Poll: AMD Thunderbird or P3 800mhz

[Isatheprophet]

hi

I am thinking of upgrading to a AMD Thunderbird 1 Ghz (200mhz), with a Microstar K71 Pro Duron/Thunderbird motherboard. Is this ok? My current system is a P2 300mhz, pc100 192 RAM, voodoo 3 2000, 50x Acer, 25 G HD. Will there be a RAM and power supply issue or not. I am in the uk here we have everything run of 240 volts, (we do not measure in watts, that is for light bulbs). So will I be ok or will I need to add some more stuff. I hope not.

 

[Muerto]

If you're upgrading to a 1GHz T-Bird then why was the title called "Poll: AMD Thunderbird or P3 800mhz"? But to answer that question I'd go with the T-Bird any day.

If you have a PII 300 then I'd say there would definitely be a power supply problem. Get an AMD approved 300W power supply. As far as the rest of it goes you shouldn't encounter any compatibilty problems. Although the V3 would become a bottle neck immediately. You might want to think about a GF2.


And just out of curiousity, if you don't measure power in Watts in the UK then what do you use? Volts is not a measure of power. The Watt is the standard unit of measure for electrical power in any device, computer or lightbulb. Or do you use Volt-Amps?

 

[slpaulson]

You should get the k7t pro2a with instead of the k7t pro. The epox atlon board (dunno the name) is also a good one. I think you should get a geforce2 mx or something to go alone with your new cpu.

 

[timco]

I think isatheprophet was getting confused... Of course we (Brits) use volts, amps and watts in the same way as our buddies across the pond and everywhere else do (we're not that backward...)

Isa, volts aren't too important when you're dealing with PSUs. All the modern ones can either run on 230V (which is what we're on in the UK now - a compromise with the rest of Europe, which was on 220V) or on the US level (115V?). The important bit about choosing a PSU is the number of watts it can put out, which affects what you can connect up to it. Chips such as Celerons that don't use so much power can survive on 200W but those that put out more heat and which require proper heatsinks like Thunderbirds and P3s/P4s require more watts - 300W at least. I have an Enermax 330W PSU which I got from Scan (www.scan.co.uk) which powers my MSI K7T Pro2/Tbird 800 (o/ced to 900) system and it copes very well... If you choose an AMD (I would!) make sure your PSU is on AMD's approved list (look at their website) - like my Enermax is.

 

[pillage2001]

T-bird no doubt.

 

[Mem]

My own MSI K7T PRO & T-bird 900 work fine btw,I also live in UK(London)anyway make sure you have buy a AMD approved 300w PSU,motherboard wise the MSI K7T PRO2A is better for overclocking & if you want ATA-100 support otherwise the MSI K7T PRO board is a great board & will save you some money.

You can buy AMD approved 300w PSU from
here

Another new Member, Isatheprophet welcome to Anandtech Members club.

 

[Quickfingerz]

duh, AMD T-bird all the way!

 

[Noriaki]

If your question is whether you should upgrade to the 1Ghz TBird or the 800Mhz P3 definately the TBird.

My 250Watt PSU I had with my K6-2/350 Ran my .25um Athlon 550 but woudn't run it at 600Mhz...don't know about my newer TBird...

I bought a 450Watt Power supply, when I couldn't run my 550@600 and haven't use the 250 since...I'd probably get a new one if I were you (though 450 is probably a hair excessive but so is a 24" tall case I like excessive)

And any decent power supply can run off of 110-120V or 220-240V that's just the rating on the input line, the amount of power something uses is Voltage*Current, for you guys you have twice the voltage and half the current on your input lines. The PSU has a pile of transformers in it anyways, so it just has one more so you can pick your input.

You still have to have a Wattage rating on your power supply...whether you know you do or not you do.

 

[Jgtdragon]

Another vote for the T-Birdy.

 

[Dee67]

1ghz or 800mhz?

Definitely the faster amd cpu


similar question and poll here

 

[Leo V]

Unless power consumption is extremely important (like in my pizzabox miniserver), the Tbird is the better deal by a mile.

 

[Isatheprophet]

hi

can the amd 1 ghz cpu and mother board accept pc 100 RAM. I spoke to my manufacter he said that it will, but you have to switch it at the bios. I just bought a stick of 128RAM pc 100 for £58 I hope I have not wasted my money. At the moment I have a PC 100 192 mb ram, with a spar pc 100 32mb ram left.

So what do you think?

 

[Isatheprophet]

hi

by the way it is not certain if I am up grading to a AMD cause I might have to buy more ram, and I just have not got the money for that. I might as well buy the p3 800mhz becasue it accepts pc 100 ram and just get the power supply unit.

So that is why I said p3 or amd.

 

[Leo V]

Just checked Pricewatch, decent memory is at $50 for 128MB. I'll clench my teeth and buy 512MB one of these days..

 

[*kjm]

Yes PC 100 will work in the Athlon board.

 

[Mem]

Yes you can use PC100 OR PC133 SDRAM for that board,I should know because I`m using one right now.

 

[Bignate603]

Course it can take pc100, it's standard. There were some people awhile ago who thought that athlons would ONLY accept pc100 but they were full of bull. Athlons are great, they'll take any memory you'll throw at it, except for rdram, but that's probably a good thing, lol.

 

[SuperSix]

AMD is the best bet - IF you choose the supporting components wisely. MSI K7TPro2-A, a good 300W P.S., Good CPU cooling fan, and the latest drivers and patches for the motherboard and peripherals.

*I* prefer Intel, mine runs fine, but would finally consider a SocketA TBird BECAUSE of the stunnimg quality of the MSI K7TPro2-A.

 

[chiwawa626]

tbird

 

[Isatheprophet]

hi

what do you think of a gyabyte GA7IXE motherboard are they any good? What is the difference between this and the other board I just mentioned? It says on the box, the former that it has software to over clock the cpu, so does this make it a good motherboard or not?

 

[Electric Amish]

THUNDERBIRD!!!!

amish

 

[Noriaki]

I'm pretty sure that the GA7IXE is the older AMD750 chipset...that chipset is very picky about compnents.

You want a Via KT133 and a socketA Tbird, this chipset is much less picky about RAM and things like that.