AthlonXP confusion - it's starting

[Technoid]

The incredible 235Watt PSU!!!

The incredible 235Watt PSU!!!

Is what is probably powering that computer!!

I have yet to see a Scaleo computer with a higher watt PSU...

How would you feel after you have bought that system and after 20 bluescreens discover "The incredible 235Watt PSU!!!" ?

[superfly]

Don't get me wrong here,AMD has a very capable chip on their hands ,but like some have stated MHZ does matter in the minds of those less informed...

But on the other hand,should the new P4 outperform the existing one,even at the same mhz and if intel can clock it much beyond what AMD can acheive with the athlon,no PR rating in the world or the argument that the athlon is faster on a IPC level will matter anyhow,the mhz difference will simply be too much to overcome in terms of real world performance,if Intel can maintain a 600+ mhz lead.

Even in a situation like that,AMD based systems will offer a much better value for a 1/3 of the price and offer very good performance that's more than enough for 99.9% of users out there.


In fact,i'm seriously considering purchasing a dual palomino mp 1.53 ghz with a tyan tiger 2460 and a gig of DDR memory since a setup like that would cost me about 1100~1200$ CAN funds while an intel dual p4 2.0 gig xeon of similar performance with their 860 chipset board and a gig RDRAM would cost me over 3000$ CAN funds.

For me,it's an easy choice and a worthwhile upgrade from a dual 933 p3 setup,no?....

[Randy Simons]

Originally posted by Taz
The only fair way to do it would be for all sides to agree on a benchmark program and then rate their CPU's accordingly then the big question is what do you test integer, floating point, SSE, etc.

This would be a BAD thing, which has happened before: they actually adapt the hardware so that a certain benchmark runs faster. Unfortunately, that often means that everything else using that specific part runs slower. So while the bench runs faster, the hardware is slower in real-life.

[Wombat]

Yep. Can you say TPMC? How about SpecInt and SpecFP?

[superfly]

Well...i finally made up my mind and ordered the dual AMD setup with 2 1.5 ghz athlon MP's and a gig of DDR sdram with the tyan board ....

Can't wait to put it all together and run some benches....

[Pneumatic]

superfly, what do you do with your computer? I am trying to justify getting the dual AMD setup but since I have no real reason to get one I am having a hard time justifying the expense (uh, to my wife). I don't use it for work at all, but I would really like to have one just because.

So do you use it for work where you need the extra horsepower, is it a game rig, or something else? Also where do you see the most benefit with a dual proc. setup? I am mostly a gamer so would it be beneficial for me or not?

[superfly]

The basic advantage with SMP is that you can potentially get huge performance boots if the software you're using is multithreaded,if it is,then the workload can be distributed between both cpu's and depending on how well it's optimized for SMP machines,the performance can easily be anywhere between 30~100% faster compared to a single cpu machine.


Right now i'll use it for photoshop and 3d studio max,both of are multithreaded programs but there are many other 3d packages and CAD programs that also benefit from SMP as well and i do admit i get a kick by running Q3 and any other games that use the Q3 engine and running them in SMP mode and getting and honest 35~40% speed boost which isn't too shabby at all considering that it's SMP support was more of an experiment by ID to see if it could be done.


The other benefit is multitasking performance which is simply outstanding on an SMP machine,even in most situations were most software isn't optimized for SMP,you can run two very cpu intensive programs at once and the machine will handle it quite nicely.

I have been know to play a game on one cpu(even online)while the other is used to burn a cd and defrag my hardrives(i have several)

Besides,it has never been this cheap to build an SMP machine before because overall,including the extra cost for the motherboard,it adds about 250$,compared to the cost of a single cpu system.

[Nuno]

I am having a hard time justifying the expense (uh, to my wife).

A quick reminder of how stilish clothes, parfums and make-up can be expensive and the real need for them usually does the trick

[Wombat]

And then he'll be sleeping on the couch, and have to resort to using his new computer to keep him warm at night.

[impact]

Save twice the money. Divide them equally between you two. Enjoy!