Alliedassault - View Single Post - The Difference Between Pentium and Athlon AMD?

n715dp · 02-02-2002, 12:50 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by H3@d$h0t:
pentiums are better, some people may disagree. but with the better chip comes the higher price. i have an amd athlon 1.2 gigaherz and havent had a problem yet.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

If Pentiums are better, why do you own an Athlon?

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by rudedog:
The thing I do not like about AMD is the via chipset.
Other then that it's a toss up <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with you that the VIA chipsets suck, I have been burned by them before, lets not forget that Intel has chipset problems too. Also, there are several alternatives to VIA, I currently use a SiS 735 chipset in my ECS K7S5A and it is the best board I have ever owned.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>Originally posted by Manny:
The Pentium 4 is the first intel processor since the original pentium to introduce a totally new technology. It takes time for that technology to become superior.

Pentium 4's are more expensive, but in general more stable and can be overclocked to death. Many people were able to overclock their 2.0GHz northwood to 2.4GHz. Not to forget that the current Pentium 4's, with a few improvements, are able to run at 3.0GHz.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The problem with the Pentium 4 is the "instructions per cycle." While the P4 was an (almost) all-new architecture, they actually LOWERED the IPC which makes the processor have to run at a higher cycle count (MHz) in order to compute the instructions. This is why a 1.4GHz Athlon blows the doors off a 1.4GHz P4. The Athlon can do more instructions in that 1400 cycles then the P4 can. You are right, P4's are more expensive, they also come in how many different sockets now??? 3 I think it is, soon to be 4. As for overclocking... so, you buy a MORE EXPENSIVE P4 and you have to overclock it to catch it up to a lower priced, lower clock Athlon... that doesn't make much sense. Not to mention that the motherboard you bought for your P4 will be useless in 2 months when they change the socket again, and in order to overclock you have to throw down tons of money on cooling (fans, watercoolers, or whatever).

	(#4)
n715dp is Offline Junior Member Posts: 6 Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Tampa, FL, USA	02-02-2002, 12:50 AM <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by H3@d$h0t: pentiums are better, some people may disagree. but with the better chip comes the higher price. i have an amd athlon 1.2 gigaherz and havent had a problem yet.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> If Pentiums are better, why do you own an Athlon? <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by rudedog: The thing I do not like about AMD is the via chipset. Other then that it's a toss up <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I agree with you that the VIA chipsets suck, I have been burned by them before, lets not forget that Intel has chipset problems too. Also, there are several alternatives to VIA, I currently use a SiS 735 chipset in my ECS K7S5A and it is the best board I have ever owned. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Manny: The Pentium 4 is the first intel processor since the original pentium to introduce a totally new technology. It takes time for that technology to become superior. Pentium 4's are more expensive, but in general more stable and can be overclocked to death. Many people were able to overclock their 2.0GHz northwood to 2.4GHz. Not to forget that the current Pentium 4's, with a few improvements, are able to run at 3.0GHz.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> The problem with the Pentium 4 is the "instructions per cycle." While the P4 was an (almost) all-new architecture, they actually LOWERED the IPC which makes the processor have to run at a higher cycle count (MHz) in order to compute the instructions. This is why a 1.4GHz Athlon blows the doors off a 1.4GHz P4. The Athlon can do more instructions in that 1400 cycles then the P4 can. You are right, P4's are more expensive, they also come in how many different sockets now??? 3 I think it is, soon to be 4. As for overclocking... so, you buy a MORE EXPENSIVE P4 and you have to overclock it to catch it up to a lower priced, lower clock Athlon... that doesn't make much sense. Not to mention that the motherboard you bought for your P4 will be useless in 2 months when they change the socket again, and in order to overclock you have to throw down tons of money on cooling (fans, watercoolers, or whatever).