Tom Hardware's Power Box (AMD thermally cooled 1.6 GHz vs P4 1.5 GHz)

[Rectalfier]

Wingznut PEZ, I guess so. However, I am not willing to fork over any cash untill I see it performing better in the games and apps I use.

 

[IBMer]

Ok look at this:

Vaporchill - $650
AMD Thunderbird 1.2Ghz - $255
MSI's K7-Master S - $259
PC2100 DDR RAM 256MB - $300

That is a total of $1464 and that doesn't even include everything else.

For the P4:

P4 1.5Ghz - $589
Asus P4T - $217
PC800 256MB - $300
Case - $100 (For a good one)

So the P4 comes to - $1206

BTW the P4 can be overclocked too. Most get it to 1770 with no problem.

 

[vexter]

All p4 heads are missing the point. When u oc the p4 your upping the pci,agp bus speeds causing instability and wear on all the cards connected their. A p4 sys @2g is going to wear out your sound,vid etc. with the excessive bus speeds. thats what makes intel chips suck. And AMD builds thier chips too overclock or else the damn bridges wouldn't be right their for any joe blow to scribble on with a pencil.

 

[Wingznut]

I wonder why Tom decided to run the Atlon at 1.6ghz instead of the same speed as the P4 (1.5ghz).

With the multiplier unlocked, he could've easily compared them at the same clock speed.

 

[fkloster]

...beats me what vexter is talking about. I have been running since December @ 1800mhz WITHOUT vapochill with my FSB @120. No blue screens. No crashes. Could it be that P4's were meant to run around the 1.7 or 1.8 mark???

 

[Wingznut]

Red, since when is this forum about making sense?

 

[A2KLAU]

I want this for my B-Day pressie! I love this system! New addition to my wish list!

Albert.

 

[hifimaster]

Why dont I go down to Sear and buy one those window air conditioners they sell for $100 and stick it on the side side of my case

 

[Wingznut]

You wouldn't be the first, hifi.

 

[Dulanic]

You guys are nuts, the point of this article was to make the BEST box he could. Then he compared it to the best NORMAL systems you can get for reference.

 

[Remnant2]

nod @ Dulanic.

Guys, the point wasn't to compare an OC'd Athlon to a P4 and pronounce "The Athlon wins". That would be just stupid.

The point is to show how far he was able to push his Athlon when vapor-chilled. And you know that, if he just posted the benchmarked of it without any other scores, we would all be disappointed -- we WANT to know how it compares to other systems.

I think his review was pretty damn valid, as long as you don't treat it as a "head to head" event.

 

[Quad]

wait a sec guys, lemme get something straight. Did he use a tbird 1.2 ghz oc'ed to 1.6? or did he have a NEW special athlon at 1.6 ghz?

if he oc'ed a 1.2, wtf was his multiplier/fsb at?

 

[MadRat]

"PC800 256MB - $300"
-IBMer

*cough* bullsh... *cough*

Try $377+shipping as a start. Then we could throw PC133 memory ($60 256mb) into the Thunderbird's setup rather than use a DDR-based board. You and fkloster are being so anal about Intel its not even comedic anymore, more like pathetic.

 

[Dulanic]

He used 12x133 most likely.

 

[KarsinTheHutt]

<<<<You and fkloster are being so anal about Intel its not even comedic anymore, more like pathetic>>>>

There was this comic posted to the editorial section of my University's newspaper:

2 generic looking students are standing around.

Student 1: I agree with you.

Student 2: I agree with you.

Caption: Are we happy?

 

[NFS4]

1) I think the point of the article was to show the performance of a 1.6GHz Palomino
2) Price/Performance wise, the Pentium 4 is a DISASTER
3) Add in the still high price of RDRAM and the dirt cheap price of PC133 SDRAM and it makes the P4 look even worse
4) If Tom had clocked the Thunderbird at 1.5GHz, it wouldn't have looked any better for the Pentium 4

Lastly, no need for you P4 heads to try to stick up for your baby b/c it's rather pointless. You're sticking up for a system that is way overpriced and doesn't perform dollar for dollar, and MHz for MHz as well as an Athlon.

