P4 or Athlon

fatboy

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I am looking for some help in deciding which cpu to buy. I am upgrading from an old, really old pentium 233. I am looking at buying a P4 1.6A GHz (512 cache) or an Athlon 1800+. I will use my computer mainly for email, web surfing, downloading, and some gaming.
I am definately getting a 40GB 7200rpm HDD, 128 MB DDR ram and a Geforce 4 mx 420 64mb. I am trying to keep price down so I am leaning towards AMD but I have two friends saying to go with Intel. Thoughts?
 

Spitfire_x86

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Go for Athlon.

GF4 MX420 is pathetic slow. MX440 is lot better than MX420. But I recommend Radeon 9000 (not Radeon 9000 Pro) than GF4 MX. It offers better performance than GF4 MX440 and it is lot more advanced than MX440. It is fully DirectX 8.1 compliant. It will perform lot better in future games than GF4 MX. Radeon 9000 Pro is better than GF4 MX460.

Get a Built by ATI card. If you can't find Radeons in your locality, buy GF4 MX440.

My recommended setup:

Athlon XP 1800+ retail with stock cooler
MSI KT3 Ultra
Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR RAM 1 x 256 MB
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus D740X 40 GB (7200 rpm, ATA-133)
Radeon 9000 Bulit By ATI (or Radeon 9000 Pro Built By ATI)

If you buy GF4 MX 440 or 460, I recommend to buy MSI cards.

To know street prices of mentioned components, visit <A HREF="http://www.pricewatch.com " target="_new">http://www.pricewatch.com </A>
 

macodi

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I'd go with the AMD if you're trying to save some $$. But, I'd definitely scrap that MX card and go with the Nvidia Geforce TI 4200 64MB from either MSI or Leadtek...about $140 on pricewatch.com. The ATI card in the previous post is good too...I just like Nvidia personally.
 

tersagun

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Hýmm again my MSI-Friend, but this time enthusiast! :wink:
XP1800 is better than 1.6A for you. As the graphics card better go for R8500LE 128MB. Better than R9000, disagree Spitfire? You can find it for 117$ with Video-In and TV-Out.
As the board better go for MSI745 Ultra, it's exatly for you, really cheap but good.

<b>Before getting angry to the (d)evil, just think about who CREATED it!</b> :mad:
 

shallowbaby

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come on dude, get a p4 and OC it! i'd get a geforce4 ti, but if you want to keep price down, get a radeon. (might wanna increase memory to at least 256mb)

<font color=green> there's more to life than increasing its speed -Ghandi</font color=green>
 

LancerEvolution7

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After 4 posts and nobody realizes he is only getting 128mb of ram? Come on now, the minimum you should get at this stage of the game is 256mb. If you really don't plan to overclock then you should get the Athlon xp 1800 retail since its about 1/2 the price of a P4 1.6 retail. Scrap the Geforce 4mx for either a Radeon 8500 or G4 4200.
 

fatboy

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The Nvidia Geforce TI 4200 64MB is a little too high in price. I was allowing about $130 canadian for a video card. that would be about $85 usd.
 

Kzzrn

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Since you are appearently on a budget, I would suggest a Sapphire ATI Radeon 7500 LE OEM. At a local computer store, you can find it for $76 usd. It should be just fine for some gaming.

Knowledge is the key to understanding
 

Victory

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Well here's my two cents. I prefer the Athlon setup. Mainly because of overall price. If I hve $1000 to build a custom setup and I can get excellent performance from a CPU and save a chunk of change AMD is the better way to go. It'll save you money that you place in other parts of the PC, whether it be RAM or a better vid card. If raw power is your only concern, as much I as I hate to admit for the time being Intel with the 533RDRAM is the better way to go at the moment, if the price premium isn't an issue. Also consider a Geforce3 Ti200/500. They're cheap now and perform well(better than the low end Ge4's). 256 MB of ram if you're going to be running a flavor of Win9x, 512 for 2000/XP will give you the most bang for your buck. DDR for Athlon RDRAM only for P4.

:cool: Save heating costs on your home, overclock your PC!!! :cool:
 

chuck232

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Ok, since you're Canadian, I suggest you get this:

ATI Radeon 8500 128MB DDR OEM - $159

at Canadacomputers.com. It's a bit more than you want to spend, but it's less than the R9000 PRO, and will perform much better than a MX440. One person got that card, and it was a BBA with 3.6ns Infineon BGA RAM clocked at 250/250. So basically a R8500LE, but without the cables and such.

Tell us your budget and I'll be able to look around at Canadian stores and tell you some pricing and such.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>
 

fatboy

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My price range is about 600-maybe 650 before tax, which in Ontario is 15%. Yes that is right 15%. I just need a video card, HD, CPU, Motherboard, Case with Power, and Ram.
Any help would be appreciated. Check out the store on Ebay. They are called ETC. They are the cheapest I have found. I can get a P4 1.5, 128 MB DDR, 40 GB HD, case and power for about 470 + tax. Then add the video card. I have emailed about an AMD system but they haven't gotten back to me.
 

zeno

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Do you not know anyone in the states?
That would help alot.. You could easily put a system together for around $500 from NewEgg.com.

