Should I stay P3 or go P4?

[ron2368]

I currently have a p3 800eb with a gigabyte board( via 133) and I wanted to replace it with an intel 815 board. I thought that would let me use the gigabyte mb in a backup computer( it has a 500 celeron with a crummy board, I would swap boards) and allow me to get aP3 1 g in a month or so. But I was thinking that for the price of the p3 board and cpu I could put in an extra 45$ and go with a p4 board, 1.5 cpu and still use my pc133 sdram. Does this make any sense?

Also in checking out the P4 board they say it needs an atx power supply with a 4 pin 12v power connector. Are these the same as the 4 pin connectors that power the drives? Do you need to have one available/ extra for the motherboard?

I have been trying to learn up on all this and I am sort of at a stall now. Some say using a p4 with sdram is nuts, but I want to upgrade and not have to shell out another 150+ for memory. Any advice appreciated and thanks for reading.

RC

 

[Ionizer86]

OMG!!! Do NOT go out and shell all that good green for a P4 1.5 or a P4 SDRAM board!

A P4 1.5 on SDRAM would perform only about as well as a P3 1.0 on i815, and you'd be paying so much more.

If you want something new to mess with, go get an Athlon XP 1700+ or so ($120, very inexpensive) and a mobo that can take SDRAM and DDR, so that you can move to DDR when ready. Two boards that take both kinds of ram for the Athlon XP are the ECS K7S5A and the Asus A7A266-E. The ECS K7S5A can be had for ~$60.

 

[aa_koch]

I'm not very familiar with P4 CPUs (I prefer AMD... ), but P4's and SDRAM are definitely not a good value for their money. Also, I read @ Tom's Hardware that Intel is planning on releasing yet another version of the P4 in the next few months, which would mean that you'd have to replace your motherboard again to take advantage of its features. That alone should probably be reason enough to either stick with what you've got for a few more months, or if you must upgrade now you may want to consider replacing your Intel setup with one from AMD.

Read this for a more detailed explanation:
Investment Safety @ Tom's Hardware

Hope this helps.

 

[Boonesmi]

a p4 with sdram is wouldn't be an upgrade from your current 800mhz p3

but to answer your question about power supply.... "no" its a different type connector then what plugs into hard drives/etc

 

[Ionizer86]

Also, I read @ Tom's Hardware that Intel is planning on releasing yet another version of the P4 in the next few months

If I remember correctly, Intel is going to implement a 133mhz bus (533qdr) and they're going to allow PC1066 RDRAM support in the i850 chipset to go along with the bus increase. OTOH, with a good amd mobo that has dividers, you can tweak the mobo to work well at 166mhz fsb, so you'll be quite futureproof (up to the hammar processor).

 

[Strawberrymom]

if you go P4 get a decent motherboard.

right now if you want the best bang for buck until you can get more

Gigabyte 8IRXP and a 2.0 northwood run you about 575.00 for the combo and add 80.00 for 256 DDR

dont expect any support from gigabyte in regards to their bios settings though.

but this combo will last you until you can get more money.

and all you need is a p4 compliant atx powersupply with the square 4 pin adapter

 

[Ionizer86]

Gigabyte 8IRXP and a 2.0 northwood run you about 575.00 for the combo and add 80.00 for 256 DDR

EPoX 8KHA+ and an Athlon XP 1700+ run you about $200, and add 80.00 for 256 DDR.

My point is that you can save so much more money by buying an AMD system, which can be OCed to 2000+ (but the Northwood is overclockable as well). If you truly want all the stuff the Gigabyte has, the Dragon + also comes with the same sound, some lan, an overclocking bios, etc for $50 more than an 8KHA+. In addition, running the P4 2.A chip on a GA 8IRXP will knock off about ~200mhz of performance compared to the i850 systems they bench, so an Athlon XP 1700+ could perform just about as well for much less $$$.

 

[Strawberrymom]

and im stating the stability is better with a P4 and you cant toast a P4 like you can AMD.

 

[Ionizer86]

and im stating the stability is better with a P4 and you cant toast a P4 like you can AMD.

IMHO, paying $575 instead of $250 for "stability" isn't a very good idea. If one burns an Athlon XP CPU, one goes out and buys another. Add $120 to $250, and that's only $370, still cheaper than $575. Heck, why not burn one more? $ 490? STILL cheaper than the GA P4 Titan/ P4 2.A combo.

