that isn't (checking e-mail, surfing the web, listening to MP3's, etc), then any of the A64's will do that as well as a P4C. Hyperthreading is worth it's weight in gold for some people, yet other people say they've notice no difference at all from their past processor, that didn't have HT.
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
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Agree with pretty much everything myocardia said... but would also add, don't base your decision on how many DIMM slots each motherboard has :D When you upgrade RAM, it's a good idea to replace it all to avoid incompatabilities. If you started out with a couple 128 MB sticks of PC2100 RAM... you're not going to use that today... hell, even if you started with a couple 512 MB sticks of PC2100 RAM, you're not gonna wanna use that.
The days of additional RAM being required for a new program are pretty much gone. RAM is so cheap now that you can afford to go a little overboard so that you never really have to worry about how much you have. I've had 1 GB of RAM in my computer for almost two years, and I've gone through 4 different "sets" of RAM :D PC2700, PC3200, more PC3200, and now PC3500. Each time I bought a couple 512 MB sticks.

Wow... anyway... back on topic, lol.

Athlon 64 for gaming and office work.
Pentium 4 for multi-media use.
 

frisbfreek

Member
May 30, 2004
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Thanks for the input guys. Regarding memory, most of the mobos out there support up to PC3200 (DDR 400) RAM, right? I'll be getting 1 Gb of PC3200 RAM, so I can't really upgrade more on the speed aspect due to the mobo limitation. Why would I want to get RAM faster than PC3200?
 

myocardia

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2003
9,291
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Originally posted by: frisbfreek
Thanks for the input guys. Regarding memory, most of the mobos out there support up to PC3200 (DDR 400) RAM, right? I'll be getting 1 Gb of PC3200 RAM, so I can't really upgrade more on the speed aspect due to the mobo limitation. Why would I want to get RAM faster than PC3200?
Although the motherboard makers ALL say that their boards only support "up to PC3200" ram, they will actually support anything faster, also. That's good for us overclockers, but not for people who aren't interested in overclocking, like you.
 

aug1516

Senior member
Apr 12, 2001
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If you are playing games then go with the AMD64. If this is just for general workstation use then I would actually recommend the Intel setup.
 

Duvie

Elite Member
Feb 5, 2001
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I agree with what has been said above.....The A64 3000+ is quite similar in overall comparison to the P4 3.0c so it basically comes down to what will your intended use or uses be....

Price wise I believe they are very similar as well when looking at the main independent components (mobo and cpu, hsf (if you go oem and have to get an aftermarket))...
 

frisbfreek

Member
May 30, 2004
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Thanks for the input everyone! I think more of my heavy processing work would be in the form of games, so I'm pretty sure I'll be going for the athlon64. I know this is isn't really in the right category, but I was thinking of getting the Foxconn 755A01-6EKRS... what do you think? I read the review of it here on Anandtech... is it true that I won't be able to use memory faster than PC3200 with this motherboard?
 

whee

Junior Member
May 27, 2004
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Which A64 3000+ are you referring to? There's one with 1MB of L2 that is 1.8GHz and one with 512K of L2 that's 2GHz. For most practical purposes, the one with the higher clock but less cache is the faster one of the two. Although, either one of them should be faster than the P4 in most cases.
 

frisbfreek

Member
May 30, 2004
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I'll be getting the one with 512K L2 cache @ 2GHz. Another question... if I get it retail, is the fan/heatsink adequate (no OC)?
 

PWNettle

Member
May 10, 2004
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I'm a hardware noob but I think the stock HSF is fine if you're not overclocking (I'm not).

I just built my first system around an Athlon64 3000+ (for gaming and programming) and I'm loving it.

http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=27923

I have an Antec Sonata case (with just its one 120mm rear fan) and I'm using the stock HSF and it's been working great so far. It idles at about 35C and might get up to around 45C after a good session of FarCry or some other intensive game. I'm also in Phoenix, AZ, and let me tell ya, it's damn hot here.

When I was comparing P4 vs Athlon64 I decided to try the Athlon64 3000+ since I primarily use my machine for gaming. *shrug* Either way it's a vast improvement over my previous P4 1.5ghz. :)
 

Jhatfie

Senior member
Jan 20, 2004
749
2
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The stock AMD cooler for the A64's are pretty decent actually. If you are not overclocking you should be just fine.

I love my A64 3000+ BTW. Of course I run mine @ 2.5ghz, so it is a fair bit faster than stock. :D
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
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The stock heatsink had BETTER be OK with no overclocking, or AMD is in some real trouble :p
 

Lyfer

Diamond Member
May 28, 2003
5,842
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This is an easy one:

Gaming = Athlon 64

Content creation/Video/Audio Enconding = P4


Its just that simple!
 

willbemcse

Senior member
Sep 14, 2003
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Hi Lyfer
I am still in the same boat reagrding which system to build. I do little bit of both play games and do video encoding , should I go with P4 or 64.
 

Lyfer

Diamond Member
May 28, 2003
5,842
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Originally posted by: willbemcse
Hi Lyfer
I am still in the same boat reagrding which system to build. I do little bit of both play games and do video encoding , should I go with P4 or 64.

I would opt for the Athlon 64 because it offers 64-bit capability which should improve performance "somewhat" when a 64-bit version of Windows is completed.