Choosing right CPU : P4 2ghz or athlonXP 1900+ ?

[memories2002]

i am choosing between the 2 cpus for my upgrade....my main problem is the heat dissipation of the AthlonXP...esp. after seeing the video of the AMD cpu smoking/burning out when the fan fails [www.tomshardware.com]...what if my fan fails !?
i cant wait 3 more months till the 0.13micron AMDs arrive down here in India...so...help me out !

 

[gunf1ghter]

I am pretty sure that the AMD chip tested by Tom's was the older original T-bird w/out the onboard thermal protection present in the newer XP chips.... the older t-bird was VERY susceptible to burn out though. My brother accidentally turned on a system (1.33gig t-bird) w/out the hsf on it and the processor burned out in just a few seconds, like a fuse.

The AMD will run hotter...which even if you don't have a fan failure could heat up the rest of your system.

Personally if I was going from scratch right now and could spring an extra $100 I would get a 533mhz FSB P4, like the new 2.26 P4.

It's a damn demon and will punt any Athlon XP off the map.

 

[Renob]

It's a damn demon and will punt any Athlon XP off the map.

Gunman you have any reviews?

 

[memories2002]

the 400mhz FSB P4s running at 2.4ghz arent here still...why are we talking abt 533mhz FSB, gunfighter !!?
is the p4 2ghz gonna be worth the extra cash..pcs are VERY expensive here...a gf2mx costs rs.4000 here....translates to almost US $82 !!

 

[gunf1ghter]

Where are you at? The 533mhz P4's have been available in the states now for 4 weeks.

 

[zzzz]

just get a 1.6A and overclock it. If you are not into overclocking, get the athlon XP.

 

[kendogg]

Your situation to me is Quiet (intel)vs Loud(amd).

I honestly believe that recent cpu releases generally perform in the same ball park. If you're the average user you're not gonna notice a significant difference in performance (intel 2ghz vs XP1900+)(the only way you'll see a differece is on benchmarks). Speaking from personal experience Ive worked on a P4 1.7ghz then upgraded to 2.2ghz but didnt notice a difference. Call me dumb if you want....

I used to have an amd 1.333 ghz box. I had a FOP 38 cooler on it. Got rid of it because it was too loud. Ive tried other (quieter) coolers but didnt quite acheive the temps I was looking for. I then build an intel P4 box. OMG soooooooooooooo quiet and cool. Intel cpus run cool with stock cooling just the way i like it, no need for intake fans or exhaust fans. As a result of a quieter pc youll notice that your mp3s sound a lot better and if you leave your computer on during the night youll still be able to get a good nites rest.

 

[WA261]

i had the choce of whatever i wanted....i went with the xp-2100

 

[gunf1ghter]

Your case looks very nice, but maybe you should also mention that you've got at least $250-$500 in case and cooling... many users don't want to spend that much for the simple task of setting up a high speed rig.

 

[JoeyJoeJoeJrShabadu]

The thermal protection on the new XPs only works with some motherboards. The Asus and MSI boards have the protection, but lots don't (my brand new Gigabyte uses the old thermal probe method). The problem of frying Athlons is not as big a problem as one might have been led to believe. If you are careful duing installation to get the fan on right you shouldn't have to worry about it at that point. As for the fan quitting: it rarely happens with new fans and if it does the heatsink should be able to keep it going for long enough for you to turn off the computer (if your comp locks up and the reset switch wont work cut the power at the powers supply FAST). The major danger comes if you transport it and the heatsink comes off without you noticing. I had an Athlon 2100+ where the heatsink wasn't put on right (be careful if you use a shim), but it didn't fry it just kept crashing.

As for choosing a CPU, go with the XP 2000+ or the P4 1.6A (then overclock), that way you won't have to spend too much.

 

[memories2002]

im in mumbai [bombay], India. here, the max i can get easily is a p4 2ghz with 512kb cache. My options are athlonxp 1800 or 1900 OR pentium4 1.8ghz with 512kb cache.
which would be a better choice, the p4 with more cache or the athlon xp will be better ?
im also stuck between a gf4 ti4200 or radeon8500 128mb cards lol...my gaming will be mostly 800x600 and i wanna keep my card for atleast 3 years. but thats another forum i guess..
decisions decisions !

 

[gsethi]

Go Intel !!!!

Save yourself some money and get the P6 1.6a (w/ 512 K Cache) and overclock it a bit. Most 1.6a will go upto 2.13 Ghz easily. Make sure that you get the one with 512k cache (northwood) version. Even retail (stock) cooling that will come with your retail box will be more than enough so that you dont have to spend extra money on that.

Get a nice motherboard though, even if you have to spend extra $50 (Rs. 2200). Get brand name like Asus or Epox or Abit. Regarding the video card, why do you want to waste that much money for a GF4 if you are going to run your games at 800x600 ? A GF3 should be sufficient for you and you can easily save ~$100 (~Rs. 5000) on that.

Since you are in India, you will have to invest some money in decent case cooling. I think that the cutoff for P4 is 66C and so your case should be at a max of around 40C. Since the room temp over there are normally around 40c in the summer, you will have to make sure that your case is running cool. Thats where Athlons are better since their cutoff is much higher (~90s, correct me someone if i am wrong here).

