Author Topic: Would like some advice (Read 320 times)

WxMan · « **on:** November 20, 2002, 07:08:46 PM »

I'm on my way to upgrading my box. I'm looking at new cpu and mb combo's. I've narrowed it down to two.

P4 2.8 ghz retail FSB 533 / ABIT BD7 II motherboard - $480

AMD XP2700 (2.17ghz) FSB 333 / ASUS A7V333 motherboard - $510 (price includes heatsink and fan)

I would like to know which combo would give me the most bang for my buck, or if there is a better combination for a similar price.

Thanks for your help.

eagl · « **Reply #1 on:** November 21, 2002, 08:47:01 AM »

You'd get better bang for the buck by going with the Athlon, but don't get the 2700+. Get a cheaper cpu. You can whack a few hundred off the price by dropping a hundred mhz or so, and you'd save almost enough money to go for an ATI 9700 or put at least 512 meg DDR on the mobo.

Seriously, an athlon 2100+ is like $87 and a 2400+ is $178 on pricewatch. You'd save at least $100 right there. at the cost of around 100 actual cpu mhz.

If you go for intel, get an 845 board with DDR and buy the fastest cpu you can get because they enabled hyperthreading on their top of the line cpus, and that is good for a nice jump in performance. Oh yea, get a mobo that supports hyperthreading as well. Don't know if the abit one does.

There is also supposed to be an AMD price cut soon, up to 40% price decreases across the board. You might look into when that will happen before buying, and definately check into the new intel hyperthreading support on the cpu and mobo.

And rambus is dead, don't get that stuff.

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #2 on:** November 21, 2002, 09:07:34 AM »

Both the AMD 2700+ and Intel P4-2.8 are very similar in performance. You can't really go wrong with either... no matter what people try to convince you of.

Keep the motherboard high-end and read up on MB compatability issues. That's perhaps the biggest issue hitting computer builders today.

Don't worry too much about "rambus being dead". The only dead hardware is the hardware that doesn't work anymore. By the time you go to upgrade, any memory you currently have will be obsolete.

AKDejaVu

eagl · « **Reply #3 on:** November 21, 2002, 09:19:20 AM »

Very clever deja...

"Ignore eagl and get the most expensive cpu on the market. Pay attention to compatibility, but if you want to pay more money for a memory technology that intel has abandoned, go ahead because you're a gambler and you should gamble that you'll keep that system untouched until after intel's current primary memory technology is no longer used."

Seriously, you just told a guy to pay upwards of $380 for a cpu with less than 5% more performance than a $150 cpu, and you also said that he shouldn't worry about what memory type he uses because the current type will also be "dead" by the time he upgrades.

I agree that both the P4-2.8 and Athlon 2700+ are fine cpus with similiar performance especially if matched to quality, modern motherboards, but come on... If you step back even a few months on tech releases you lose 5-10% performance and save more than 50% in cost.

Now consider that the guy was asking about "bang for the buck", and I really don't understand your advice or your veiled slam against "what other people think".

Eagler · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2002, 09:21:22 AM »

for "bang for your buck" - what eag said

depends to what u r upgradin from

to small a jump u may not be happy with gain

AKDejaVu · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2002, 10:59:52 AM »

RAMBUS is not dead. Rambus is comparitely priced to similar performing memory sticks. As for what will be out in the future.. it simply does not matter. You are going to have to upgrade anyways. You act as if nobody has had to upgrade their DDR recently. I don't believe anyone that currently uses RAMBUS memory has had issues with their computers not working due to some "this memory is officially dead" issue.

As for the rest of your speach eagl... please recognize it as such. The original post mentioned nothing about budget PCs... simply a comparison between 2700+ and P4-2.8g. There was absolutely zero need for the soapbox to come out on this one.

AKDejaVu

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** November 21, 2002, 12:01:14 PM »

Welp,..here is my 2 coppers.

If you are a tinkerer and like doing that, then go with the AMD solution.
If you just want to build it and never open it up again, then go with the Intel solution.
NOTE: The above is not an indicator of either solution being better or worse than the other, it is about my personal opinion on the two products from what I have gathered from many friends and foes alike.

It's really not about price, it is about what you are comfortable with.

Side note: I would use an ASUS board, with the Intel part, versus ABit, but that is strictly my opinion.

Vulcan · « **Reply #7 on:** November 21, 2002, 02:46:59 PM »

I upgraded a couple of months ago to an Athlon 2100XP+ and Asus A7V333. The performance is great, price was great and its very very stable.

The only thing I needed to do was go for an aftermarket cooler. We've just hitting summer and the AMD supplied cooler was marginal in the job it did. I picked up a Volcano 7 for US$20 and it made a big difference.

I've been a true-blue Intel'er for years, but the AMD solution just rocks.

WxMan · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2002, 03:27:55 PM »

Thanks guys for all the advice. May follow Vulcan lead. I've been a big Intel follower for years, but AMD has narrowed the gap.

Mox · « **Reply #9 on:** November 22, 2002, 04:21:15 PM »

You get what you pay for...