The performance numbers speak for themselves. The P4 at ANY speed is a complete waste of money at this time IMHO. When the new core comes out, that may change...but for now, it's for people who just feel like blowing money on the latest and greatest (well, in their eyes)

Athlon 1.2GHz (which can be o/c to 1.4GHz pluss with decent cooling) - $255
Athlon 1.1GHz (actually a better buy, and can overclock very well) - $204
MSI K7T Turbo - $123
256MB Crucial CAS2 PC133 - $91 + free shipping
Grand Total - $469 ($418)


Pentium 4 1.5GHz - $586
Gigabyte GA-8TX (cheapest P4 mainboard with o/c options) - $224
256MB PC800 RDRAM - $377
Grand Total - $1187

YOU DO THE MATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Athlon 1.2GHz system costs 40% of what the P4 1.5GHz system costs.

 

[Pyro]

IBMer, even if it was like you said, it, remember that the many advantages of the MSI board, including the onboard SCSI. If you factor that in, the Athlon will probably almost the same price, and as the benchies show it, it'll mop the flow with any p4. Just a taste of things to come. If intel doesnt get off their fat arse and do something they will continue to lose to AMD.

 

[Smbu]

His Power Box pretty much destroys the P4 in most of the benchmarks.

 

[Dexion]

nod @ NSF4

Its funny how these guys get all riled up. Its a pure overclocking article that focused on the perfection of the Vapochill product with little to prove except as a viable superior cooling alternative.

Most of us probably won't even purchase a Vapochill to even get close to this type of performance. Tom used the Tbird only because of its affordability and great performance to cover up the high Vapochill price. However, it performed so well that it might make new P4 buyers think twice about their future purchase.

Its definately an attractive option for people willing to pay for a Top Notch system and notibly exposes the weaknesses of the P4.

 

[Dunbar]

This reminds of the never ending argument between (V8) Mustang and Camaro owners. The title of king has changed hands many times over the years but right now the Camaro Z28 just plain goes faster for less money.

 

[NFS4]

<< The title of king has changed hands many times over the years but right now the Camaro Z28 just plain goes faster for less money. >>


And the Camaro won't be produced after the '02 model year...I think I see a trend here

 

[formulav8]

NSF4 is right. The P4 blows. Maybe it will look better in the future. I liked Toms review because it shows how my 1.6ghz T-Bird will perform. Also shows how bad the performance of the P4 is. Intel simply made this core for mhz and not performance. They are hoping to fool the public into buying. Which they probably will. I hope it backfires on them. They deserve it.

 

[fishingeek]

I guess Dulanic is the only other person to read the intro. The point of the article is to show what his dream machine can do against other Stock systems. I feel sorry for the P4ers who feel they need to justify their purchase anytime an article comes out and shows how AMD is a better bang for the buck. They are so caught up in defending the P4 that they totaly miss the point.

 

[BFG10K]

I agree with NFS4. I'm an Intel fan but there's no denying that AMD currently spanks Intel in terms of price/performance. Plus it's widely known that the Athlon's floating point unit is superior to the Pentium 3's and much superior to the Pentium 4's.

 

[NFS4]

To tell you the truth, you could probably throw in dual PIII 1GHz CPU's and a nice VIA Apollo Pro 133A or Apollo Pro 266 DDR mainboard WITH memory and STILL come out cheaper than the 1.5GHz P4 system I quoted above.

Hmmm, let's exercise that while I'm at it

Dual PIII 1GHz CPU's - $256 x 2 = $512 (still cheaper than a P4 1.5GHz!!!!:Q)
MicroStar 694D Pro (VIA Apollo Pro 133A) - $109
or
Iwill DVD266-R (VIA Apollo Pro 266) - no pricing yet
256MB Crucial CAS2 PC133 - $91
256MB Crucial PC1600 - $95
256MB Generic PC2100 - $279

So let's total things up here:

$712/$607*/$791* (w/694D Pro and 256MB PC133) / (w/256MB PC1600) / (w/256MB PC2100)

NOTE: &quot;*&quot; denotes that pricing not available at this time for Iwill mainboard...but Lord knows that it won't cost $400 ($400 being the difference between a dual PIII 1GHz system with 256MB PC2100 and a P4 1.5GHz)