Objective view of the new P4

[SammyBoy]

Okay, I hope that people can agree that THG did a very good job of shining the best light possible on the P4. There are some aspects of the new chip that need work, but it has always been know that Intel was a forward-looking company when if comes to thier new chips (MMX, SSE, and others, I'm sure). Even now, with strong competition from AMD, Intel isn't fazzed and is very willing to come up with something that will perform better as time goes on. When it comes to the new instruction set, I remember that it took awhile for P2 and P3 instruction sets to make it to the market, but as can be seen, some tweaks by Intel and a few other improvements and design changes within the software companies allowed for a great improvement of overall speed for a P2 and P3 system. Also, when Intel gives a license to AMD to allow the use of MMX, SSE, or SSE2, that forces the whole market to accept the new codes, and I wouldn't be surprised if there was either an initial cash investment by AMD to get the licence, or that there is some kind of royalty system that Intel gets something out of the deal. And also, since Intel developed the instruction codes, it can be assumed that their CPUs are more efficent than the AMD ones at processing those instructions.
Remember, as the learned people in the technology world, we are a minority. When people want to buy a new system, they go to Best Buy or Circuit City and buy a pre-built system that is within the price range they want. With the price drops by Intel, I think that was the most important thing that they could do to regain lost market share in the pre-built system market (aka, the mass market). I myself am still an AMD fan, mostly because I find the cheaper price to be the biggest draw, and the wonderful overclocking ability, as well as the general need for a solid knowledge of system building and a desire to want to tweak and play all combine to make the AMD my chip of choice. Some like to setup and forget, and Intel is the perfect system for that. I have a friend who has an AMD system that took five months for him to tweak to perfection, and he still loves it, and I love the need to tweak. I just can't keep still when on the computer. It's like thirty and forty years ago with the hot rods... guys would spend hours tweaking a working car just to get that extra horsepower or that perfect roar from the pipes. Hours were wasted, as most people would be concerned, but they kept at it, and loved doing it. I consider myself to be the same, and that is why an AMD is the way to go for me, but if Intel changes that picture, I won't hesitate to go for it. I have no brand loyalty, I just have a loyalty to myself to make my computer the way I want it. Thank you for reading, I'd love to hear what everyone else has to say.

-SammyBoy

 

[Guest]

I agree with what you are saying. I have also no loyalty to any flagship. I build my own systems and love tweaking them. I was a heavy user of P3 Systems. Now I own AMD ThunderBird 900 MHZ overclocked to 1008 MHZ. Just due the fact that AMD is better overclocked I went for it. But I also need to add that my P3 went very good from 550 to 650 without any problems and generated less heat than the AMD. I find AMD processors to have a problem from heat generated, and thus need extremely strong cooling. So when you add all the cooling systems to your system, the cost can go up quite a bit.

With jumper-less motherboard, like Abit's, I believe that even P4 will be able to overclock it. I will be waiting to see the OEM prices for it, along with the motherboard and memory and if it will remain like THC says, then I for one will also go for it.

 

[jlbigguy]

I have four PC's at home. Three are Intel, and the latest is AMD. I purchased the Athlon due to the price/performance, and it has performed better then I expected. Rock stable, runs 18 hrs per day.

Why won't I consider the P4 for my next upgrade? By the end of the Summer I will be replacing an Intel 200Mhz mmx (my oldest machine) with something a bit faster. My main need is program developement (and gaming, of course) and I cannot stand for 20 minute compiles. Until optimized software for the P4 is available, my compile times will remain the same (or increase) with a P4. So I need something that is fast with todays software. Besides, I don't care to spend extra money to upgrade my compilers. This is why I ended up with my first AMD system.

Were there problems getting the system stable? Yes. I bought what I thought was the top Athlon MB, the Abit KT7-RAID. It took a day to get the system stable with heavy gaming, and another 2 days of testing to be sure it was stable. Then, another day of research and yet another of testing to get the USB working properly. All said and done, the system is terrific, but I spent half of my Winter vacation working on a PC. Every Intel PC that I have built with an Intel chipset was stable from the first power on, so there is a lot to be said for Intel (less said for VIA).

Now that I have experience with an AMD system, I am sure that the next one I put together will not require the same amount of time to get it stable.

So, what will my next PC be? As of today I am planning on another AMD system (with an AMD chipset), and will wait for the Palomino. However, if Intel releases the Tualatin PIII's at a price that is equal to AMD, then I may switch back to Intel with an Intel chipset.

No brand loyalty. I will use whatever gives me the most bang for my buck, without requiring me to upgrade all of my software.

<font color=blue>This is a Forum, not a playground. Treat it with Respect.</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

I am hanging back from any new CPUinvestments at teh moment , Ihave a 1.2 athlon-c and I expect there to be a flurry of activity later this year with great improvments from both AMD and Intel ,I think I will evaluate the best CPU then and buy it no matter who makes it. I just hope they stay close cos the competition has done wonders for prices...

M



if at first you don't succeed , destroy all evidence that you ever tried...

 

[Guest]

I agree with what you're saying, except the bit about processing efficiency of MMX instructions. Thunderbirds have a stronger standard and MMX CPU than any Pentium. However, when SSE2 code comes along expect to see excellent FPU benchmarks from the P4.

I think Northwood and sensible pricing will be Intel's saving grace. Smaller, faster, cooler, cheaper P4s will undoubtedly be strong forces to reckon with. The P4 core in theory can clock much higher than the Thunderbird core, and if Intel play their cards right and roll out sensibly priced 2GHz parts, they could be onto a winner.

Myself, I have no brand loyalty. Until last week, I was pro-AMD because I believed AMD chips to have a better price/performance ratio. With Intel's recent price cuts, things are back on a (more) even footing. When Northwood debuts, Intel may hold the upper hand.

RDRAM prices are dropping, and PC2100 is still quite expensive (especially CAS2 and especially in Europe!). Although I have my doubts about the RAMBUS company and its archatecure, it is a competitor to DDR, even if inferior.

~ I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully ~