P4 Prescott or A64 Venice?

[Henning]

Hello,

I want to buy a new PC, and ive asked all over the net. Unluckily most people only use AMD , and so i feel a little prejudice in there comments.
My aim is a silent PC, which can do many Tasks simultaniously. I have various internet programmes open, office and also sometimes rip and encode audio and film. If I have the mediaplayer running the PC shouldnt stutter, but run smoothly. Right now i cannot decide between:
AMD
2048MB DDRRAM MDT PC400 TwinPack 2x1GB 197,94 EUR
AMD Athlon64 3500+ 2,20GHz tray S 939 Venice E6 191,68 EUR
Asrock 939Dual-SATA2 S939 ULI1695 53,25 EUR



INTEL
Intel Pentium 4 Prozessor 630 3000MHz S775 ATX Box 175,54 ?
Asrock 775DUAL-880PRO S775 PT880 ATX 48,33 ?
DDR-RAM 2048MB KIT PC400 CL2,5 MDT 187,98 ?
(Kühler Thermaltake Golden Orb II 21,82 ?

I would really appreciate your comments on the pros and cons of both, and which might be good for a pc, on which i never play games, but use as an office pc all the time.

Kind regards,
Henning

P.S: I have to underline this one again: Shouldnt hyperthreading be superior to a Venice in terms of multiple programmes runnning at once?

 

[Gamer X]

You need dual core,get AMD X2 3800+

 

[Henning]

and if i dont have the cash? which one then? - wouldnt HPS be better for multiple processes at once?

 

[Lonyo]

If you want silent, get AMD since it runs cooler so will require less fans to keep the PC at a reasonable temperature. It also has Cool n Quiet which reduces CPU speed/voltage when not in full use, further reducing heat and the need for cooling, so if you have temperature sensing fans they can reduce in speed and noise.

 

[JasonE4]

The P4 will be better at multitasking, but not by much. It'll definitely put out more heat than the A64, and therefore a better cooling setup will be necessary if you want it to be silent. If you go the P4 route, I'd suggest going with the 945 chipset and DDR2 ram, which is cheaper for 2 GB than DDR. Maybe go with the 945G if you can live with onboard graphics.

 

[Markfw]

That 3500 is so much faster than the 3 ghz Intel, it will still win in most things, and way easier to cool, thus quieter. (less fans, or slower speed) I have 3 Sonata cases in my bedroom, running X2 3800@2550, X2 4400@2550, Opteron 170@2550 (they all seem to like the same speed), and all three together you can hardly hear.

 

[Henning]

thanks for all your answers.
@Jason: How much does "not by much" mean? - In theory the AMD would have to wait for signals of each programm, whilest the Intel should be able to handle them simultaneously, no?

 

[Meuge]

Originally posted by: JasonE4
The P4 will be better at multitasking, but not by much. It'll definitely put out more heat than the A64, and therefore a better cooling setup will be necessary if you want it to be silent. If you go the P4 route, I'd suggest going with the 945 chipset and DDR2 ram, which is cheaper for 2 GB than DDR. Maybe go with the 945G if you can live with onboard graphics.

Not better than a real dual-core. X2 3800 can be had for $300, and the extra money will make itself known in multitasking and SMP-enabled software.

 

[Henning]

mmh, you have a point there. Maybe i should get a Venice now and buy a X2 later.
Thanks for your answers!

 

[JasonE4]

Originally posted by: Meuge

Originally posted by: JasonE4
The P4 will be better at multitasking, but not by much. It'll definitely put out more heat than the A64, and therefore a better cooling setup will be necessary if you want it to be silent. If you go the P4 route, I'd suggest going with the 945 chipset and DDR2 ram, which is cheaper for 2 GB than DDR. Maybe go with the 945G if you can live with onboard graphics.

Not better than a real dual-core. X2 3800 can be had for $300, and the extra money will make itself known in multitasking and SMP-enabled software.

Obviously. I'm pretty sure that I didn't say anything close to that. He's budget limited and is looking at sub $200 CPUs. Obviously get the dual core if you can afford it. However, the P4 will be better at multitasking, but you probably would hardly notice it in most cases. You could also get a Presler dual core in the future if you go the P4 route. The lowest end Presler will likely cost less than the lowest end X2, but probably won't perform as well.

 

[Fox5]

Originally posted by: Henning
mmh, you have a point there. Maybe i should get a Venice now and buy a X2 later.
Thanks for your answers!

I believe there's a dual core Opteron chip for around $200-$250 that you could get.

 

[Henning]

so, in terms of costs(power hunger) and also efficiency, the AMD route would be better, as i could get and X2 when duell cores are supported by most apps, as this it would be better than the which will come out for the 775 ?
Why the hell by Intel then? - They gotta have something good to them?

 

[JasonE4]

Originally posted by: Fox5

Originally posted by: Henning
mmh, you have a point there. Maybe i should get a Venice now and buy a X2 later.
Thanks for your answers!

I believe there's a dual core Opteron chip for around $200-$250 that you could get.

The cheapest dual core Opteron is about $350 right now. The 3800+ X2 is the cheapest AMD dual core at over $300. The Opteron 165 was down to $290 at one point, but the price has gone way up since then. Intels are the cheapest dual cores, but aren't nearly as good as their more expensive competitors.

 

[Henning]

also in everyday use. like my (and yes i say it again) 22 apps at once?

 

[JasonE4]

Originally posted by: Henning
also in everyday use. like my (and yes i say it again) 22 apps at once?

Both single core processors will suffer in that situation. You really need a dual core for that. I'd save up a little more and get an X2 if I were you.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Henning
so, in terms of costs(power hunger) and also efficiency, the AMD route would be better, as i could get and X2 when duell cores are supported by most apps, as this it would be better than the which will come out for the 775 ?
Why the hell by Intel then? - They gotta have something good to them?

Right now Intel has nothing worth buying for the desktop, and they know it. They even said it outright once, that for the next 12-18 months they have work to do. Future ? yu can gamble on that, but right now the Venice single core and X2/Opteron Dual-core have all over Intel in power consumption, speed, heat and value.

If you can't afford $300 for a X2 3800, then get the cheapest 939 chip you can't find, and save up. Also OC the heck out of whatever you get (not too high on the vcore though)

Edir: That 12-18 month comment was made a while back, I don't remember exactly how long ago 6 months ??

 

[Henning]

OKay, Im doing it liek you guys say, and buying a 939, with a venice. and next year, if it doesnt suffice i can still get a X2.

Thanks a bunch!