Upgrading imaging system, best P4 please?

[Skypix7]

Hi, thanks for any suggestions you might have:

I've had a perfect, solid, stable Asus P4PE imaging station for 2 years now, with a P4 2.4 and 1 GB memory, but it's alas too slow now for the heavy duty digital imaging I do.

I want to max my speed without overclocking (stability is important). Lots of folks recommend these boards: 1) Intel 875PBZ

2) Intel 865PERL

3) Asus P4P800E-Deluxe

but I'm behind the times on all the P4 chatter (Prescott, Northwood, "C" model etc.). I've got a good Antec case with 6 count 'em 6 fans and I think a 400W power supply.

Going to get at least 2 GIG of RAM, but not sure what would be the best CPU. I was burned three years ago by an AMD Thunderbird and Asus A7v-133 that just constantly corrupted data and caused seeming disc errors, only it wasn't the disks, it was the stupid CPU, so I'm very happy with Intel stability, unless someone can convince me that AMD 64 is appreciably faster and as stable as an Intel setup.

Thanks for the help!

Jim

 

[JohnAn2112]

For digital imagine, I'd stick with Intel. Either one of the boards you listed are good. If you go with the Asus, you'll have the opportunity of overclocking if you happen to decide that you want to in the future. I'd say go with a 3.2 E (Prescott) since the longer pipelines will help you with the imaging software.

 

[Markfw]

Well, I don't know how they compare with this software on speed, but on everything else, the AMD's are king right now. And I don;t know about your stability problem, never heard of anything like that that wasn;t caused due to memory errors on the platform you had. And bang/buck they win now also. And they run cooler than the P4's, so you don;t need 6 case fans.......

 

[Shortass]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I don't know how they compare with this software on speed, but on everything else, the AMD's are king right now. And I don;t know about your stability problem, never heard of anything like that that wasn;t caused due to memory errors on the platform you had. And bang/buck they win now also. And they run cooler than the P4's, so you don;t need 6 case fans.......

:Q Since when did Athlons run cooler than P4s!?!? Is this new?!

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Shortass

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I don't know how they compare with this software on speed, but on everything else, the AMD's are king right now. And I don;t know about your stability problem, never heard of anything like that that wasn;t caused due to memory errors on the platform you had. And bang/buck they win now also. And they run cooler than the P4's, so you don;t need 6 case fans.......

:Q Since when did Athlons run cooler than P4s!?!? Is this new?!

Only new if you have been hiding somewhere in a corner for the last year. The Athlon64 (I hope you knew thats what I was talking about) run 5-10c cooler then the P4 at the same rated speed. The 90nm parts are even cooler. READ

 

[ALIEN3001]

Originally posted by: Shortass

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I don't know how they compare with this software on speed, but on everything else, the AMD's are king right now. And I don;t know about your stability problem, never heard of anything like that that wasn;t caused due to memory errors on the platform you had. And bang/buck they win now also. And they run cooler than the P4's, so you don;t need 6 case fans.......

:Q Since when did Athlons run cooler than P4s!?!? Is this new?!

Let's see - 115W for a 3.4GHz Pentium4 and less than 89W for Athlon64 4000+ (coming out soon), even less for their new 90nm parts (it's possible to buy them, but in limited quantities, since they've been out for like one week).
Also keep in mind - Pentium4 3.6GHz (best P4 -not EE- that's availlabe in stores) is not allways faster than Athlon64 3800+ (best Athlon64 -not FX- that's availlabe in stores) in encoding. Pentium4 is faster with DivX, Athlon64 is faster with XviD and so on.

 

[Spikesoldier]

you cant really go wrong with either amd or intel at this point in time.

 

[Skypix7]

Thank you all, mucho helpful posts. I can see by the responses that I could go probably either way...don't think memory was the issue with my Tbird before, I had top notch Crucial 2.5 sticks in there, still using them on my P4PE without a hitch.

I need to do some research on "DivX, XviD", don't now what those are.

RELATED QUESTION: when I get a new board, do I have to completely reinstall my operating system and all my programs or is there a way to get around the hardware change? It would take me weeks to reinstall everything I have and get it tweaked up right again, sure would like to avoid that.

thanks again everybody!

