Building a PC

[Jack'n'xbox]

Hi all,

I would like some input. I’m about to get a new PC and I’m having trouble picking the motherboard. But before I go there I need to pick a CPU.

Now I know everyone likes there’s but I want to know what you don’t like about the one you have. Now I was thinking about P4’s but athlon 64 was brought to my attention and I like the fact that when 64 bit becomes more main stream I will be ready for them. But if mainstream is not for two years then for get it.

And what about AMD’s are there processors getting the upper hand on P4’s. Do they run all software and support all hardware?

Thanks

P.S
Please no bragging wars.
I know I’m probably opening Pandora’s box here and its probably going to get me in trouble with some moderatos. So lets be civil.
:thanks:

[Sirber]

P4 DualCore aren't much expensive, 500$ (can) for a 3.0GHz.

Asus mobo are great too, at a resonable price.

Need at least 1GB memory.

[Soulhunter]

P4 DualCore aren't much expensive, 500$ (can) for a 3.0GHz.
For the same price you can get four 2800+ Athlons... ;D


Bye

[Doobie]

I go with AMD because it's a better value and there's no comptability issues (in the same way as there's no compatiblity issues with Intel chips). I go to pricewatch.com to look for the sweetspot (the most power before the price starts to rapidly go up) on both the processor speed and the hard drive size. I used to always look for a top-name motherboard, but now I don't think it matters (But, I still avoid the no-name boards). Pick a board that has the features you want (which for me is just about any of them, you can't go wrong). Then, I break the bank for the video card. It's all good.

The AMD 64 is already mainstream.

[mastercontrol]

All the processors I've ever had have been Intel Pentiums. From what people have said to me over the years, the choice of processor really depends on what you want to do with your system. If you want to do a lot of video editing, a Pentium processor will probably work better for you. If you're heavy into gaming, then an AMD would probably suit you better.

And for the Mobo, to echo what Sirber said, go with an Asus. I've had great experiences with these boards.

[Doobie]

All the processors I've ever had have been Intel Pentiums. From what people have said to me over the years, the choice of processor really depends on what you want to do with your system. If you want to do a lot of video editing, a Pentium processor will probably work better for you. If you're heavy into gaming, then an AMD would probably suit you better.

Consider if you have $150 to spend on a processor. At pricewatch, that will buy you an AMD Athlon 64 3200 or an Intel Pentium 4 520. On Tom's Hardware, the AMD completed the Xvid encode in 3:09 minutes. The Pentium 4, 3:08. Yeah, Intel is so much faster, I hardly noticed. (This is on 32bit software. When 64bit Xvid comes out, the Pentium 4 won't run it, the AMD will run faster).

On the DirectX 9 (gaming score), the AMD pulled in 176fps. The Intel, 140fps. Yeah, Intel had it's @$$ kicked. And, you know what, for practically everyone, encoding speed isn't such a major priority because a slower encode just takes longer. A slower game is unplayable. (Not that Intel is any faster at video encoding at a given price point, and with actual editing, the AMD would be faster because the Intel would get less benefit from its high clock speed throughput).

AMD has always been the better value.

[Revgen]

...I go to pricewatch.com to look for the sweetspot...

Also check with www.resellerratings.com to make sure that the sellers can be trusted.

[Angelus]

I would recommend you check out PC Media Tech Forums...it's very informative and they even have a whole section dedicated to building your own PC.

http://forum.pcmech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=43

It's been asked on those forums hundreds of times.

[chilledinsanity]

Yeah I'd definitely go with an AMD, they're simply more efficient processors and due to the price, whatever money you decide to spend on them, you're going to get more performance out of them for the buck than you would with a Pentium 4. Intel is surviving these days more on aggressive marketing than superior processors. In fact I think a lawsuit is being brought against them for trying to squelch AMD in areas using monopolistic practices.