Stability? Switch the Soyo Dragon+ for the Asus A7V266-E and you'll be fine. Then add $20 more for a network card. That's $ 270. Burn two CPU's, that's $ 510. The AMD system is simply so much cheaper. Need USB 2.0? Add a USB 2.0 card $50, that's $560. STILL cheaper

ron2368, the point is that if you want to upgrade, the AMD system would be the way to go, because you would be saving yourself so much hard-earned green, and your system would be just as fast

 

[Ionizer86]

BTW, only idiots can burn or crush the core. When I was installing my HSF, I was so frieking worried about crushing the core. The clip simply wouldn't move down. I kept moving the clip down slowly, millimeter by millimeter, begging that my tiny core would survive...and survive it did Later, my mobo wasn't powering my heatsink's fan. I was begging that the CPU would survive, and that it wouldn't burn up. And survive it did

AMD CPUs are nowhere near as fragile as people make them out to be

 

[han888]

the only negative thing about amd cpu is easy to burn and heat problem, i have a p3 before and never burn it even i put the heatsink not properly, actually i just burn my amd xp 1800 because of that... cheersss

 

[2cool4u]

go XP!!

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

but to answer your question about power supply.... "no" its a different type connector then what plugs into hard drives/etc

Except in the case of ASUS P4 mobos' starting with the P4B. They have a standard molex on board in addition to the square "aux12v" connector.

 

[Carrot44]

I would vote for a stable AMD Board and a XP 1700 or 1800 Not bad on the price. Mine is very stable and I don't notice any difference between my system and the P4's at work.

 

[PUNKtotalled]

"IMHO, paying $575 instead of $250 for "stability" isn't a very good idea. If one burns an Athlon XP CPU, one goes out and buys another. Add $120 to $250, and that's only $370, still cheaper than $575. Heck, why not burn one more? $ 490? STILL cheaper than the GA P4 Titan/ P4 2.A combo."

Eheheh, well done ionizer!

 

[PUNKtotalled]

MSI K7T-Turbo2+AlphaPAL6035MUC+whatever AMD cpu you want=very stable system (and very cheap)

 

[Danella]

Frying AMD CPU's requires two components.

One, serious overwork of the CPU, and second, the type of HSF.

There are recommended HSF's for any given AMD CPU, but why stick with the acceptable level?? I don't have that fast of a CPU, only 1GHz, which is running at 1057 Mhz. Even though this heat sink fan is not yet aproved by AMD, I read about it's perfomance from users, as well as it's spec sheets. I installed a Thermaltake Volcano7, a massive heat sink, with an 80mm variable speed fan. Wuite, and pumps mega air through the HS. Doing graphics, programming, and driving cars, (and one of the hottest points I've been able to get it is defragmenting a large drive), I have managed to get my CPU up to 41 degrees C. My wifes athlon, with the stock retail fan runs at temps up to 51.

Also, many of the motherboards are now supporting auto shutdown features if your CPU reaches a given temp, to avoid the inevitable burnout. You might loose a little work, (but if you save your work regularily, it shoud be minimal), but you won't loose that CPU.

AMD's don't burn out just because, .... they burn out because they get hot. If your running a 1Ghz, get a cooler designed for a 1.9+ Ghz. You cannot overcool a CPU, you can only overheat it. Some sites have talked aout water cooling their AMD, and one man ran it at 32 degrees F, yes, just at freezing temps. Not only will they not burn out, but the cooler you keep it, the longer it will last. CPU lifespan is a ratio of heat/time, so preserve your investment, have a long lasting, cooler CPU, and better performance than a P4, go AMD all the way!!!!!!

 

[Boonesmi]

im always hearing people say pent3/4 are more stable then athlons..... im not saying pent3/4 arent stable, but athlons are just as stable (if set up correctly, and if using a decent motherboard)


all i use are athlon/duron pc's, 6 of them running right now. every one of them is totally stable (havent crashed or needed to be rebooted in months) well actually i had to reboot this one the other day cause i installed a new sound card

another thing use simple common sense and you dont toast either p3/p4/duron/tbird/athlonxp... i mean gezzz!!! how often does the hsf just fall off???

 

[PUNKtotalled]

AMD's are stable.

 

[WhiteWizard]

I agree that a P4 with SDR is a dog, don't go there without RDRAM.
Stability is not so much processor based, Athlons and P4s are equally stable, but AMD proccessors have stricts temperature margins, and P4 probably not. While AMD continues to sell a lot of nanotransistors in a 0.18 micron process, the heat is going to be an issue, either they simplifies the processor or they move to a 0.13 micron process as Intel did. If they make it simple, it aint gonna win no bench, heheheh.
So, if you fix the temp. issue, with a good and expensive processor cooler, and probably at least a case fan (wicht the P4 also needs if you want all your components to last), sell your P3 and go with AMD, you'll be amazed.