do u build ur own computer? check this..

[s14sr20det]

Few quick shots of my PC.

[Jesda]

Just get a Mac and call it done. Be sure to avoid the old-style iMac though.

[Fezzik]

I'd have to disagree. Ur overclocking the athlon. The p4 is overclockable too. and it would smoke the athlon. I have a athlon xp 2000 with a water cooler on it. Its overclocked ungodly. Compared it to a friends p4 his Blows mine out of the water. Look at the benchmarks on Tomshardware and everywhere else. the 2.8GhZ can overclock drastically. Some have had it to 3.2 fairly easily. But its up to him on overclocking.

[s14sr20det]

ok, hmmm a 300 dollar chip or 42 dollar chip.And 90% of cpu chips dont overclock well at all, trust me I know, Ive been into this **** since I was 15.In order to overclock a chip, the chip has to have a good stepping, but most of the chips are not that good, they just run stock and if your lucky you could add bewteen 200-400mhz.I overclocked my $42 chip 1GHz, my chip runs faster then P4 3Ghz.BTW, I had my chip up to 2.9Ghz, I reduced it to 2.6 since the temp was pretty high (55C).

[90Q45blue]

Ahem...in the P4's defense...two things:

The P4 1.8A is easily overclockable to a 2.4 with NO heating issues.

The P4 2.4B is easily overclockable to the 3.066 hyperthreading processor you talk about, again with NO heating issues.

Nick

[Fezzik]

Athlons are losing their steam. 90Q45blue said it right. Those chips are highly overclockable. The performance gains are astronimical compared to the athlon. I am not tellin the guy to buy the latest p4 chip. But get one with the hyperthreading. Its a wonderful thing. Plus the i865 chipset is actually quite nice. Almost remind me of the 440bx days. And trust me I have been doing this **** since I was 6 years old. My father helped me build my first computer.

[Demonic240]

Quit bickering ... each has to do with its Environment .. I have overclocked both Athlons and P4's and have had mixed results. I have had P4's that won't overclock period or extemely .. visa versa for the Athlon. The only definate performance changer I see is switching from Windows to Nix.

As far as gaming and onlt getting the NF chips .. thats kind of a limited mindset ... Their is a saying in the computer world; "If You want pure speed get Nvidia, if you want quality with good speed get ATI" . ATI's have a heck of alot better Image Quality. I have to run Triple 21" Monitors @ 1900 x 1440. There is a vast difference. Again personal experiences.

[s14sr20det]

OK girls, you buy a P4 chip that cost $300 and I'll get the Athlon XP chip that cost $42 which will run x10 times faster.

[AZhitman]

trust me I know, Ive been into this **** since I was 15.

:rolleyes

Don't waste your time, "girls".... Mr. Wizard here knows EVERYTHING.

[s14sr20det]

:rolleyes

Don't waste your time, "girls".... Mr. Wizard here knows EVERYTHING.

Not everything, but I know common sense.If you wanna buy a 300 dollar chip, go right ahead. I rather buy a 42 dollar chip that will run 10x faster.

[AZhitman]

I agree with the financial aspects of what you're saying.

I also know our Sys Adm is adamant about avoiding the Athlon...

I won't profess to know why, as I'm fairly computer illiterate.

[Mayhem_J30]

P4 is the better chip over the XP there shouldn't be any doubt about that, but sometimes you trade that unoticeable performance for some bargain shopping. what's up with all this overclocking stuff? that's for the people who have ANOTHER $300 or $42 (depending on rather or not you buy it from the back of a van) to spare when they melt the core. that's how i see it at least.

anyway, did he ever say what he wanted to use the machine for? gaming or just doing papers at school and DL mp3's?

[Anand]

now... there is a reason why the athelon is cheper than the p4....I don't know the setails behind it.. but i'm sure there is a good one...

[Demonic240]

now... there is a reason why the athelon is cheper than the p4....I don't know the setails behind it.. but i'm sure there is a good one...

Because American Micro Devices ... doesn't put as high of a mark-up to their PD's as Intel does. Thats one reason

[GatorS14]

hey I'm getting a system built and wanted you guys to look it over and tell me if what you think.

1.44 3.5' mitsumi floppy Dr.ECS k7VMM+ socket A DDR mainboard w/ video and AC97 sound,modem and LAN.VIA KM266 chipset 4x AGP,ultra DMA 33/66/100/133. 1 AGP4X, 2 PCI,1 CNR,2 DDR DIMM , 2 SDRAM DIMM.ATX form factor

AMD athlon Xp 2400+ socket A cpu. 266fsb,2.0 GHz

PC2100 512MB DDR DIMM for 266Mhz

MSI TV@Anywhere PCI Tv tuner w/ remote.realtime MPEG-4 encoding support.

western digital 80gig 7200 harddrive w/ 8mb buffer

artec 16x IDE DVD-ROM drive

aopen 52x24x52 cdrw drive

Aopen a0-855 107/108 key windows layout ps/2 keyboard.

