AMD or Pentium

Randy P · Oct 20, 2005, 04:18 PM

Which do you think is the better CPU?

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ / 512 Cache / 2000 MHz FSB / Socket 939

or

P4 3.2 GHz / 1 MB Cache / 800 MHz FSB / Socket 478

jasonbourne · Oct 20, 2005, 04:19 PM

for gaming the amd64 3200+ is way better than the pentium 4 3.2 or even 3.4

Randy P · Oct 20, 2005, 04:20 PM

Yeah gaming is a big factor for me.

dipstick · Oct 20, 2005, 04:23 PM

If all you do is pure gaming the AMD is the way to go. However if you multitask a lot and dont mind losing a few frames the P4 is also good choice

Randy P · Oct 20, 2005, 05:19 PM

I do a lot of gaming I have a 6800 gt. Apart from that all I use is it for is internet and word processing.

swimtech · Oct 20, 2005, 06:42 PM

Of those two, I lean slightly to the Intel processor for overall use and balance of performance. If I used my computer more than 50% for gaming though, I'd choose the AMD. Up until a couple months ago, it would have been AMD all the way - but Intel has gotten on the 64bit wagon and now does the dual processor thing for less money - they're really pushing...

Vikingod · Oct 20, 2005, 06:48 PM

Both are good. I just got an X2 4400, and I love it. Its the first AMD I've had it many years, so I'm still getting used to the features (many of which are great). It is definetly better for gaming, but it wasn't cheap.

Randy P · Oct 20, 2005, 07:09 PM

The 3200 is roughly the same speed as the 3.2 pentium right? Is that one way to compare - just move the decimal place so to speak?? Same as a 3000 is comparable to a 3.0, 3400 to a 3.4... is this right?

Dyre Straits · Oct 20, 2005, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy P

The 3200 is roughly the same speed as the 3.2 pentium right? Is that one way to compare - just move the decimal place so to speak?? Same as a 3000 is comparable to a 3.0, 3400 to a 3.4... is this right?

It's not as simple as that.

I've been an Intel user since the beginning of my PC experience. Mainly, it's due to compatibility issues.

But, if you're interested in seeing an actual comparison between the two, check out this site:

http://www.gen-x-pc.com/IntelvsAMD.htm

Vikingod · Oct 20, 2005, 07:52 PM

Interesting review, but some of those scores seemed very low, considering they used an 7800gtx. Processor wise, thats about what to expect i think. It would have been intersting to see that comparison with something other than games, like PCmark, or Sandra.

Dyre Straits · Oct 20, 2005, 08:00 PM

Well, the main purpose of that test was actual gaming experience, so, I understand why they didn't include other benchmarks.

Also, one thing I just noticed was this: Between the two systems, their memory was set up differently per the CAS settings. I found my own performance improved significantly when I set my CAS to 2.3.3.7. as opposed to the default my mobo was using which was 3.3.3.8. I have to wonder if that would have made any significant difference in this test. To be fair, I think they should have matched the CAS settings between the two systems.

Lowfat · Oct 20, 2005, 09:09 PM

Out of those two, I'd take the AMD. But i'd rather have my trusty pentium M.

Zardon · Oct 20, 2005, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by swimtech

Of those two, I lean slightly to the Intel processor for overall use and balance of performance. If I used my computer more than 50% for gaming though, I'd choose the AMD. Up until a couple months ago, it would have been AMD all the way - but Intel has gotten on the 64bit wagon and now does the dual processor thing for less money - they're really pushing...

well said, agree totally.

Randy P · Oct 20, 2005, 10:26 PM

Well I want a processor that will do justice to my 6800 gt. I have a P4 2.4 now and am trying to decide between the two CPUs. To tell you guys the truth I am leaning toward the AMD 3200. What do you think? I keep hearing for gameplay the AMD is the way to go and like I said apart from gaming I rellyonly use my PC for Internet and word processing.

riles9262 · Oct 20, 2005, 11:24 PM

I think you'll be just fine. the athlon 64 will treat you and your games very well.

Randy P · Oct 20, 2005, 11:48 PM

Cool, thats' what I'm lookin for.

