What Do You Recommend?

[KrYpTiC]

AMD 64 3200+ / 2.00GHz /1600Mhz
or
Pentium 4 3.20GHz / 800Mhz
Along with the x800 PRO, for upcoming games such as Doom3

[Mogul]

I guess get the AMD.

[Goat]

i say amd

[Shamino]

I would also recommend the AMD processor if you are going to be gaming.

[Ultraviolet]

What the fuck? You guys are just idiot AMD fanboys. There's nothing inherently wrong with AMD or Intel processors, but AMD's are known to run pretty goddamn hot. And what the hell -- the guy said the AMD is only 2 gigahertz. The P4's (Northwood at least) out now are relatively cheap, run on a higher FSB, and are reported to run a lot cooler than AMD processors, generally.

I don't think there is really any inherent edge for AMD processors against Intel in gaming, where the marketing stats (core freq, FSB, and memory) are the same.

I'm going to relay to you a tip that was given to me. Don't get a Prescott core if you're going to overclock. They run hotter and are thus harder to maintain overclocked. Also, a 1 meg cache is supposed to be slower to address, so go with the 512k cache to avoid that latency.

EDIT: Doom 3 probably won't even be supporting the benefits of 64 bit processors, and you'd need an OS that could anyway. Not fucking likely.

[InfraRed]

celeron....nothing but

[gatewatcher]

The idiot AMD fanboys pay less for comparible performance. But this subject is way too fucking stupid to argue over, no matter which one you get you're getting power.

[YabbaDabbaDon't]

Cleanup

Edited October 13, 2022 by YabbaDabbaDon't : Cleanup

[Ichor]

Flip a coin.

[Darkstalker]

Ichor said:

Flip a coin.

Or buy both, test them and return the one you don't like.

[Ichor]

That's assuming the store has a good return policy.

[etimmerAZ]

I say get an Apple ][, it wont run any doom, but it runs real cool and it's cheap.

Peace,

Erik

[AirRaid]

InfraRed said:

celeron....nothing but

Haha.

Moving on, having used both P4 and AMD CPUs, I would choose the P4. They run waaaay cooler, for a start... I mean, my Athlon used to overheat in my room in the summer (it's a damn oven in here), my P4 doesn't. The P4s are a bit more expensive, but IMO theyre more reliable. I've never had a P4 die on me, but several AMD chips have ceased to function.

Darkstalker said:

Or buy both, test them and return the one you don't like.

This is actually a pretty good idea, but you'd want two Motherboards too, and maybe 2 sets of RAM, depending on what FSB the CPUs have... kinda expensive. Specially if they don't let you return them.

[Anders]

Get the amd, no need to get the overpriced intel.

[deathbringer]

[burn all gifs wanker mode]AMD CUZ INTEL IS TEH MICR0$OFT!!!!111[/burn all gifs wanker mode]

[Sephiroth]

AMD will save you money. just use the fan that comes with it. has a nice 3 year service plan (provided you dont over clock or do stupid shit). also make sure you have at least 2 case fans, same with intel.

preformance is about the same with other factors added into the mix.

[Ultraviolet]

To add to Seph's advice, if you're gonna use an AMD, make sure those case fans are 120mm. Enermax makes these great fans that are 120x120x25mm, adjustable speed, 24 to 30 decibels, up to 90 CFM. 90 CFM at 30 db is pretty damn sweet. Have one blowing in, one blowing out. They're like 6 bucks each on newegg (or was it 12?). Anyway, see if you can afford a Thermalright SP-97, a pretty damn hardcore heatsink, all copper with heatpipes running from the base to near the top, and with mounting for 80, 90, and 120mm fans. Throw one of those Enermax 120mm 90 CFM fans on that heatsink and you should never have issues.

If the Thermalright SP-97 costs too much (the heatpipes probably don't add that much in terms of performance, and they no doubt get in the way some), check out their SLK series. Just find Thermalright's website for information on all their offerings for cooling AMD's.

You might also get yourself one of those Zalman ZM-NB47J chipset heatsinks to keep that cool. They're $5-ish. You could probably even find a fan to throw on there if you wanted to.

I've also heard that AMD reccomends using a PSU that has an intake on the bottom, so that it can act as an exhaust for your processor. You might even throw a fan in between your PSU and CD/DVD and duct that to the front vent on your PSU so you'll have some good straight-through cooling for that.

With your chipset and your processor kept pretty cool, and secondarily your power supply, you shouldn't have trouble keeping stable or having random shutdowns.


WHAT? That's a lot to do? Well, you could always go with Intel.

EDIT: Cases are also pretty important. Antec makes some pretty good ones. They're pretty, clean, most come with washable intake filters and 120mm fan mounts on the front and back, often with one fan coming free with the case. I found this Antec Solutions Series case for $66. It's got a 5 slot HD rack with rubber mounting, holds the drives sideways so you can put the cables behind them and out of the way (I could be thinking of another Antec case here actually), 120mm in and out fan mounts, one 120mm fan pre-installed (though I'd get one of the more powerful Enermax ones I mentioned), and comes with a 350 watt Antec PSU (with a bottom intake over the processor, like I mentioned above). I'd buy it right now if I had any money at all.

EDIT again: Use Arctic Silver 5 between your processor and heatsink, or your processor and a peltier (and peltier and heatsink) if you can find one that's guaranteed against condensation and find it to be worth the money. Using the stock thermal compound that comes with your processor (if it does) won't yield results as good as Arctic Silver 5 can give you.

[S1lent]

So basically what you are saying is....

