What are some advantages and disadvantages of the P4?

[CromNogger]

I hear a lot of people saying it sucks, but I know people who want to buy one too. So what's the story with it? Assuming you have no computer, which is the better path?

If I had money, I would buy:

2 x 256 DDR ram (at least)
64MB GeForce II-based video card
21" monitor of the highest quality I can find (LG, Sony, Samsung?)
60-80GB ATA100 hd, or get a nice SCSI setup

The rest wouldn't be terribly important to me, but what for the CPU and motherboard? If I had a choice I would probably go for the fastest TBird and OC it as much as I can, with the best HSF I can find, but what could you do to change my mind? What reasons would I have for getting a P4 instead?

Thanks in advance for any tips and info..

 

[IamDavid]

I've heard the P4 would be great if the software would be designed for it but as it is now, its not worth it at all..

 

[Syborg1211]

advantages: New core, ability to reach much higher speeds, quad pumped front side bus, and SSE2

disadvantages: Lack of support for SSE2 right now, right now it is slower clock for clock compared to a P3 or Tbird

So basically the P4 would kick ass with more optimizations and a higher clock speed which it is definitely able to reach. There are many other things but they all get so technical I get a headache myself trying to explain them.

 

[CromNogger]

Thanks...

So as it is now it's not a good idea to go P4 then? I don't know if it will ever be... I think Intel chose a bad time to release a cpu like the P4.

 

[Vegito]

They have 2 version of P4, the one now in this socket format and a different version thats dual enable later on the year with different pin set and mobo requirement, hopefully that newer p4 will be better..

 

[Flat]

Your best bet with the P4 is to get it from someone like Dell... you might think you could build it yourself cheaper but with the P4 from what I can tell its best to get if from an OEM, I think the 1.4 is the best value. Now... I am going against the norm here but I would go with the P4 if I were building a new system ground up and had the money, or were going to buy an OEM product (which one again I recommend with the P4). Regardless of what some people think the P4 IS the fastest thing out there, I would go for it... this is all from a current Athlon 1.1ghz owner so I am not a Intel freak.

 

[Elledan]

If you buy a P4 I hope that you don't use Photoshop, Painshop Pro and don't edit video, but only play Quake and UT and/or CS...

I've seen the benchmarks of the P4 compared to a P3 1 GHz and an AMD TBird 1.1 GHz and the P4 got slaughtered with all tests, except the 3D-benchmarks.

 

[Syborg1211]

The P4 itself is not bad, the optimizations of software is bad. There is no good time to release a totally new cpu. They released it when they could and hoped for the best. The cpu is really going to be better once more and more software companies start optimizing for the P4 which will be very soon. I think Quake3Arena has optimizations for SSE2 operations and thus the reason why people are getting some awesome framerates I believe.

 

[CromNogger]

Hmmm, that's interesting. It doesn't sound like I want one of these...

 

[han888]

advantages:
new technology


disadvantages:
expensive

 

[Syborg1211]

Sorry for posting so much, I just don't want you getting teh wrong idea. You don't necesarily want to avoid it. If you can afford it, get it since they overclock well too. There are a few pioneers here with P4s and they are getting some awesome benches such as over 10000 points in 3dmark2001 or whatever. The cpu will do all operations just fine but the cpu would kick more butt with the optimizations. Get the cpu now and you will get better/awesome results in a month or so with newer software.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< Get the cpu now and you will get better/awesome results in a month or so with newer software. >>

LOL!, SSE-2 optimized &quot;awesome&quot; results in a month or two? Try a year or two, if ever. I'm not a P4 hater but to buy one now in the hope hope that recompiled applications become abundant in 2001 is just folly.

 

[Flat]

DONT avoid it... if you can afford it go for it. DONT listen to people who have no experience with it either, my uncle does a huge amound of video editing/graphics work... and he choose the P4, it is faster than a Athlon almost all the time... end of story. Once again, I would buy a P4 system from Dell or someone comparable, you will get a very good price, smokin speed, and can get a top quality monitor&amp; speakers.

 

[IamDavid]

By the time sofware is released that optomizes the P4 there will already be a 2Ghz chip out...

 

[han888]

DONT avoid it... if you can afford it go for it. DONT listen to people who have no experience with it either,

i am agree with u flat, some people dont have a stuff but can judge it! they just see the review on the site after that they will talk aloud. for another example: voodoo5 vs geforce card

 

[Dameon]

P4 = PPro all over again.
Except now, both the planar AND the memory you buy could be orphaned.

Puhlease. Overpriced. Overhyped. Overblown sack of crap.

 

[Syborg1211]

<< By the time sofware is released that optomizes the P4 there will already be a 2Ghz chip out... >>



But then, who needs the 2ghz?

 

[TravisBickle]

I see a lot of misinformed stuff here. Jellybaby has the right idea. if you look through anandtech news you will find a link to emulators inc., amongst others, which gives an idea of the problems with the p4. the p4 FPU is crippled. it is only half as good as a t-bird's. Intel is trying to use its marketing muscle to force new programming practices on programmers to get reasonable performance. why should they be pleased to do this? they are not, because they have to hack about to circumvent basic problems with the P4.
don't expect SSE2 to be much of an influence for 18 months- and it's not a replacement for proper legacy x86 design and programmer friendliness.

don't forget that you would have to buy optimized apps all over again, which would far overreach the cost of a new processor.

 

[sandorski]

Take the P4 hype, replace P4 with k6-2 and you have the possible outcome of P4's future. Intel might be able to push SSE2 better than AMD did 3dnow, but only time will tell. Save your money, let the P4 platform mature or prove itself first.