Lowfat · Oct 21, 2005, 12:11 AM

What motherboard do you currently have?

**dj_stick** · Oct 21, 2005, 12:21 AM

although the athlons are at the top of the gaming right now, i have a feeling in a year or two games will start making use of dual core/HT technology, so maybe a P4 chip w/ HT would be a better idea for the future.

Randy P · Oct 21, 2005, 12:22 AM

Currently a gigabyte GA-8I1000MK, but I'll be getting an Asus A8V MOBO (should serve the purpose)

I'm hoping this upgrade will do for at least 2 years. I can't afford cutting edge technology so I'm just trying to upgrade from my P4 2.4 right now and then just enjoy the upgrade for a while

soloz2 · Oct 21, 2005, 02:12 AM

I vote AMD all the way. Last september I purchased an Intel system. 3.0ghz 530, 1 gig ddr2 @533Mhz. X300video, which I upgraded to a 6600GT. In may I built an AMD system (specs in sig.) And for gaming performance AMD wins. there is no competition. for general use, email, photoshop, instant messanger, internet and the such the Intel might have been a little faster, but for gaming there is no competition. AMD is simply the best.

ReDGuiTaR · Oct 21, 2005, 03:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy P

Currently a gigabyte GA-8I1000MK, but I'll be getting an Asus A8V MOBO (should serve the purpose)

I'm hoping this upgrade will do for at least 2 years. I can't afford cutting edge technology so I'm just trying to upgrade from my P4 2.4 right now and then just enjoy the upgrade for a while

I choose AMD also since your rig is primary for gaming. What about the Athlon64 3500+, not much more expensive . Also i would go for a nforce3 MoBo as they are much more stable for a gaming rig. Via chipset just doesnt keep up with the nvidia board .

Dyre Straits · Oct 21, 2005, 05:21 AM

If it has VIA in it, I reject it without knowing anything else. I just don't like VIA -- period!

Randy P · Oct 21, 2005, 06:33 AM

No I disagree. For my purposes the A8V should be fine. I can't see a problem. Via shouldn't be a big concern...

Edit: Just curious why do you hate VIA so much??

ReDGuiTaR · Oct 21, 2005, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randy P

No I disagree. For my purposes the A8V should be fine. I can't see a problem. Via shouldn't be a big concern...

Edit: Just curious why do you hate VIA so much??

Slower than nforce and some nasty bug ( most with a ATI card ) ...

Yousaif · Oct 22, 2005, 03:57 PM

The 3200+ is the sweet spot for overclocking. If you intend to stick with the VIA chipset though, you may want to get the 3500+ as I have found the NForce 4 chipset to be more overclock-friendly.

Matth · Oct 22, 2005, 04:21 PM

Depending on the way prices are moving, a 3500+ to a P4 3.2 may be closer to an equal price comparison, and comes close to levelling AMD's worst performances with the Intel, except on things which can make good use of hyperthreading.

Overclocking, good point - with a decent overclocking chipset and DDR500 memory, a straight 25% FSB overclock ought to be possible on the AMD, without any tweaks or heroic cooling - go too high up the range, and the overclocking margin gets slimmer, or with a poor overclocking board, 10% and then cards and onboard devices start to malfunction.

Randy P · Oct 22, 2005, 08:34 PM

Hmm, yeah I read a posting here on DH about VIA and ATI problems, but I have an nVidia. The VIA chipset can't be that bad for gaming is it??

EDIT - Ok I said screw the A8V with the VIA chipset and found this one with an nforce3 chipset

What do you guys think of this one??