AMD: if you don't want to over clock and buy either a big fan or a BUNCH of little fans and monitor the heat constantly

or

Intel: If you want to pay a little extra for the same performace as an AMD

[Ultraviolet]

That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that AMD processors have lots of drawbacks that Intel processors don't have, for only slightly better performance.

Exposed processor cores -- gotta be fucking careful with them

Run extremely hot and shut down when the top of the temperature envelope is reached, whereas Intel processors downclock themselves until the temperature becomes acceptable. You don't want to be using an AMD on a hot day for anything "mission critical."

I think AMD is probably really great for a strictly gaming rig, but for a well-rounded system you can use for business too, go Intel. Especially if you're gonna want to move your case around without cracking your processor core... [WARNING: May contain exaggeration]

[chilvence]

I got my first AMD chip about a year ago. All the talk online about heat made me paraniod, and for a while I was monitoring the temp constantly, but to be honest, I havent had a single problem with it. It was a much better financial descision than cheaping out on an intel celeron.... I did get one bigass fan for it, but that was mostly because the sound it makes is less irritating.

[S1lent]

What fan do you use? Actually, what case do you use? I was thinking of getting an Antec *I think they're called. I'm actually trying to figure out what I should get to build my new computer with and I'm not sure what to get either. From what I've heard AMD is cheaper, but it has "heating" problems, you can't over clock it, and it has compadability issues (it's what I heard at least) and that for a slightly more expensive price, an Intel doesn't have those issues.

[toxicfluff]

I've never had a problem with either of the AMDs here. I haven't overclocked them, mind you, but I never found such incredible performance increases from overclocking on any computer I've owned.

[Ultraviolet]

S1lent said:

you can't over clock it

Wrong. It can be complicated, though. I think up until the Athlon XP 2400 the multiplier settings were factory-unlocked, but after that you have to do a little bridging. They make these neat little overclocking kits, though, and they're pretty cheap, so it's fine.

If you're really going to do extreme cooling, use peltiers on your processor, chipsets, GPU, maybe even past your RAM (on your system and video card), and then run water cooling cubes over those. Even so, you'll still want some decent case fans, because peltiers and water coolers are power driven and therefore generate heat along with conducting it. For the water cooler, you could get a tall server case, and there would be plenty of spots in there to put your water cooler if you don't want to have it sitting outside your machine.

Other than that, you can use liquid nitrogen or phase change, but they're pretty expensive. Extremely, I should say.

[Intel17]

I'd personally get the Intel because quite frankly i trust them much more. But In reality either chip is great and there is little performance delta between them.

[Deathmatcher]

I got my new system now:

Athlon 64 3200+

Radeon X800 PRO

1024 MB RAM (DDR-400)


Far Cry runs fine on 1280x1024 with all settings to very high/ultra high (including full AA/AF)

I'm quite convinced that Doom3 will run ok on my system. (Although there are no benchmarks out there yet)

[Shamino]

I'm just wondering, what happens when AMDs overheat while you are gaming. Does the computer automatically shut down or does the processor actually break or get damaged?

[S1lent]

You know the new nVidia Card is going to surpass the new Radeon card right? I read a few articles about that. Appearantly nVidia is going to make a big improvement with the new generation.

So AMD sounds good. I don't want to use water cooling because if something were to leak or burst than my computer is ruined...I'll just stick to fans and dry means of cooling. What would you say is the best fan I can get on NewEgg for a good price. Also, what is the new AMD out there?

Also, can someone clearup the "compadability problems" with AMD for me?

[chilvence]

S1lent said:

What fan do you use?

I use a bigass fan, that I bought in a shop. I heard that they pump air around.

[KrYpTiC]

Shamino said:

I'm just wondering, what happens when AMDs overheat while you are gaming. Does the computer automatically shut down or does the processor actually break or get damaged?

The processor shuts down when it reaches a certin temp, you can see a little movie made by Tom's Hardware Guide here ---> http://www.tomshardware.com/images/thg_video_10_athlon64.zip
showing when the processor overheats.

[Ultraviolet]

S1lent said:

What would you say is the best fan I can get on NewEgg for a good price.

Your best bet is to get a case that will support 120mm intake and exhaust fans. Some cases come with a fan bracket that will only let you use a 120x120x25mm fan, but some don't use those brackets, instead just letting you screw the fan to the case. You'll want to make sure that if you use a 38mm thick fan as your exhaust fan that it isn't too close to anything in there. I know some heatsinks might get in the way.

This fan...
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-999-012&depa=0
...can push 95 cubic feet of air per minute (whereas the average fan may push 10 to 30) at only 30 decibels. That means you're getting tremendous airflow and you should hardly ever notice its sound. There are fans that will push even more air than that, but if you need more than 95 CFM, you probably cannot be saved anyway and should instead turn to water cooling. Odds are you do not require more airflow than this fan can give you. Depending on the layout of your case and how the grating in front of the fans is, there may be turbulence noise from that, but the fan by itself is fairly quiet.

I'll show you a case that will hold two of them, too, along with... well, you can read the features yourself. The best feature of all is the price. $66, PSU included. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-122&depa=0

You can get a black model, but it's $10 more. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=11-129-140&depa=0

NewEgg offers some other cases in the same series for cheaper, but they have 300W rather than 350W PSU's in them. I think that extra 50W could be well worth the ~$10-$20 bucks.

EDIT: To get a concept of how much airflow 95 CFM is, look 95 feet in front of you, 95 feet to your right, and 95 feet up, and imagine all the air contained in that space rushing through a 120mm circle in one minute.