Is AMD value for money? 1

[bansalhimanshu]

For a few days I am trying to find out which of the two processors - Intel Pentium or AMD is value for money for PCs or laptops. AMD processors are lot cheaper than Pentium and as per their logo they are compatible with windows XP also. I read the comparison of the two in site

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9486_9491,00.html

which says that AMD is better. Somebody told me that AMD processors get heated up easily and they sometimes get burnt. Can anybody help me out?

 

[kylebellamy]

I've used AMD for all my systems and have never burned one out. Granted if your doing massive overclocking you can easily do it but if just using it as stock, it's a great chip at a great price.

http://www.kylebellamy.com

 

[rye8261]

I have been using amd for 8 or 9 years now and have never once had a problem with them. They are fast and cheaper than Intel.

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[kylebellamy]

Too bad there's not an AMD fo graphics. lol

http://www.kylebellamy.com

 

[pweegar]

In the years I've used amd (Last Intel chip was a 486), I've had ONE problem. It happened on my current machine and I have no idea how. Turned on my pc one morning. It booted to the windows logo and died. I fsaid what the F.... Rebooted into linux. Booted to the login screen and died. How, I paniced. Figured the power supply went bad. So I bought a new one and when I openned the case I discovered the HEat sink/fan popped off the cpu!!! Place it back on and no problems since (And it's an AMD Athalon 64 bit). I figure I got really lucky this time.

 

[paparazi]

What AMD/Intel CPU's you are looking at???
The reason I ask is because INTEL!! is now the manufacturer struggling with HEAT ISSUES, NOT AMD!
The latest high end Prescott core Intels produce well over 100watts of heat and this requires extra thought and pre-planning when using one of these CPU's in a build.
Athlon64's run cooler, OK! not much! but the boot is definately on the other foot.
As far as XP versa's P4 is concerned (old camp) they both produce similar amounts of heat, it's just that the heatsink/mechanism/design FITMENT on socket A (Athlon) is a little more critical.
And because PC building has become such an ammeter hobby, many get what is a relatively simple task, badly wrong! hence so many reports of burnt AMD chips.
Fitted correctly, and it's easy when you know how, Athlons are just as reliable and to use a well known pun, they offer best bang for buck!.
Martin

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Participate and help others.

 

[felixc]

Just comparing CPUs, you get better price-performance ratio with AMD. These days the AthlonXP/2600 is quite a deal. If you're looking to compare whole systems, at a similar price you should get a little more features in an AMD box. Unless you just want a cheap box to surf Internet and run an office suite, stay away from the motherboards that integrate video and sound. Any performance edge of the CPU will be lost by the poor performance of these integrateed functions.

 

[paparazi]

If you do go with AMD the best chipsets supporting this CPU are:
Nvidia Nforce2 and Via's KT880

Via's slightly older KT600 would also be a good budget choice.
Look for a motherboard which has one of the above chipsets and the features that suit you particular needs.
MSI, Abit, Asus, Gigabyte, Epox
Barton core Athlons are the best performers: XP2.5/2.6/2.7/3.0/3.2 XP3.2's and some XP3.0's are 400fsb
Barton cores have twice as much level2 Cache as older Thoroughbred cores.

NOTE* Athlons are being phased out and Semprons are replacing the lower sector of AMD's market but as Barton core XP's are better performing than the Thoroughbred B based Sempron buy an Athlon Barton while you still can.
Martin


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[ceh4702]

Depends on what you want to buy and how fast you want to go and what you want to do with it.

For an all-around good computer I still think the AMD Athlon XP2800 with the Asus A7N8X Ultra 400 motherboard is a great deal.

However, some people want top of the line or significantly faster. They you have to decide if you want and Athlon 64 Processor or and Athlon 64 FX? processor.

A lot depends what you are willing to pay for.

