Help me save a friend!

[tjdavis1138]

A buddy of mine just bought a K6-2 500 and Tyan motherboard for $160 from a local retailer. I almost crapped when he told me and started telling him he could have gotten a Duron and MSI motherboard for the same price.

The local dealer has him convinced that this setup will blow his Celeron 333 and Abit BH-6 motherboard away in performance?? Especially in UT and Q3.

Help, I've tried to tell him that he got screwed, but he's not listening very well.

Thought I would start a thread and then print it out for him to read.

Thanks,

Tom

 

[AndyHui]

Yup....he's been ripped off. While the K6-2 500MHz will outperform his older 333MHz processor, ANYTHING new these days will outperform his old setup. A Duron on an MSI board would absolutely blow the K6-2 500 out of the water at the same price.

 

[Budman]

Why didnt he use the money to put a 600 celeron and overclock it to 900 in his current BH6 ?

I consider his move a DOWNGRADE.

 

[John]

I wouldn't say he was "ripped off", but he was misinformed by the sales associate. He should spend a few more dollars and get a nice Duron 700 & motherboard combo. He could have also purchased a P3 700 to run in his BH6 since that is still a damn fine motherboard.

 

[tjdavis1138]

I just installed an MSI Pro2a and Thunderbird 1100 in my rig yesterday. He's coming over tomorrow to check it out. Maybe I'll be able to talk some sense into him then.

Thanks guys,

 

[Loggerman]

Now I feel ripped off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got the same setup couple a years ago.Had trouble with my old FIC m/b and IRQ's ,unable to asign IRQ's so that they weren't sharing.That was the main reason for the Tyan m/b.

 

[Sunny129]

then again, a couple of years ago you didnt have the other option of getting a Duron 600 or 700 and MSI mobo for the same price. i dont think Durons existed at such speeds, if at all, a couple of years ago. so dont feel so bad.

 

[mindiris]

The local retailer is either crooked or clueless.

Listen Mr. Buddy ( ):

Performance:
Your Celeron would not be much slower than the K6-2 500 MHz. MHz != higher speed. Architecually, the K6-2 does have a very good branch predictor, but the rest of the processor for things like games (FPU intensive games) would likely be as fast or faster in that Celeron 333MHz you previously had in terms of Real World Performance (TM). Do NOT mistake an AMD K6-X with an AMD Athlon processor. They are entirely different beasts.

Price:
$160 bucks?!? I built a system over a year ago using a K6-2, 350MHz processor for less than that! With over a year of progress, you paid far too much. At worst now, I'd estimate it should have cost $120 *maximum* WITH TAX. For 160 bucks, one could do far better. Go to price watch or something. Have fun slapping your forehead!

Off the top: Motherboard Combos: Motherboard with Duron 700MHz w/HSF. $131. Bingo. Factor in $30-40 for tax, and outragously high shipping and handling, and you have a much, much, MUCH faster system for about same price.

tjdavis1138, good enough?

 

[tjdavis1138]

Good enough!! I talked to him this morning and he assures me that this new setup is 2-3x as fast as his celeron 333Mhz.

He has been playing Age of Empires II and says that the old system wouldn't run it without stuttering badly. He has 128MB ram, ATI Rage Pro AGP card. According to him the K6-2 500 will play it at 1024x768 very smoothly. I think I'm going to shake my head and smile the next he says anything.

 

[Noriaki]

Well AOE2 is a bad example....

The K6-2 has double the L1 cache of a Celeron, an excellent branch predictor and 100Mhz Memory (the celly only has 66Mhz), all of this makes it an excellent chip at Integer apps.

But the Celeron absolutely dominates it when it comes to FPU performance. Try out Quake3 or UT or a game like that and he'll be hurting...

 

[backWERD]

If your friend was going to go with AMD he should have went with newer technology amd parts not older. Furthermore he could have spent alot less and just upgraded his processor on his old board and seen the same results that his is seeing with his new board and k6-2.

 

[kd7fhd]

Sounds like that salesman gets a commission!

 

[randomlinh]

tell him to return it quick, and just pop in a new processor (would probably be cheaper). Or, like you said, the duron method works too.

 

[chansen]

It's always sad to see a friend get taken...

 

[nortexoid]

mindiris, u'd think so, but not the case...the k6-2 500 sells for teh same price as a duron 700...because people that are willing to upgrade their semi-obsolete socket 7 mobos are forced to pay the premium on older/rarer/no longer manufactured technology...look at the price difference between pc133 and 72-pin edo....HUGE

anwyay, your friend was ripped off...the celeron 333 will perform nearly faster in every single benchmark/real world app than the k6-2 500 will...the core is simply garbage...i noticed my k6-2 450 to be slower than people's lower clocked celeron A's...

i agree w/ upgrading the chip and not the mobo....throw in a faster clocked celery for less money and higher performance.

or upgrade the mobo and cpu to a duron, kt133

 

[Wallysaurus]

Just upgrade all three of my kid's BH6 based computers from PII 333's to PIII 800's for just a little more than what he spent.

 

[johneetrash]

dang... that sucks for that guy

 

[Sugadaddy]

So he upgraded is Slot-1 motherboard with a... Socket-7 mobo. That has to be the worst upgrade I've ever heard of. (if you can actually call it an upgrade) As for the cpu, it'll be a little faster than his Celeron 333, but never twice as fast like he said. Not to mention that he's even more screwed than he was before if he wants to change his cpu because socket-7 is older than my grandma.

Option #1: He could of kept the same mobo (way better than a Socket-7 one) and switched for a p3 700. Same price and miles ahead of a k6-2 in terms of performance.

Option #2: Get a socket-A mobo and a cheap Duron (~700mhz). This would be better because he could overclock it and also better for the future. This solution would also be way ahead of what he bought.


I hope you convince him, because I hate it when dumb salesmen screw people that don't know alot about comps.

 

[tjdavis1138]

I'm still working on him. The really sad part is the guy who sold this to him owns the business. Scary hugh?

I told him what I planned on doing a few weeks ago. As I said earlier I just upgraded to a Thunderbird and it rocks!! I begged him to get his money back and buy a mb and Duron. He needed another mb and cpu because he was wanting to build his son a computer of his own.

I think I am done talking to him about this. At this point I think he's embarrased and just trying to hide it. Oh well, I tried.

Thanks for all the help guys!

I'm off to enjoy my Thunderbird 1100MHZ!!

p.s. I never thought I would ever own a processor that is clocked over a gig. Amazing times we live in.