AMD Athlon 64 or Intel p4?


Which CPU should i go for?  

162 members have voted

  1. 1. Which CPU should i go for?

    • AMD Athlon 64 3400+
      134
    • Intel p4 Northwood 3.2Ghz
      28


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All Athlon 64's require DDR RAM

bottleneck means it'll be the part of your system that will limit your performance (that is assuming you put at least 512mb of RAM on the board)

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Right i think iv made my choice:

AMD (Newcastle) Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2GHz 512kb L2Cache 939pin Retail Boxed

Abit AV8 SKT939 K8T800PRO 800FSB 8xAGP SATA Sound GIG LAN Retail Box

Abit AV8-3RD Eye Skt 939 K8t800pro 8xAGP ATX Gigabit LAN, SATA150 RAID, IEEE1394, 6ch Audio, ?Guru USB2.0 Retail Box

?266.40 shipped.

that combo good?

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S939 3500+ = Good

Newcastle 3500+ = :/ WInchesters are 90nm, so they are cooler and OC like mad. Other than that nice choices. BTW, you need DDR400 (PC-3200) for an Athlon64. Just keep that in mind. If you get good RAM, the only limiting factor will be your video card: I'd reccomend a 9800Pro or better for such an awsome gaming rig :D If you can't affor dit, you're better off with a 3200+ and a 9800Pro than with a 3500+ and a 9600.

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Well, any DDR RAM would work, just anything under DDR400 would limit the CPU. You see, the FSB on the Athlon64 (and the Intel CPU as well) is 200. SO you need DDR400, that simple. If you get slower RAM the CPU will be either underclocked or might run in 5:4 (FSB:RAM ratio), I guess. In any case, try to get that new RAM.

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Well, what im thinking is that if i get my new mobo and cpu il have no money, got a phone waiting to be sold so could get the ddr400 then. I have 333 as it is. Will this make a big difference?

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intel.... more expensive tho... AMD's are so ****** up these days... more problems (IMO) with AMD then intel...

585047308[/snapback]

:whistle: Look at the poll HAHAHAHA Intel = multimedia AMD = gaming really simple

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It will work. It will cripple the CPU, as the memory bandwidth won't be as much as is needed, but its a start. Remember most of the performance increase in the Athlon64 line over the AthlonXP line is due to the integrated memory controller. If the RAM isn't up to spec, or if its latencies are too loose, then you won't get as much out of the CPU as you could.

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I say both are good. 3400 for gaming and generall use, while P4 3.2 is good for video editing and general use. So it's a toss up really. The 3400 can run 64bit software though...the 3.2 can OC to 4ghz....so gaming might not be an issue..

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Well, any DDR RAM would work, just anything under DDR400 would limit the CPU. You see, the FSB on the Athlon64 (and the Intel CPU as well) is 200. SO you need DDR400, that simple. If you get slower RAM the CPU will be either underclocked or might run in 5:4 (FSB:RAM ratio), I guess. In any case, try to get that new RAM.

585053309[/snapback]

you never want to run asynchronous busses with athlon rigs

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That means it will limit your performance, imagine 2,000 people trying to all go through a 1 metre wide door at once and you'll get the idea heh:):)

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big deal, the athlon 64s still wipe the floor with 32 bit cpus anyway

geez, what is your problem with amd?

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big deal, the athlon 64s still wipe the floor with 32 bit cpus anyway

geez, what is your problem with amd?

mine? nothing :/

infact, i am having an amd 64 3500+ for christmas ;)

I was just trying to make a similie with "bottlenecking" because ChrisJM didn't understand, perhaps it was a crap example to use :p

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BTW, when you finally decide to get DDR400 (then, and only then will you be able to harness the power of an Athlon64CPU), make sure you get a matched pair of RAM so you can run it in dual channel. So, if you want 1gb of RAM, get 2x512mb sticks.

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big deal, the athlon 64s still wipe the floor with 32 bit cpus anyway

geez, what is your problem with amd?

585053578[/snapback]

he was referring to the rest of the rig and his 9600pro

Anyways: you could use the DDR333 for now but it'll probably clock at a lower speed, a would NOT recommend you do that, try to sell your current RAM and the phone, remember for socket 939 you'll need 2 paired sticks for Dual Channel

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lol ive just looked at the poll again, 101 against 19 :pinch:

woahhhh

edit: yeh get pc4000 ram, but i read it can only take upto pc3200 in the specs of it :s

dave164

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