Also, dont skim on the Power supply, get like atleast a 400w Power supply and make sure that it is rated for atleast 28A on the 3.3v rail.

if all goes well, you will have a good decent system up and running.

oh yeah, just for your info, i have my P4 1.6a overclocked to 2.56 Ghz right now

 

[WA261]

Your case looks very nice, but maybe you should also mention that you've got at least $250-$500 in case and cooling... many users don't want to spend that much for the simple task of setting up a high speed rig.

yo......you talking to me? =P

 

[Duvie]

Get a 1.6a and oc the hell out of it....


Or if you want a choice between the ones you mentionedI would still get the p4 2.0ghz (512kb)...at stock speeds it is generally a bit faster then the xp's...

It also has still more potential to oc then the xp's....Lets figure max you can get out of 190+ is just over 2100+ levels ( a lot more cooling investment neede) while the p4 likely can oc to 115-120fsb or 2.3 to 2.4ghz and thus still will beat the 1900+ xp...Couple that with a p4s533 mobo and some good pc2700 or 3200 and you can run a 4:6 multiplier and run damn near 400mhz ddr for extreme memory bandwidth.

 

[memories2002]

does ocing the p4 1.8a or 2.0a need any hardware work like the XP for ocing ?
im stilll choosing ! aXP1800/1900 or p4 1.8/2.0 512k 400mhz fsb. , asus/gigabyte/msi mainboard/ 266mhz ddr 384mb.
and for the vid card, ill be at 800x600 mostly so im thinking more on radeon8500lines than gf4ti4200 lines [128mb].
any suggestions ?

 

[gunf1ghter]

If you decide you really want to overclock a P4 then the 1.6a is your best choice. When overclocking by FSB alone (as you MUST do with all Intel CPU's) you want the lowest possible multiplier you can get.

 

[memories2002]

but wont a 1.8 go higher than a 1.6 stock when ocing ?
im sorry im new but i dont get it.
ive taken my p3 450 to 500mhz...do it only when running games though..lol.
i still see no solution in sight. athlonxp 1900 or p4 2.0a ??????

 

[gunf1ghter]

in short, no.... the 1.8a will not go higher... let me try to explain.

the multiplier on the 1.6a is 16 (16 * 100 = 1600 mhz).
the multiplier on the 1.8a is 18 (18 * 100 = 1800 mhz).

Let's say you have both CPU's and want to shoot for the stable FSB of 133mhz.

1.6a @ 133 mhz = 2.13 gig.
1.8a @ 133 mhz = 2.39 gig.

Both CPU's contain the same core, so theoretically the SAME speeds are possible... you can see that the 2.13 gig would be much easier to achieve than 2.4 gig with the 1.8a.

Now let's say you want to go to the next "stable" FSB of 150 mhz (these are speeds that typically allow you to lock the PCI /AGP dividers to get correct ratios so that you are not running your AGP video and PCI boards out of spec.

1.6a @ 150mhz = 2.40 gig.
1.8a @ 150mhz = 2.70 gig.

Although 2.40 gig is certainly achievable, it is something of a stretch (especially depending on RAM etc) but the 2.70 gig is going to be very hard to hit, especially without very high vcore and really good cooling.... additionally, the 1.6a running at 150mhz FSB will spank the 1.8a running 133mhz (even though both are at 2.4 gig the 150fsb will run much, much faster).

So in short, if you are going to overclock the P4 get the 1.6a.

If you are not going to overclock, I still say get a P4 2.0a or 2.2a.... I feel that the Intel chipsets offer excellent stability and the cooling solution is excellent on the retail chips... with AMD I don't find the retail cooling adequate and I don't think that there is enough performance in the XP chip to make it contend well with the faster P4's.

 

[ShadowDJ]

memories - go with the radeon 8500 le and overclock it to stock or over speeds. Most games dont need 128 megs, especially in 800x600. That is for people playing 1600x1200 with AA and Anisteropic filtering, etc...

I think a good way to sum it up is:
Overclocking+silent PC= P4 Northwood
Speed at stock+need for better cooling=Athlon XP

I'd still look for a way to cook food on the Athlon XP, but it doesn't seem practical
It's all what your needs are. The AXP beats out the P4s price/performance at stock, but intel kicks it around the house at overclocking. I honestly don't care who owns the high end market, it could be Cyrix with their 15Ghz UltraGoliathForce, but that isn't practical for most people (*cough* 2.53Ghz or 2.26...). So what is intel has a stronghold on the high end? Not everone buys those, and I don't care, because it's not something inside the budget.

 

[memories2002]

[thanks to all for answering my stupid questions.]
shadowdj i need a vid card to last me 3 years.
gunf1fighter how do i lock the agp/pcis ?
and finally,
what chipset/mobos do you recommend ?
in my town [mumbai, india] i have asus, msi, dfi and gigabyte available. and of course intel! no epox.
thats the only thing left out now.
p4 1.6 512kb [i cant buy a 1.6 when a 2.0 is available!!!! lol.][okay mem, remind yourself ocing wise 1.6 is smarter choice.] 1.7...........?
266mhz DDR
sb live!
creative inspire 4.1 4400
radeon8500 128mb DDR
(no more athlonXP, no more gf4 ti4200 !)

 

[gunf1ghter]

There's no question that for an inexpensive fast solution AMD still has the crown.

Those 1.6a Northwoods running at 2.4 gig are pretty beastly though!