I think the Intel 800 Mhz P4 2.4C, 2.6C 2.8C and 3.0C are pretty good processors and not too expensive. For an Athlon 64 you could easily spend $130-$250 or even higher. For an Athlon XP2800 you might find it around $110 $128 or so. I paid $124 for my Retail AMD XP2800+ with the Heatsink/fan. I run mine with the Retail CPU Cooler.

The other thing is the price of the Motherboard.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[bansalhimanshu]

further in addition to this one more point worth giving attention is ...
i think u can get 64 bit AMD processor while intel are still 32 and in the days to come probably in few months u will find everything all software/hardware compatible to 64 bit and not 32 .So 32 bit processors are going to be outdated very soon.

Regards,
Sharad Rathi
Tata Consultancy Services Limited
Mailto: sharad.rathi@tcs.com

 

[norty303]

I don't think it'll be quite that soon and applications will be backward compatible anyway for a good few years. I think it'll be more a case of whether you'll be able to get a 64bit version of your favorite software

 

[focusdchaos]

My thoughts are:

Intel currently has more heat issues than AMD. Thus they needed to design the BTX form factor to keep their systems cool enough, with out sounding like a vaccume.

If you want a future proof machine, go with the AMD Socket 754 based machine. Those machines are going to be around for a long time. AMD Socket A and Intel P4 are nearing End of Life.

For a value system, you can can get a Semperon 3100, which is a 32bit only version of the A64. You can then upgrade to A64 whenever you would like without a new motherboard.

For laptops, go with Pentium M/Centrino, you can't beat it on performance/battery life. Not using the P4 Netburst arch. and going back to a better performing less scaling arch was a great move. I applaud Intel for Pentium M.

 

[bansalhimanshu]

Thank you very much to all of you for your help.

 

[paparazi]

There is a further twist in the AMD tale.
Actually socket 754 is dated! now that 939 is on the scene with it's on chip dual channel memory function and better performance.
939 was "WAS" the choice for high end only!AMD64's starting at the 3500 putting this platform well out of most users budgets.
THINGS HAVE NOW CHANGED!! AMD have introduced several lower speed 939 pin CPU's AMD64 3000/3200 thus bringing this newer platform/CPU within most users midrange budget.
With on chip dual memory controler, cool "N" quiet and performance that easily equals P4 equivelents, this is a formidable platform.
Coupled with a Via K8T880 pro!! or Nforce3 250 chipset equipt motherboard I have nothing but praise.
I can personally recommend the MSI K8 Neo2 Platinum (Nforce3 250) motherboard.
Martin

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Participate and help others.

 

[DaveFarquhar]

I've owned PCs with every major brand of CPU in them since the early 1990s. I've never burned out a CPU. I know people who have had problems with their AMD- or Cyrix-based systems, but I was always able to trace the problem to a cheap power supply, motherboard, or some other component. Since AMD chips are cheaper and always have been, they have been more likely to be paired with bottom-of-the-barrel components to make the cheapest PC possible, and problems with those have definitely hurt AMD's reputation.

But I've found that as long as you have a quality motherboard, memory, and power supply, from a reliability standpoint the brand name of your CPU doesn't matter all that much. Buy quality components and don't overclock, and it's reasonable to expect that you can keep the system for 5+ years with no component failures other than the hard drive.

And while AMD's performance crown has come and gone (and it's almost always been possible to find one or two things Intel always did faster, or AMD always did faster), I'm a firm believer that AMD has always delivered a good value for the money.

Dave Farquhar

http://dfarq.homeip.net

 

[DJCyber2101]

AMD is definately your best choice. Microsoft is now endorcing AMD fully. The Athlon CPU and Windows operating do not have "XP" at the end of their names by coincidence. In the past Microsoft build all OS on the Intel architecture but AMD has surpassed Intel thus future OS by Microsoft will be based on the AND CPUs. This in itself is a compelling reason to choose AMD not to mention price and benchmarks compared to Intel.

DJCyber