ATHLON XP 1800+ OR P4 1.6 - ADVICE NEEDED

[jbrigden]

I'm going to build myself a cheap PC, and I'm either going to buy an Athlon XP 1800+ or a P4 1.6 CPU. I've always been partial to Intel, but after seeing the performance benchmarks for the Athlon XP 1800+, I'm starting to reconsider.

If I were to buy the Intel CPU, I would go with a Microstar SIS 645 Ultra mobo, and if I were to buy the AMD CPU, I would go with an ECS K7S5A SiS735. Both of these mobos are cheap and offer excellent performance/value.

What do you guys think? Which system would offer the best overall performance and reliability? I know many people out there are biased towards one manufacturer or the other, but if you guys could offer constructive and informative opinions, I would be most grateful.

Cheers.

 

[jbrigden]

I should also mention I'm considering buying a Microstar K7T266Pro2 Via KT266A for the AMD.

 

[rogue1979]

Well, if you go the AMD route I would suggest the 761 chipset, good performance, extremely stable and compatible, awesome overclocking. The XP 1800 will easily hit 1650-1700MHz. It's not cheap, but for the P4 I would suggest the Abit TH7 II. If you get the Northwood 1.6 cpu it will easily hit a 133MHz fsb for 2.12GHz and the RDRAM should make 533MHz where it actually surpasses DDR memory performance. Overclocked these set ups are roughly equal in performance, at stock the Athlon XP will mop up the P4 by a large margin.

 

[jbrigden]

Thanks for the advice, but I'm not planning to overclock - strictly stock. Also, those mobos are out of my budget and cost twice what I'm considering. I really trying to go bare-bones here.

 

[BadThad]

I've been debating Intel vs AMD myself for a new system. I was all ready to go AMD until the 1.6 GHz northwood came out. This cpu is essentially the 2.2 GHz "dumbed down" by intel. I've changed plans and I'm going with the northwood, but I plan on overclocking. If you're not into overclocking, AMD, IMO, is your best bang for the buck no doubt. From what I've read so far, this is a EASY overclock even with the intel stock h/s fan. Just set the bus to 133 and go with it.

 

[Duvie]

Don't mean to burst your bubble and I am certainly not an intel zealot as I own amd but plan on upgrading to a northwod for reasons mentioned above, but!!!!

A p4 1.6 non northwood cant beat an amd athlon tbird 1333mhz on majority of benchmarks....The athlon xp 1800+ wins a large amount against the p4 2.oghz (willamette edition)...I think this would be a not very wise move for performance...


Get the northwood oc it a bit and you could get to 1.9-2.0 ghz and that would be better then the 1800+ of the amd....

As for stability I get both of them to be stable so it isn't even a factor to me...so I am pretty un-biased...

 

[Ogo]

A nice thing to do would be to get the 1800+ and pair it up with the cheap and very nice EPoX 8KHA+.. you can find it for around 100$

Edit: the MSI board is somewhat slower in 3d gaming performance.

 

[RADON]

I'd like to add:

I've owned both AMD XP 1900 with MSI K7T266 Pro2 and an Intel P4 1.8 then 2.0A with Abit BD7-Raid.
I also have Geforce 3 Ti 500 and run WinXP (system rig linked below).

I can say from my experience that I was never so frustrated with my computer than when I
had my AMD system. I honestly liked the chip, but the via chipset wasn't stable for me (constant blue screens).
With the P4 and Intel 845D chipset, I have had no bluescreens at all (been running 2 months now).
Maybe the AMD 761 chipset is better than the VIA, I can't say.

The P4 package with heat spreader is also more robust than the AMD chip (don't have to worry about cracking core)
and the built in thermal diode on the P4 is handy.

My $.02

 

[rogue1979]

Well, if budget is the priority, then get the ECS K7S5A and the XP 1700. Get the latest bios and set the fsb speed to 138MHz. You save $22 and get a little extra performance out of your memory without any core voltage, multipier, or extra cooling equipment. You pci/agp bus will still be very close to stock.

 

[rogue1979]

I know you said no overclocking, but the value of this is hard to ignore. Get the Celeron 1.0a (Tualeron) for $83 shipped and an ECS P6S5AT for $55 shipped, total $138. It supports both SDR and DDR memory. A simple vid-pin mod (wrapping a copper wire around 2 pins) sets the v-core from 1.475v to 1.675v. Put the fsb on 133 and you have a instant 1333MHz, no problems, no heat. The cpu will run at least 1400MHz, so if there is a 140MHz fsb speed on this board you will be able to run that too.