Gigabyte K8NSC-939 nVidia Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / 4x/8x AGP / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA

Drakon · Oct 22, 2005, 09:52 PM

The MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum is a good Nforce 3 board that oc's pretty good, though it does have its problems

Randy P · Oct 22, 2005, 11:00 PM

Yeah, I like Gigabyte though...right up there with Asus as far as I'm concerned

View Poll Results: Which CPU is better overall??
AMD 64 3200 S939 2000 FSB	18	94.74%
P4 3.2 S478 800 FSB	1	5.26%
Voters: 19. This poll is closed

Oct 20, 2005, 04:18 PM	#1
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	AMD or Pentium Which do you think is the better CPU? AMD Athlon 64 3200+ / 512 Cache / 2000 MHz FSB / Socket 939 or P4 3.2 GHz / 1 MB Cache / 800 MHz FSB / Socket 478

Oct 20, 2005, 04:19 PM	#2
jasonbourne DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: great yarmouth uk Posts: 1,082 Rep Power: 0	for gaming the amd64 3200+ is way better than the pentium 4 3.2 or even 3.4 __________________ http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...asonBourne.jpg

Oct 20, 2005, 06:42 PM	#6
swimtech HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: North Carolina Posts: 4,040 Rep Power: 124 System Specs	Of those two, I lean slightly to the Intel processor for overall use and balance of performance. If I used my computer more than 50% for gaming though, I'd choose the AMD. Up until a couple months ago, it would have been AMD all the way - but Intel has gotten on the 64bit wagon and now does the dual processor thing for less money - they're really pushing... __________________ It's not so much getting your way that matters or not - what matters is how you go about getting it.

Oct 20, 2005, 09:09 PM	#12
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,254 Rep Power: 101	Out of those two, I'd take the AMD. But i'd rather have my trusty pentium M. __________________

Oct 20, 2005, 04:20 PM	Thread Starter #3
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Yeah gaming is a big factor for me.

Oct 20, 2005, 04:23 PM	#4
dipstick HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: USA Posts: 3,609 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	If all you do is pure gaming the AMD is the way to go. However if you multitask a lot and dont mind losing a few frames the P4 is also good choice

Oct 20, 2005, 05:19 PM	Thread Starter #5
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	I do a lot of gaming I have a 6800 gt. Apart from that all I use is it for is internet and word processing.

Oct 20, 2005, 06:48 PM	#7
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	Both are good. I just got an X2 4400, and I love it. Its the first AMD I've had it many years, so I'm still getting used to the features (many of which are great). It is definetly better for gaming, but it wasn't cheap.

Oct 20, 2005, 07:09 PM	Thread Starter #8
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	The 3200 is roughly the same speed as the 3.2 pentium right? Is that one way to compare - just move the decimal place so to speak?? Same as a 3000 is comparable to a 3.0, 3400 to a 3.4... is this right?

Oct 20, 2005, 07:52 PM	#10
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	Interesting review, but some of those scores seemed very low, considering they used an 7800gtx. Processor wise, thats about what to expect i think. It would have been intersting to see that comparison with something other than games, like PCmark, or Sandra.

Oct 20, 2005, 10:26 PM	Thread Starter #14
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Well I want a processor that will do justice to my 6800 gt. I have a P4 2.4 now and am trying to decide between the two CPUs. To tell you guys the truth I am leaning toward the AMD 3200. What do you think? I keep hearing for gameplay the AMD is the way to go and like I said apart from gaming I rellyonly use my PC for Internet and word processing.

Oct 20, 2005, 11:24 PM	#15
riles9262 Driverheaven brewmaster Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: British Columbia, Canada Posts: 4,842 Rep Power: 72 System Specs	I think you'll be just fine. the athlon 64 will treat you and your games very well. __________________ A beer a day keeps the doctor away.

Oct 20, 2005, 11:48 PM	Thread Starter #16
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Cool, thats' what I'm lookin for.

Oct 21, 2005, 12:11 AM	#17
Lowfat Xtreme Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grande Prairie, AB, Can Posts: 4,254 Rep Power: 101	What motherboard do you currently have? __________________