1800+ is the best bet, as not only will it be cheaper, but so will the board. Here, an 1800+ retail (w/ hs&fan) is $80.. 256 Megs DDR sould run you $50-70 Motherboard $80-90.. Of course, I'm talkin US$, too..

I vote for the OEM Radeon. A Radeon 9000 OEM shouldn't run you over $80. If you need cheaper than that, the 7500 shouldn't be over $60.

I was able to build the system you spoke of, with 256 PC2700 (DDR333) and a DVD-ROM drive for $483... Unfortunately, none of the places I found ship to Canada.

Good luck man.

Say, what version of DOS is on this sparc thingie?
 

Cooj

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Chuck232 are you Canadian too?

Just a note, I always usually buy from canadacomputers.com as well but personally I hate their service because they're all very bad businessmen. They don't realy understand english at all or have any manners, plus you can't haggle.

Recently I found a store downtown Toronto called fil tech computers www.filtechcomputer.com it's got a 3% cash discount vs 2% at canadacomputers, I hecked most prices and they're as good OR better than CC. Plus you can haggle there so if anyone is in Toronto you guys should check it out. It's at College and Spadina, nice store.


Cooj

<i> I am ignorant no more! </i> :tongue:
 

Collective_8472

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I've been running a AXP 1800+ since march (upgraded from a P3 733), and debated the athlon vs P4 argument for awhile,tyhen i saw a benchmark test in CPU magazine that pitted an XP 1900 against a P4 2.0G, and the xp has slightly better (30 or 40) better marks, in comparing the price, i was sold on the XP.

The origional setup was with an Nforce420 board, i accidentally fried that and am now running a MSI KT3 ultra. both setups use a Geforce3 Ti200, i am considering now upgrading the board, CPU, Graphics card and drives (running an old 4x2x24 burner and a defunct DVD 12x). and once again the XP vs P4 debate...

I'm a gamer, mostly and have no problems with the XP series, even the new 2600+ sounds appealing...
 

MeTaLrOcKeR

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Ok bud......i live in Ontario also......

<A HREF="http://www.infonec.com" target="_new"> FROM HERE </A>

You can get the following...

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ RETIAL CPU
ASUS A7S333 Motherboard
256MB PC-2100 DDR RAM
ATI Saphire Radeon 9000 64MB
ANTEC SX830 Chassis w/ PSU

for $619.00 BEFORE tax or $711.85 with tax.......

and yes thats Canadian.....



<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>
 

DesperateDan

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Have a look at the "Leadtek Twinforce2 GeForce4 64MB Ti4200 Video Card + nForce415 Motherboard Bundle" for reference here its £125,- an athlon mainboard starts at £45 and a leadtek (v good ) gf 4 ti 4200 will set you back at least £100, so there are definite savings (around £20) to be had buying bundled. Also the mainboard is good value by itself, nforce (made by nvidia) chipset without the integrated graphics,- (looking at reviews it hasn't got the memory bandwidth problems the 420D chipset had) it has very good 6 channel audio, very good LAN and a couple other distinguising features. Also, compatibility is hardly going to be a problem since these things come bundled!.
 

MeTaLrOcKeR

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hows it worth the extra money ??????????

its minisquel....like a GF4 Ti 4600 from ASUS vs the GF4 Ti 4600 from LeadTek....u gonna tell me that the Boxed By ATI Version is THAT much better?? especially considerign its the same GPU ?? Im sure the NS of the DDR MEM. cant be horrible on the Saphire cards............and im almost certain the extra $25 CDN cannot be justified by maybe 3-4 FPS more....

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>
 

LED

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I've been running a AXP 1800+ since march (upgraded from a P3 733), and debated the athlon vs P4 argument for awhile,tyhen i saw a benchmark test in CPU magazine that pitted an XP 1900 against a P4 2.0G, and the xp has slightly better (30 or 40) better marks, in comparing the price, i was sold on the XP.
Had you spent the extra $ then, and OC'd your system, there would be no need to upgrade. It was about in march when I got a 1.8a.....ran it at 2.4 since then and am happy w/ my purchase. No need to upgrade in sight.

This sig runs too hot.
 

chuck232

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Hmmmm... actually, I've seen some R8500LE 128MB OEM sapphire cards clocked at 250/200 with 5ns RAM. Now that's gonna set you back more than a couple FPS.

<i>Past mistakes may make you look stupid, but avoiding future ones will make you look smart!</i>
 

LED

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ATi should have some sort of reference design that board manus. have to follow. You throw that saphire card in your machine, or buy a PC w/ one installed, you might not go w/ ATi again.

This sig runs too hot.