amd/intel - which will last longer?

[LegionX]

hi,
I want to upgrade soon from a 1333 athlon to either a athlonxp 2000 or intel 2200 and am wondering about the lasting power of the motherboards and technology. it looks like amd xp is at the end of its cycle and i dont know if the new hammer one wqill need a new motherboard or not (guessing it will) and not sure about the intel cpus either.
Which one will give me better options for just upgrading the cpu in the future?
i plan on buying the most recent motherboards with the 333 ddr but since i am not sure which chip i cant be more specific.
thanks in advance

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I don't think there is a definitive answer but at the moment the Northwood is the better choice IMO.

 

[sonoran]

From all outward appearances, the K7 core has been pushed about as far as it can go. Amazing that AMD got it this far, really. They must have some very talented engineers.

As for Intel, they'll be sticking with socket 478 through the Prescott line (the successor to the current Northwood). Depending on the motherboard and bios updates, you *may* be able to upgrade to any Northwood or Prescott CPU. That could potentially take you as far as 4GHz(?) or so without a MB change.

 

[sonoran]

Oh, Hammer will definitely require a new motherboard. It's got over 700 pins.

 

[gaidin123]

Intel burned early P4 adopters with socket423. If you bought one of those boards you were out of luck if you ever wanted to upgrade to any of the newer P4s.

In contrast, AMD has stuck with SocketA for the past couple years from the Athlon...700Mhz-2200+ CPUs. But as sonoran said, the Athlon XP core is hitting the end of its lifecycle. The AMD Hammer is a radical new design CPU and will very definitely require a new motherboard and a new socket. Socket A will probably be good for another half year or more but from looking at AMD's roadmap, hammer is where it's at in the future.

With Intel I'm not as clear but it seems that socket 478 will actually be around a while longer than socket 423. As for upgrades, probably by the time either a faster P4 or Athlon is too slow to be useful or is CPU limited in games, new sockets will probably be out for both AMD and Intel CPUs. It's all a matter of how long you plan on keeping your system. Also, with DDR2 and dual channel DDR for P4s on the horizon you will probably want to get a new motherboard for something besides the socket before your current one is outdated.

Gaidin

 

[CrazySaint]

gaidin123 said:
Socket A will probably be good for another half year or more but from looking at AMD's roadmap, hammer is where it's at in the future.

While that's true for performance processors, Socket A will live on in the value segment for the foreseeable future (foreseeable future ~= 1yr, I'd guess).

 

[TheCorm]

Oh, Hammer will definitely require a new motherboard. It's got over 700 pins.

I got a KT333 board in May, I take it my upgrade path will be limited to an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ or perhaps the next revision. I'm not bothered really, I guess the KT333 will be the last of the Socket A, or are they gonna have a KT333A?...I guess the Morgan based durons will go on for a while.

Now that the Celeron is being based on the Pentium 4 core....would a possible move for AMD be to have PR ratings for the Duron...ie Duron XP 1600+?

Corm

 

[MajinVegeta]

Duron is dead after this year.

 

[TheCorm]

Duron is dead after this year.

WAAAAGH!!

 

[Trevah]

I got a KT333 board in May, I take it my upgrade path will be limited to an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ or perhaps the next revision. I'm not bothered really, I guess the KT333 will be the last of the Socket A, or are they gonna have a KT333A?...I guess the Morgan based durons will go on for a while.

The next socket a board will be the kt400 which should be shipping around the middle to the end of july........

 

[Swanny]

I'd go for AMD, just because the value is better. Socket A will be used for one last core revision of the Athlon, the Barton core. After that everything will be Hammer based on socket whatever-they're-calling-it. I'm not sure how Barton will compare to Prescott in performance, but it does have SOI technology (what the new Hammers and presumably whatever Intel has coming will have). SOI (silicon on insulator) should boost performance a bit, but I'm not sure how much.

 

[Duvie]

Where in the hell is amd going to fit the barton core in between the much late t-breds of now which the first 2200+ isn't available for the public yet and an anticipated hammer release in Q1 2003??? I think you can scrap the barton core.

Get the intel...The 478 pin will be around up into the 3ghz range...

I am not an intel zealot...I was one of the first to tell ppl that back before xp was being released that it was better to get an amd cause the palomino was going to be socket a and the p4 was ready to go from socket 423 to 478....

It is about longevity....Intel's current situation is by far more secure for the time being...

 

[Acts837]

Don't laugh but I can't stand having to run a monster fan just to keep my proc cool. With that I'd stick with Intel because your question was "which will last longer" and I believe the P4 will.