 

[kabir2]

No doubt an Athlon. They will dollar for dollar easily outclock a pentium chip. Ram's cheaper, motherboards are generally cheaper, and so are power supplies (some of them at least). It's a much better buy in the end. If you're going major budget, go with the ECS K7S5A or a Shuttle AK31 Rev. 3. Somewhat expensive, get an Epox 8KHA+

 

[MoFunk]

I have an XP 1600 @1544 at home and an Intel P4 1.8 at work that is about 2 days old. Let me tell you, my XP at home is everybit as fast! I am going to run some Sandra benchmarks on my intel tomorrow just to see. But I am running Seti on both and my rig at home gets an average of 4hrs per work unit and the intel gets an average of 5 hrs per work unit! But I do have 512 of ram at home and 256 at work.

 

[scoobydooby]

I would say go for AMD but it can be a tough decision. You definately get more bang for buck with the non overclocked XP than with a P4. But as someone stated you may run into stability problems. Don't be scared off by one person saying they had troubles with their AMD sytem though. Personally I have a 1700+ with a MSI pro2 and it's extremely stable.


<< the MSI board is somewhat slower in 3d gaming performance. >>



That's a fairly ridiculous thing to say. There's no way you would be able to tell the difference. It's maybe 3 fps in quake3 at 640x480. That would be a stupid reason to not buy the MSI.
Scoob

 

[Guy77Malette]

I would Go for 1800+ It Better and more affordable

 

[esc]

since you want cheap and fast, i suggest you tone down the 1800 to a 1700. there's not much of a difference. it's only like 60mhz apart in terms of clock speed and the 1700 is far cheaper.

 

[Siddhartha]

I am using the Microstar K7T266Pro2 Via KT266A board right now. It was very easy to setup and has been very stable. I have not overclocked this system.
My recommendations for a stable system:
1. Properly install the heatsink\fan before running your system.
2. Do not work on your system with the powercord plugged in.
3. Use an AMD approved powersupply.
4. After you have the OS running, install the most up to date 4 in 1 drivers.

Randolph

 

[Uclagamer_99]

if you don't plan on overclocking, you should go with amd...the intels don't start getting better than the amds till you start overclocking

 

[MoFunk]

Intel 1.8 with 256mb ram on an MSI board

CPU
3498 MIPS
941/2203 MFLOPS

Memory
966 MB/s
969 MB/s

XP1600@1544 with 512 ram on Epox 8K7A

CPU
4103 MIPS
2030 MFLOPS

Memory
762 MB/s
841 MB/s

So my little AMD keeps up quite well!

 

[o1die]

If you live near Fry's electronics, they have the xp 1800 and K7S5A combo for $189 this weekend (in Austin TX area). Otherwise, check out newegg. They have a refurbished Epox 8KHA+ for only $69 with free shipping. I use the shuttle ak31a, also a low cost mobo.

 

[MoFunk]

<< If you live near Fry's electronics, they have the xp 1800 and K7S5A combo for $189 this weekend (in Austin TX area). Otherwise, check out newegg. They have a refurbished Epox 8KHA+ for only $69 with free shipping. I use the shuttle ak31a, also a low cost mobo. >>



They also have an 8k7a for $75 new if you don't like the idea of refurb.

 

[ugh]

<< a refurbished Epox 8KHA+ for only $69 with free shipping. I use the shuttle ak31a, also a low cost mobo. >>


Curious, what do they do to refurbish the mobo?

 

[WageSlave]

Well, if budget is the priority, then get the ECS K7S5A and the XP 1700.


I couldnt recommend that more... I just ordered that combo from newegg for a total of 200.96$ shipped. Get the retail version it is only about 8$ more and very much worth it, especially if you are not overclocking. Also, I strongly suggest you get a shim, as these newer processors are easy to crack when installing the heatsink. I found a really great deal on a NON conductive one, and just got it in the mail today... I am pleased.. here is a link to my thread on it.

5.49$ SHIPPED Non conductive Athlon XP shim


Good luck! If you are not overclocking definatley go AMD.....