Something different: I'm thinking of swapping my Athlon with a PIII---Advice?

[DTT]

For the last few weeks, i've had an AThlon 1.2GHz+KT7A motherboard. This combo is fast indeed (VERY fast!) BUT it has given me quite a number of problems and worries on the 'stability' and 'compatibility' aspects. Anyways, this is NO FLAME BAIT (so flamers, keep out!).

I was really contemplating on selling my T-bird 1.2GHz and ABit KT7A (no raid) setup, and getting an ASUS CUSL2 (i815) and Pentium III 1.0GHz, 133MHz FSB. Will i be losing much in terms of gaming performance? I am currently using a Hercules GF2 Ultra 64MB wth the Ahlon---will going for the 1GHz PIII+GF2 Ultra change things much, gaming-wise? I have this impression that CLOCK-FOR-CLOCK the PIII still beats the T-bird in 3D Gaming performance; but the T-bird surely beats the P4---thus CLOCK-for-CLOCK the PIII beats the P4, agreed?? (ie, assuming you can of course UNDERCLOCK a P4 to 1.0GHz)

Anyways, will there be any upgrade options with a PIII+i815 setup? I wonder if intel will further ramp up the PIII line...

Anyways, advice is needed. Should i erase this 'swap' thought from my mind, and stick to my T-bird 1.2GHz+KT7A and just try to tweak it, and/or wait for BIOS/driver fixes---or do i continue to entertain thoughts on swapping out for a PIII 1.0GHz+ i815 combo?

Thanks much.

 

[MCS]

First off : DON'T DO IT!!.

Don't give up yet! I too have an Athlon 1.2Ghz & KT7A, which runs perfectly stable and is very very fast. I swapped out a BE6-2 & P3-800(133) for it, and have never looked back. If you went to the P3 you would be going backwards, for sure. The P3, while not slow, will be slower than your 1.2Ghz, and will not have as good memory performance either. In addition to this, buying a P3-1Ghz and board now is stupid, because you leave yourself NO upgrade options at all, unless a 1.13Ghz P3 emerges. The 1Ghz is currently the fastest and I suspect the line will stop there. There has been talk of a revised core P3 which will scale to higher speeds but it will need a motherboard upgrade. Whereas your current board will likely support the new AMD Palomino chips which will be 1.5Ghz and up.

I would recommend that rather than giving up you try and solve whatever your problems are with your setup. I and many many other people are running Athlons on KT133A based boards at 100& stability, reliability and compatibility

Just because you have issues now, doesn't mean you will forever.

So - what are these problems?

 

[peemo]

Why not start by debugging your current setup. What would you do if you switched to a PIII + i815 and then had different problems?

Your current hardware is more powerful than your considered swap machine. You might not notice a big difference in games but what else are you running? I believe that there are very few apps where a PIII 1.0 GHz outperforms a T-Bird 1.2 GHz.

Post the symptoms of your instability and other hardware & driver details and see whether Anandtech can cure your problems.

Good luck.

 

[Degenerate]

i thought that the p3 tutalin is compatible wit the current 370? or am i wrong?

thats true, then, not much upgrade.

wait for newer chips and proce cuts

 

[TravisBickle]

yeah why not lose money selling a good setup in order to get an overpriced one, it's not as if you'll ever have to fiddle with a real computer...

 

[Killer Ape]

Many good points made here already. Sounds like typical teething pains to me. You're better off sticking with the system you have, in my opinion, and exterminating the bugs. May just be driver issues, need a BIOS update, swap out/swap around a piece of hardware, etc. You usually go through all these things with ANY new system.

As a gaming rig, you're better off with what you have, in my opinion (and I am by no means an AMD zealot). The GF2 Ultra paired with ANY 1 GHz level proc is going to be sweet.

I believe Intel still has plans to go to a .15 or .13 die size for the P!!!s later this year, but I still don't see them producing parts much fater than 1.4-1.5GHz tops otherwise they begin to compete with their own P4line. If they make lower clocked 100 FSB units with the smaller dies (700, 750, 800) you may get some outrageous overclocking potential, but if they stick to the higher speed 133 FSB units, then they'll probably cap out too fast to get much bang for the buck.

Stick it out with what you have. If there is continued instability then it may be a bad part somewhere and not just the particular CPU/Mobo combo you've selected.

 

[Noriaki]

<< i thought that the p3 tutalin is compatible wit the current 370? or am i wrong? >>

The .13um P3s will require VRM9 which AFAIK is not pin compatible with VRM8.4 that the current i815E boards use.

It's like PPGA vs FC-PGA, old Socket370 PGA only boards won't work with Socket370 FC-PGA. The .13um P3 is going to use a new Socket370.

 

[Olias]

Stability is largely to do with a clean solid power source especially when we're talking Athlon. Antec makes a PP303X 300W PS that Anandtech tested as the best for stability. See here... AMD Athlon Buyer's Guide - Part 4: Power Supplies. This PS is standard in their SX830 and the whole thin had for about $100.

 

[Adul]

Care to post a more detail system setup?