Oct 21, 2005, 02:12 AM	#20
soloz2 DriverHeaven Addict Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 362 Rep Power: 0	I vote AMD all the way. Last september I purchased an Intel system. 3.0ghz 530, 1 gig ddr2 @533Mhz. X300video, which I upgraded to a 6600GT. In may I built an AMD system (specs in sig.) And for gaming performance AMD wins. there is no competition. for general use, email, photoshop, instant messanger, internet and the such the Intel might have been a little faster, but for gaming there is no competition. AMD is simply the best. __________________ [COLOR=gray][COLOR=red]CPU:[/COLOR] AMD Opteron 165 CCBBE @ 2.8Ghz [/COLOR] [COLOR=gray][COLOR=red]Motherboard:[/COLOR] DFI nF4 SLI-DR Expert [COLOR=red]Memory:[/COLOR] 2gb G.Skill F1-4000USU2-2 [COLOR=red]Video:[/COLOR] Asus 7900GT TOP @ 700/1700 [COLOR=red]Sound:[/COLOR] Modded X-Fi Elite Pro [COLOR=red]HD:[/COLOR] 2x Seagate 250Gb RAID 0, 1 Seagate 320Gb [COLOR=red]Optical Drives:[/COLOR] Sony DVD-Rom, Plextor 16x DVD DL RW [COLOR=red]Case:[/COLOR] CM Stacker [COLOR=red]PSU:[/COLOR] PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 [COLOR=red]Cooling:[/COLOR] Custom Water [COLOR=yellow][COLOR=red]Keyboard/Mouse:[/COLOR] [/COLOR]Saitec Eclipse & Logitech MX518 with a Razer ExactMat mouse pad [COLOR=red]Sound:[/COLOR] Modded X-fi > Soloz Audio Silver IC > Maxed PIMETA > Beyer DT 770 Pro/80 cans [COLOR=red]HTPC:[/COLOR] [/COLOR][COLOR=gray]AMD 3800X2[/COLOR][COLOR=gray], Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe, G.Skill 2GB DDR400, MSI 6600GT, Haupauge PVR150, SB [/COLOR][COLOR=gray]Audigy 2ZS[/COLOR][COLOR=gray], Samsung 16x DVD DL RW, Sunbeam Nuuo PSU, Antec P180 case, AC Freezer64 Pro, Viewsonic N2750w LCD HDTV Heatware eBay [/COLOR]

Oct 21, 2005, 12:22 AM	Thread Starter #19
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Currently a gigabyte GA-8I1000MK, but I'll be getting an Asus A8V MOBO (should serve the purpose) I'm hoping this upgrade will do for at least 2 years. I can't afford cutting edge technology so I'm just trying to upgrade from my P4 2.4 right now and then just enjoy the upgrade for a while

Oct 21, 2005, 06:33 AM	Thread Starter #23
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	No I disagree. For my purposes the A8V should be fine. I can't see a problem. Via shouldn't be a big concern... Edit: Just curious why do you hate VIA so much?? Last edited by Randy P; Oct 21, 2005 at 04:45 PM.

Oct 22, 2005, 04:21 PM	#26
Matth Flash Banner Hater Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: UK Posts: 3,426 Rep Power: 93 System Specs	Depending on the way prices are moving, a 3500+ to a P4 3.2 may be closer to an equal price comparison, and comes close to levelling AMD's worst performances with the Intel, except on things which can make good use of hyperthreading. Overclocking, good point - with a decent overclocking chipset and DDR500 memory, a straight 25% FSB overclock ought to be possible on the AMD, without any tweaks or heroic cooling - go too high up the range, and the overclocking margin gets slimmer, or with a poor overclocking board, 10% and then cards and onboard devices start to malfunction.

Oct 22, 2005, 08:34 PM	Thread Starter #27
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Hmm, yeah I read a posting here on DH about VIA and ATI problems, but I have an nVidia. The VIA chipset can't be that bad for gaming is it?? EDIT - Ok I said screw the A8V with the VIA chipset and found this one with an nforce3 chipset What do you guys think of this one?? Gigabyte K8NSC-939 nVidia Socket 939 ATX Motherboard / Audio / 4x/8x AGP / Gigabit LAN / USB 2.0 / Serial ATA Last edited by Randy P; Oct 22, 2005 at 09:20 PM.

Oct 22, 2005, 09:52 PM	#28
Drakon DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Floatin'... Posts: 4,957 Rep Power: 0	The MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum is a good Nforce 3 board that oc's pretty good, though it does have its problems

Oct 22, 2005, 11:00 PM	Thread Starter #29
Randy P HardwareHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 489 Rep Power: 49 System Specs	Yeah, I like Gigabyte though...right up there with Asus as far as I'm concerned