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P4 or Athlon XP

F

Fenix793

Golden Member
Ok I get the feeling I'm going to start a flame war but here goes...Right now I have an A7V and a Tbird 900 with a GF2 GTS. It's starting to feel a little slow and I want to start buying some parts for an upgrade. I was thinkin that I'd buy the motherboard and RAM first then go fro a CPU and finally a new vid card. The P4 and the Xp seem to each have their strong points and I was wondering what would be best for me. I have to buy a new mobo, cpu, and ram so this is a good time for me to switch to Intel if it's better. I'm really not sure what to do so if anyone would like to throw in their comments they'd be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Fenix793
 
Athlon XP with KT266a will perform better than the P4. Plus, Athlon XP Processors cost cheaper than P4s, and I would say will beat P4s in most benchmarks you throw at it.

But I choose the P4 1.6A GHz with the Gigabyte 8SRX. OC'ed to 2.3GHz and with 512mb of PC2700, my system absolutely flies. The P4 solution was quite cheap as well, board and processor came out to ony $225. The system is much more quiet compared to my Athlon 1.2GHz with a Vantec HSF. With the P4, retail HSF does a great job.

You will get a very fast system with either choice. So it is really up to you. If you want pure performance, and don't mind the heat and noise, go with Athlon XP. If you don't mind spending a little more, but getting a very cool and quiet system, go with a P4.

Good luck!
 
I agree with ahsia, but I wouldn't necessarily throw overclocking into the mix so quickly. Many people recommend products based on their overclockability, but that's not something that you should do unless and until you're very comfortable with the technology and know exactly what could (and will) go wrong. I mean, people used to recommend the old Celeron 266 chips because they could overclock so well, even though that both before and after overclcoking they sucked, and there were many other issues to think about.

In terms of your situation, it's up to you, depending on the types on deals you can find. I'm assuming that the rest of your system is OK, but since that doesn't affect the core question, here goes.

Athlon XP and Pentium 4 are very similar in peformance, but Athlon XPs are slightly faster in both synthetic and real-world benchmarks, but not noticeable so. I have a P4 1.6 Ghz at home and an Athlon XP 1800+ here at school and I can't notice a difference in just OS usability. An Intel-based system is--and yes, I say this out of experience--likely to be slightly more stable thanks to a better engineering process on the part of Intel vs. VIA. VIA has gotten and is getting better all the time, but my VIA-based system is slightly flakier than my Dell. Maybe it's just my MB. Athlon XPs cost less, too, so you'll save some cash there and you can upgrade another part, too. You have to consider cooling with an Athlon XP, though, and you don't at all with the P4. Let's review:

Athlon XP
Pros:
Fast
Cheap

Cons:
Cooling issues
Greater dependence on quality hardware to maintain system stability (just shop around, find a good MB and you should be OK)

Pentium 4:
Fast
Stable as a rock (again dependent on hardware, but better manufacturing process with Intel, likely)
No cooling issues

Cons:
Expensive
Slower than Athlon XPs

If you decide to go with the Athlon platform, wait until the end of the month and into next month for the release of AMD's Thoroughbred-core CPU, which with have a much easier time cooling since it's on a .13 micron process.

It' really up to you. Weigh the costs and do some math, shop around, that sort of thing. I prefer AMD to support the underdog, but it really comes down to personal preference.
 
I say go with a P4 1.6A and pair it with an ABIT BD7/RAID along with some KingMAX DDR333 RAM... it'll be an overclocking BEAST as it runs cooler due to Intel's new 0.13 micron manufacturing process!
 
It doesn't really matter which one you buy at these speeds nowadays. Its not like you will really notice any difference between the two. I am currently running an Athlon XP 1800+. I chose it for two reasons:

1. I had not run AMD in years and wanted a change.
2. The local computer shop had a poor selection of P4 motherboards.

Go with the one that interests you the most. Since you have been running AMD, try Intel.
 
i have both an xp 1700+ system and a P4a 1.6 @ 2.2 system.

i like my p4 system better. it feels faster and it doesn't have thermal issues.

if you do oc, remember the 2.2 p4a i have is actually faster than an official p4 2.2 cause i'm a 135 fsb vs 100 fsb for the official p4 2.2

if you do go w/ the athlon xp however, i strongly recommend the asus n415 board. can't remember the exact model number. great sound, lan all on mb plus asus's cop (thermal protection for cpu) all for $110 at newegg.com.

good luck.
 
Yea I'm leaning towards Intel simply because I've never had an Intel system before. I started with Macs then the K6, then to K7 then finally to Duron and Tbird. My only concern is with the Thourghbreds (sp?) comin up if I got an XP now I could always drop in the Thourghbred later. Intel already changed the socket for the P4 once and something tells I won't be able to upgrade to a better solution later on.
 
I have a similar setup with a TBird 850 and GeForce2. The upgrade I'm planning is getting a Tbird 1.4 and a Geforce 4. I think that'll hold me till the end of the year when i can evaluate the Hammer.
 
If you're going to overclock 24/7, go with an Intel setup. Specfically I recommend this:

Motherboard: ASUS P4B266-C
CPU: 1.6A Intel Pentium 4 Northwood

If you're NOT going to overclock 24/7, go with an AMD setup. Specfically I recommend this:

Motherboard: ASUS A7N266-C
CPU: 1700+ AMD Athlon XP

Good luck! 🙂
 
with the price difference between comparible P4 and XP chip.. u can invest in other components of the computer and have it blow the P4 rig away 😀
 
I jumped ship Intel to AMD.
I was worried about stability and wanted something faster than what I had.
P3 800@1100 Now I have an XP 1800+and a MSI K7T266 Pro2 and 512 MB of pc2100 and I am enjoying an nice speed boost
and stability.(I'm not overclocking)
 
You will be happy with either systems. I am running an Athlon XP1900+(retail boxed) on a KT266A motherboard. This system is quiet, stable and I have not had any issues with heat.
 
P4 Northwood. Willamette was a dog.

Nothing out there touches the 1.6A price/performance ratio right now. You're practically guaranteed 2.13GHz and many are able to hit 2.4GHz+ (like me 😀), in which case the speediest XP is left behind. 🙂 I'm pleased not just performance-wise (forget the Sandra scores) but the cool, quiet running rigs are a dream come true. The top-notch thermal protection is icing on the cake.
 
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