new system : AMD or INTEL ?

[Rado45]

Hi !

I'm going to be upgrading my system in the future (not right now, but in a while) and I was wondering, if I was to upgrade now, with what I should go. In the past I always went with AMD (best price/performance) , but now I'm not so sure anymore.
I was thinking of the following possible setups :

i845PE motherboard
512mb DDR333
P4 2,4ghz

or,

nForce2 motherboard
2x256mb DDR400
Athlon 2400XP

The rest of the system would probably be the same in both cases (haven't figured that out yet )

I'm taking relatively low stock cpu speeds and plan to mildly overclock them (something like P4 2400 to 2600 for instance), preferably with a very silent cooler (like a Zalman). My specific question is : what would overclock better and/or what would be the faster system?

Plz comment or post your thoughts, thx

 

[Jeff7]

With the specs that you gave right there, I think that the AMD system would be ahead in performance.
Which would overclock better - depends on the individual chip. Some procs will give you a 50% overclock, others won't go much more than 5%.

 

[Rado45]

What if the chipset for the P4 system was a granite bay (or whatever the new chipset is called), would the AMD system still be faster, and if so, by how much would you say? (5% or something?).

 

[Sxotty]

My experience at the moment says they are about the same, except of course putting ddr333 with P4 is not a great idea really if you want a fast computer.

 

[LouPoir]

Well the P4 overclclocks a lot better than the XP's. The P4's runs cooler, quieter and you can overclock with the std Intel HSF.

IMHO as a P4 2.8 and XP2400 owner.

Lou

 

[Bovinicus]

I would suggest going with AMD only if you were to get the Athlon XP 2100+. It can be had for under $100. Beyond that, AMD CPUs are priced similarly to Intel's for equal performance. The 2200+ is a slightly better price than the 2.26GHz P4, but not that much better. I am guessing you could about 2.8GHz with the P4. You could probably hit about 2.2GHz with the AMD CPU. So, the performance in the end will be pretty close. Actually, the new XP 1700+ built on the .13 micron process will probably be the way to go for overclockers. Also, get some CAS2 memory, even if it is DDR333 as opposed to DDR400. More aggressive timings are usually preferrable to higher clockspeeds.

 

[Bovinicus]

If you want a silent system go for the P4, the new Athlon throughbread arent easy to cool easily.

That's just a myth. P4s generate as much heat as Athlon XPs. In fact, I believe the Thoroughbred runs cooler than P4s at equal performance levels. The only advantage the P4 has is the integrated heat spreader. Granted, this does help noticeably, but it's not a decision breaking aspect of the CPU.

 

[LouPoir]

Originally posted by: Bovinicus

If you want a silent system go for the P4, the new Athlon throughbread arent easy to cool easily.

That's just a myth. P4s generate as much heat as Athlon XPs. In fact, I believe the Thoroughbred runs cooler than P4s at equal performance levels. The only advantage the P4 has is the integrated heat spreader. Granted, this does help noticeably, but it's not a decision breaking aspect of the CPU.

Nonsense - My P4 2.8 at 3.1 runs at 39C idle with the stock Intel HSF. My XP2400 at 2500 runs at 54C idle with a high end HSF. Big difference.

Lou

 

[Davegod]

I've a 2400+ on a Taisol GCK760 and it's very quiet. 2 cheap lownoise case fans (very low noise, 2400rpm) and one 3600rpm exhaust. True Power PSU slows the PSU & intakes when temps are low (always).

Temps? Idle 41C cpu & 35C case; load 43C cpu 35/36C case. Very little noise. If you want silence then it's a lot easier to go intel, but its very easy to have a very quiet PC with any AMD unless your select fans randomly or because "delta" has a nice ring to it. Unless you're a silence fanatic, either chip will be fine. I doubt it's going to be a great idea to overclock either chip whilst trying using a Zalman.


If youre on a low budget AMD seems way to go for now, nforce 2 brings good performance & stability, not to mention optional onboard features that can save quite a lot on the end system. If money less of an issue and performance/overclockability is, intel imho best bet.