 

[boshuter]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I don't know how they compare with this software on speed, but on everything else, the AMD's are king right now. And I don;t know about your stability problem, never heard of anything like that that wasn;t caused due to memory errors on the platform you had. And bang/buck they win now also. And they run cooler than the P4's, so you don;t need 6 case fans.......

Wow........ took all the way to the second reply before this thread turned into yet another AMD vs Intel thread

:disgust:

 

[Shortass]

Originally posted by: boshuter

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I don't know how they compare with this software on speed, but on everything else, the AMD's are king right now. And I don;t know about your stability problem, never heard of anything like that that wasn;t caused due to memory errors on the platform you had. And bang/buck they win now also. And they run cooler than the P4's, so you don;t need 6 case fans.......

Wow........ took all the way to the second reply before this thread turned into yet another AMD vs Intel thread

:disgust:

How could you expect it not to?

Oh, and I haven't really payed any attention to A64s. I have a mobile barton and don't plan on upgrading anytime soon, so I sort of stopped paying attention. I guess things have changed in temps a lot.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Stay the hell away from a64s they are the king of ripoffs.

Just buy a good 3.2c and enjoy the performance. :thumbsup:

 

[Shortass]

Haha.

 

[whorush]

FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

oh less heat too... less power .... more stable system lower energy bill ;-)

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: whorush
FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

You guys haven't had to deal with Felix the troll queen before have you ?

OP, please listen to everybody here, and you will see that Felix is nothing but a troll.

 

[imported_goku]

This time around I will kind of have to agree with felix but not entirely. AMD 64 is not a ripoff but at the same time if I were to get an AMD 64 I would got straight to socket 939 because the other one seems like it will have a limited future. Also since you dont plan on overclocking anytime soon, you might want to get the socket 775 925x chipset despite it having slightly lower perfomance yeilds than the 875P Socket 478 because it should last longer. But right now is probably the worst time to be building a system since both of these companies might have to do drastic changes in the near future if they want to make thier platforms survive. If you want guaranteed stability and with absolutely no tweaking needed then just get the 875P socket 478 and be done with it, the processor is really up to you.

Ultimate AMD System: Socket 939 4000+ (will be out pretty soon (im patient)) not sure about boards yet.
Ultimate P4 system (would be more like a midrange though since EE sucks balls): The one in my sig! Maybe a higher overclock but thats it.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: whorush
FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

You guys haven't had to deal with Felix the troll queen before have you ?

OP, please listen to everybody here, and you will see that Felix is nothing but a troll.

Dont believe this jealous troll. I shut him up several times and he just cries like the little girl she is.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Ignore the AMD vs Intel chatter if at all possible, Skypix. I would also not advise overclocking on it unless you really know what you're doing.

AMD's worth looking at, but Intel won't do you wrong either. You'll do well with either setup as long as you pick a good board.

Try to avoid the P4 EEs and the Athlon 64 FXs. If you do nothing but digital imaging on the system, you really ought to look at dual Opterons, dual Xeons(Nocona), or if you must go single-CPU, look for the P4 560(3.6 ghz).

At least, that would be my advice.

Btw, that thunderbird machine you had probably wasn't corrupting data on your disks by way of the CPU. It was likely the southbridge on your motherboard. Goooooooo VIA!

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: whorush
FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

You guys haven't had to deal with Felix the troll queen before have you ?

OP, please listen to everybody here, and you will see that Felix is nothing but a troll.

Dont believe this jealous troll. I shut him up several times and he just cries like the little girl she is.

Felix, you know you remind me of herpes, you are a sickness, that keeps coming back......

To the OP: Athlon64 939 socket right now offers the best to anybody.

 

[FelixDeCat]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: whorush
FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

You guys haven't had to deal with Felix the troll queen before have you ?

OP, please listen to everybody here, and you will see that Felix is nothing but a troll.

Dont believe this jealous troll. I shut him up several times and he just cries like the little girl she is.

Felix, you know you remind me of herpes, you are a sickness, that keeps coming back......

To the OP: Athlon64 939 socket right now offers the best to anybody.

Heres a tissue. Grow up.

To the OP: Go Intel.

 

[sonoran]

Skypix7, two questions for you:

1) what software are you using that consumes so much time, and
2) is time = money (i.e. are you using this for doing work or play)?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: whorush
FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

You guys haven't had to deal with Felix the troll queen before have you ?