MLI 432 3 piece audio system 16w/120v

optical mouse,XP professional, 2 year warrantty $943.25

I'm not a computer wiz. i know things here and there ,but if any of you could tell me if this is the system to go with i would appreciate it greatly.(price,performance,)Thank you

[s14sr20det]

Im sorry but Pentium is in NO WAY better then AMD, and thats a fact.AMD sometimes out performs Intel, and sometimes its vise versa, both chips are good.The fact of the matter is, that my $42 chip completly whoops a $350 P4 3.06GHz pentium (speed wise and performance wise).I did like 10 benchmarks and each and everyone of the benchmarks my Xp1700 had 1000 more points then the P4 3.06.I dont care if you people gonna buy an INtel or an AMD, its up to you, Im just stating the facts.

BTW: GatorS14, you can download Win XP pro online.

[GatorS14]

and it comes with

micro fin copper cpu fan for socket a

and a 600w ups surge protector

comments please!

[90Q45blue]

Ok, we have a serious problem here...well not really...but anyway:

Mr. Wizard (as AZ puts it), you state that your $42 chip is 10x faster than a P4 3.066. And you say that it is all based on facts. Your facts are the following: 1) you've benchmark tested your computer against a buddies P4 3.066 and kicked its buttocks.2) Well...that's all really.

Here's the problem: you're test was flawed. First of all, what motherboard did you have? and your friend's? was it the exact same? of course not...they have to be different chipsets. Also, what kind of RAM did you use? Speed? How much? And your buddy? What did he use? Furthermore, you need to have the EXACT same peripherals on both computers to do an accurate benchmark comparison.

Because said questions have not been answered, I motion to strike this 10x faster comment from your argument and ALL arguments. I wanna see some accurate facts to back up your position.

Nick (aka, the critic )

P.S. Gator, your systems sounds great; however, with you tuner card I assume you're gonna be watchin some serious TV on your machine. In that case don't use onboard sound (AC '97). Buy a nice sound card like a SoundBlaster Live 5.1.

[90Q45blue]

Also, I don't like ECS motherboards but that's an opinion only. I have had much better luck with Giga-byte.

Nick

[AZhitman]

Using the word "like" offers one the opportunity weasel out of a preposterous statement.

[90Q45blue]

AZ,

U talkin to me? R U talkin to me?

Heh, mine was only an opinion. I do not base my preference on any sort of fact and do not in any way wish to argue it. I just like Giga-byte MB's.

Nick (aka, the politician )

[s14sr20det]

Ok, we have a serious problem here...well not really...but anyway:

Mr. Wizard (as AZ puts it), you state that your $42 chip is 10x faster than a P4 3.066. And you say that it is all based on facts. Your facts are the following: 1) you've benchmark tested your computer against a buddies P4 3.066 and kicked its buttocks.2) Well...that's all really.

So you assume you know everything now ?? who said my buddy was involved ?? there are programs like SiSoft Sandra and tons more that bench your PC against other popular models (AMD from 1600+ to 3000 to P4 3.06), get your facts straight.

[s14sr20det]

I kind of upgraded my system in the past few days, as of now I have as follows:

Athlon XP 1700B @ 2.6GHzCorsair XMS 512MB DDR PC3200 (400MHZ)Asus A7V8X DeluxeR9700PRO

[AZhitman]

U talkin to me? R U talkin to me?

Nah - You didn't say "like".

By the way, Nick, get your facts straight, man! LOL

[90Q45blue]

Heh. Ok. Facts are straight. Even so, you ran your benchmarks against a "standard" P4 3.066. What does "standard" entail?

Nick (aka, brainfart)

[s14sr20det]

Heh. Ok. Facts are straight. Even so, you ran your benchmarks against a "standard" P4 3.066. What does "standard" entail?

Nick (aka, brainfart)

The benchmark compares systems with my motherboard and my memory but with diffrent processors inside.I can compare 5 systems at once.I did get whooped by Athlon XP3000+, but thats ok, at least I didnt spend 400 dollars on it.

[AZhitman]

So you assume you know everything now ?? get your facts straight.

See, here's a perfect example of what happens when you post bullsh!t...

I won't go into detail, but if you do it once, people remember. Then everything you say thereafter is taken with a grain of salt, and just might be brought into question.

I harbor NO ill will towards you, my brother. However, you've made your bed - Don't expect your every statement to be taken as gospel around here... at least not until your credibility heals.

Carry on.

(p.s. Sounds like a kick a$$ system - I'll hit you up for advice when I build my "dream PC" this fall).

[90Q45blue]

Hmmm...that's interesting. I'm wondering how they could put a P4 3GHz in a KMT400 chipset motherboard? Aren't these chipsets built for and tailored to the Athlon? I'd be interested to see if you put your processor in a i865 chipset MB how it would compare?

Nick

[Anand]

man... this is awesome.... people are fighting over what is better.... my PC is better... NO! mine... NO! mine... LOL

it can't get any better than this!

[s14sr20det]

One of the benchmarks I ran.