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Author Topic: Intel or AMD?  (Read 8126 times)

Offline Agent4054

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Intel or AMD?
« on: October 11, 2003, 09:48:44 PM »
Ok, I thought I better start a new topic. But is still related to my previous hardware problem. As the topic suggests, I'm trying to decide between Intel or AMD. AMD, of course, is cheaper but I'm not exactly sure how they compare to the Intels. My past experience with Intels weren't too good, but they may have changed since then. My current AMD is good when it doesn't crash my system. :P

But you guys' opinions would be nice. :) I trust most of you know enough about the cpu's. I found a few good mobo cpu combos as of late and (to be redundant) would like your opinion on the brand (of cpu).

Oh! the other thing I was wondering was how do the upgrade paths compare between the two?  :sombrero

Offline Pride

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2003, 12:35:54 AM »
It depends how much you wanna spend to be honest.

Intel is faster (AMD just beat them out, but their new FX chip is ridiculously priced).  So if you are looking for speed, Intel is the better choice.  But of course you pay for that speed.

BUT... AMD's speeds are more accurate.  For instance... and AMD 2.4 GHZ is faster than an INTEL 3.0 GHZ.

Intel inflates their stats.

My recommendation, if money is an issue, go AMD
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sancho

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2003, 09:08:50 AM »
I agree with Pride, but i'll never see myself purchasing an AMD chip ever again.  If someone gives me one, or I "aquire" one...  that's the only way...  But that's just cause i'm anal..

~Sancho  :chef

Offline Pride

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #3 on: October 12, 2003, 10:07:50 AM »
i am the same way as Sancho.  I have an AMD now, and no complaints, but my next one will be an Intel.  I am willing to pay the extra for it.
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Offline Agent4054

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #4 on: October 12, 2003, 11:59:16 AM »
ok thanks guys. my next question is about the ddr ram. I can get any ddr that my motherboard supports; ie. 333/400/etc... But do the PC2100/2700 ratings matter? As in, if the motherboard supports 333mhz, can I get 2700 or 2100? Also, I'm guessing, that you'd need unifrom numbers.. Can you combine ddr types? Just for the sake of curiosity.

sancho

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #5 on: October 12, 2003, 01:32:51 PM »
PC2100 = DDR266...  PC2700 = DDR333, etc....

That's what that means...

~Sancho  :chef

sancho

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #6 on: October 12, 2003, 01:36:09 PM »
Hrmmm, i read the question wrong..., you already knew that...

~Sancho  :chef

Offline Agent4054

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #7 on: October 12, 2003, 02:26:59 PM »
Your smurf scares me.

sancho

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #8 on: October 12, 2003, 02:45:41 PM »
I'm da' papa...

~Sancho  :chef

Offline Negley97

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AMD for me
« Reply #9 on: October 12, 2003, 09:24:48 PM »
I'm going to go against everyone and say that I will never in a million years buy an intel cpu again unless AMD goes out of business.

Maybe it was just a case of the wrong place at the wrong time but I've had back to back issues with P3's and certain chipsets on the mb.  I've been an avid user of the AMD chip for a while and knock on wood I've had the easiest time getting an AMD to work correctly the first time.  I think Intel is too high maintenance.

A celeron with a sweet vid card can outpower a p3 with a cheap card so when looking to get the most speed from your system do not bank all your bucks on the latest and greatest cpu's out there.  Given a great vid card and non-generic memory you can make your pc come back to life and run with the big dogs.

My hats off to AMD for at least trying to bring the 64 bit processor to the home user.  Intel's had the Itanium chip for a long time now but no one with an ordinary budget can invest the money to use it.   I think AMD is playing their cards right and proving to the world that Intel is not the only choice in this world for your computer.
img]http://bf2.gamedrome.com/gen/bf2/17857.jpg[/img]

Sinistar

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #10 on: October 13, 2003, 10:07:51 PM »
I'd give some kind of honest evaluation of the two chips, but I have 3 AMD systems, so, uh, I'm not even going to pretend that I'm fair and balanced as it regards this topic. :)

I have two systems that are Celerons, but I only used those because they ran cooler and were being put into an enclosed space (my ToolKITT).

The combos break down as follows:

Duron 850 / FIC AZ-11E
Athlon 1.1GHz / Abit KT7-RAID
Athlon XP 2800+ / Asus A7N8X Deluxe

The only system I ever had big time trouble with was the KT7-RAID, but that was due to the fact that the VIA chipset hated SoundBlaster Live! cards - it took several versions of the 4-in-1 drivers and a couple BIOS revisions to get that cleared up.

Offline Agent4054

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #11 on: October 14, 2003, 01:52:49 AM »
I remember back when I got my first computer. It was a 60mhz pentium 1. That was a superfast pc there! It cost $2000 and it was a "screamin'" system. Heh...riiiiiight. I still have the 140mb hard drive that came with it. It came with two games: Myst and Descent. Descent is an awesome game by the way.

The main problem with that purchase was the processor. See, Intel (for some stupid reason) made the 60mhz processors different from all the rest. They were supposed to be "technology that would change everything". Well, yeah. Turned out, we couldn't upgrade. Intel made their 60's with weird architecture that would allow an upgrade up the same cpu type to 66mhz. Yet, they also made 66mhz of a different type. Of course, that type caught on and the 60 didn't. bad luck, huh? Yeah. must be my "bad luck aura".

My next pc was a 400mhz pentium 2 celery. Big jump, but needed considering that the 60mhz couldn't handle a 3d acelerator. Man, that pc was a piece of Crap (mini-tower). The only thing that made it good was that Rage128 16mb All-In-Wonder card i got for it.


Well, thats my bad luck with Intel so far.....

devilduck

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #12 on: October 14, 2003, 10:37:30 AM »
I've had the good fortune to build both an AMD system and a Pentium system for myself lately.  Here is what I find.  If you have the money Pentium 4 is a definite plus.  The new 800Mhz FSB versions still work best with RDRAM which is getting harder and harder to find.  I built mine with dual channels of DDR400 RAM and it works quite nice.  The 875 chipset motherboards are really good and come with a lot of extra goodies. (i.e. onboard raid, SATA interface, etc.)  However, if the money issue is something you have to be concerned about, the AMD is much more preferable.  You can get yourself a good Barton core CPU and a motherboard that will support DDR333 for less than a P4 setup and still get a great response with games.  

Unfortunately AMD has been getting kicked around alot since the "hyperthreading" and 3 gig Cpu were unveiled by Intel.  But I have to say that for some reason AMD setups always seem to go a little smoother than P4's.  It's gotten better, but it seems you always have to tweak the P4's a little to get them were you want them.  AMD's work great right out of the box.  Slap em together and your off.  Hope this helps. :2thumbsup:

devilduck

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #13 on: October 14, 2003, 10:44:47 AM »
PS Stay away from Celerons!!!  They suck suck suck.  Geez you'd think I'm a little testy about that.   :beadyeyes

Also, in answer to your ram question, I would think the DDR ram scenario would operate under the same fashion as mixing PC100 and PC133.  You will only run as fast as the slowest ram that you have on the board.  So I wouldn't mix higher with lower.  Go for the highest your motherboard can support to get the best advantage out of your FSB.

sancho

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Intel or AMD?
« Reply #14 on: October 14, 2003, 10:59:06 AM »
Bah to the duck, I don't have any problems with the P4 system setup :)

~Sancho  :chef