OP, please listen to everybody here, and you will see that Felix is nothing but a troll.

Dont believe this jealous troll. I shut him up several times and he just cries like the little girl she is.

Felix, you know you remind me of herpes, you are a sickness, that keeps coming back......

To the OP: Athlon64 939 socket right now offers the best to anybody.

i disagree, the OP wants stability, for stability the 754 is much better than the 939. i just got all the components for my 939 system and the damn thing won't post. if what zebo posted in one of my threads is correct (and i suspect he is) than the MSI board i have needs to be flashed in order to take the winchester core (like i have to 939 cpus a 130 nm piece (needed to flash bios) and a 90nm piece (the one that will eventually go in the system)).

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: FelixDeKat

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: whorush
FelixDeKat,

you say ahtlon 64's are the king of ripoffs???? then you say buy a P4 3.2C?????

the 3.2C is $244 on newegg. meanwhile you can pick up a 90nm athlon 64 3000 for 190 and a 3200 for 235.

both A64's overclock like crazy, stop buffer overrun viruses, super low memory latency and are 64 bit! they cost less and are great preformers, at least they are less of a ripoff than the 3.2C.

check out this article, http://www.anandtech.com/cpuch...ts/showdoc.aspx?i=2242

You guys haven't had to deal with Felix the troll queen before have you ?

OP, please listen to everybody here, and you will see that Felix is nothing but a troll.

Dont believe this jealous troll. I shut him up several times and he just cries like the little girl she is.

Felix, you know you remind me of herpes, you are a sickness, that keeps coming back......

To the OP: Athlon64 939 socket right now offers the best to anybody.

i disagree, the OP wants stability, for stability the 754 is much better than the 939. i just got all the components for my 939 system and the damn thing won't post. if what zebo posted in one of my threads is correct (and i suspect he is) than the MSI board i have needs to be flashed in order to take the winchester core (like i have to 939 cpus a 130 nm piece (needed to flash bios) and a 90nm piece (the one that will eventually go in the system)).

So you blame the fact that you bought an MSI motherboard (they are known to have problems) on AMD ? Give me a break ! It has nothing to do with 939 vs 754 vs Intel, they are all stable given a good motherboard and installation. (Including software) Its just right now, thats the best bang/buck, and Anand agrees with me there.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
So you blame the fact that you bought an MSI motherboard (they are known to have problems) on AMD ? Give me a break ! It has nothing to do with 939 vs 754 vs Intel, they are all stable given a good motherboard and installation. (Including software) Its just right now, thats the best bang/buck, and Anand agrees with me there. So are you also calling Anand a troll since he says AMD is the best bang/buck right now ?

you know it has nothing to do with that. i'm not calling anand a troll.

i remember reading felix's thread and you pretty much trolled him while trying to brag about your own system.

that's why i called you a troll.

as to the mb, none of the mb available seem very good for the 939 cpu's. and yes, i can blame amd, but that's not the point.

if there are no good mb's available yet for the 939, than the 939 does not meet the OP's criteria of stable.

 

[Markfw]

There are many good 939 chisetp motherboards. The fact you picked the worst one out there IS a problem. And if flashing the bios is all it takes, borrow a cpu from somebody and flash it, or return it. I Like ASUS myself, one had one board from them that had problems, and that was with a Pentium and an ALI chipset. The A8V should be a good board.

And to answer another un-answered question from the OP, yes, you have to re-install everything when you put in a new motherboard (unless they are exactly the same model number)

 

[Zebo]

Yes I believe I am correct. Look at MSI website for 29 bios... it updates CPU microcode..meaning winchester update. You can maybe find some local friends who are willing to flash it for you (post online maybe?), or go to a AMD reseller, or order a new bios from badflash.com.

Maybe you want to search some MSI forums someplace and ask just to be sure that's the issue?

Anyway yes, I agree, no time to buy 939, all boards have weaknesses and are very expensive compared to 754. There are some very exciting chipsets and boards comming though if you can wait about 2months.


Model Version Size Platform BIOS BIOS Date Counter

K8T Neo-FIS2R/FSR (MS-6702) v. 1.8 305 kb AMD AMI BIOS 7/29/2004
1. This is AMI BIOS release
2. This BIOS fixes the following problems of the previous version:
- Updates CPU Microcode.
- Fixes BIOS reporting incorrect CPU temperature.