Help me pick CPU....

[CleanCut]

Thinking about either the P4 2.4 512 533mhz for $161.00 or the AMD XP 2500 Barton 333 for $131.00 - Seems like for the price those are pretty good bang-for-the-buck. Prices from google and newegg.

From what I read the P4 seems to outperform the AMD, at a little more of a price, but I figure I will have to buy a better hs+fan for the AMD as most people feel the OEM one is inadequate.

What's everyone opinion of these two? Or should I be looking at something else? I'm not brand loyal, just interestes in value vs dollars.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Shimmishim]

hey!

okay....

it depends what you're going to be doing mostly... you can't say the p4 is faster overall...

if you look at anand's reviews, you'll see the amd wins in some things while p4 wins in others

i believe the amd is better for office stuff but p4 is better for encoding and stuff... (like my explanation)...

so depends what you're going to do...

also, put in mind that the barton 400 fsb are being released next month as well as the new 800 mhz HT enabled p4's....

seems like the new 2.4C d1 revisions are doing killer on air...

so it all depends on what you do!

 

[CleanCut]

Thanks Shimmishim, I read that there is newer technology coming (when isn't there?), but I'm not one to spend the $$ for the latest and greatest. Plus those newer CPU's will require newer MOBO that seem to always come with bugs/issues. That's why I was concentrating on the two CPUs mentioned above. Going for that dollar vs bang thing. Once I figure which chip then I have to find a MOBO!!!

In order of use I would say: Surf, Games, MS Office.

 

[human2k]

Pentium 4 2.4 Revision "C" w/HT and 800MHZ FSB. $210 @ monarchcomputers.com.

 

[touchmyichi]

If you are on a limited budget, it is very hard to top the tbred B and nforce 2 combo. I would recommend picking up the athlon 1700/2100/2500 according to your budget, then overclock it like crazy. Pick up either an Epox, Asus, or Abit Nforce 2 board to go along with it. For such a reasonable price you get great sound, awesome networking, and rig capable of being overclocked like mad. Sounds nice doesn't it?

 

[Binox]

yup, I agree with touchmyichi, the AMD will be cheaper and will overclock way more, so in the end you paid less for a better performing system (-:

the money you save on CPU, you put on some nice DDR400 dimms to go with the nforce2, then you should be able to overclock like crazy!!! (*not speaking from experience as I own a KT133A board). I'm planning on getting that myself (-: