Sªlva

I am going to by a new pc. I'm not very experienced

What should I chose Pentium or AMD and what version?

Also what graphics card do i use?

I would apreciate if you could e-mail me

salvem@hotmail.com

or just reply

wutske

It realy depends on what you will do w/ it. Personaly, I prefer an Athlon64, but other will prefer a P4 or a good ol' XP. Graphics card, same here, what will you do with it ?

Ow, now I do hope this ain't going to become another AMD/Intel war toppic .

piotke

AMD has now the fastest CPU's for a decent price...

A64 3000+ or 3200+ seem to have the best bang-for-the-buck effect.

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TeuS

intel stuff is a bit more reliable, but a lot more expensive then AMD. they're a bit faster for desktop stuff, but not for gaming

AMD XP stuff is pretty cheap, but nforce² mainboards are less reliable.

AMD 64 stuff is very fast, but expensive atm. there are some problems with memory compatibility.

piotke

What's the problem with the reliability ? I had up to now 3 A64 setups, 2 of them died. But that had nothing to do with that, They died because I used them in a dumbass way ....

Concerning the memory, correct, there are quit a lot of issues, but once it works, it's a beast !

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Da_BoKa

i wouldn't say nforce2 is unreliable, they have a sucky bios, but when you stay away from it they run like hell

and why do you calle p4 reliable, that is just nonsense, they are all reliable

RichBa5tard

A64 / Athlon XP or Intel P4 processors are *all* reliable. It's the motherboard chipset you've got to pay attention to.

I'd recommend the following setups:
- An Intel P4 'C' 2.8Ghz with an Intel 865PE chipset motherboard.
>> fast processor, very reliable chipset, affordable

- An AMD A64 2800/3000/3200+ with an Nforce3 250GB chipset motherboard.
>> very fast processor, affordable, very feature rich motherboard, but reliability of motherboard is not yet proven

- An AMD XP2800+ barton with an nforce2 ultra400 motherboard:
>> very cheap, excellent bang for the buck, but nforce2 motherboards are less reliable.

__________________
HTPC (mac osx): Mac Mini | Core Duo 1.6Ghz | 2GB DDR2 | 26\" TFT
Development (mac osx): Macbook | Core 2 2.0Ghz | 4GB DDR2 | 250GB HD
Games (win xp): E2160 @ 2.4Ghz | HD3850 OC | Asrock 4coredual-vsta | 2GB DDR2

Sarcastro

Just from personal experience: I've owned in the past year about 8 different P4's and approximately 11 different motherboards, and one of them died. The one AMD 64 proc I've owned still works great, however I'm currently using my 3rd board with it, in 3 months. Not because I like to change boards often, but because they plain suck. 1 died, one liked to act up every once in a while.

I won't even open up the can of worms the Athlon 32bit platforms (KT600 &nf2) are reliability wise, because they won't even come remotely close to understanding what it might be like to be as reliable as an Intel Intel combination.

Anyway, it just depends on the person what I'd recommend. If you'd just like a PC to run and are not willing to read up on it and/or opening it after it runs fine; I'd recommend a P4c (or E if there aren't any C anymore) with a solid board (i865/i875). If you aren't afraid of your PC, opening it up, reading up on your hardware do bios flashes and such, please do get yourself an AMD64 because those systems hold the performance crown ( ) today. I can't give you any advice on the motherboard since I've had terrible luck with them. Altough I like my current abit KV8max3.

Sidney

90% or better IT managers in North America use Intel systems; In Corporations with over 100 Desktops in any given location, you seldom find an AMD system. You could judge whatever you want to; whether the IT guys are not so bright; or Intel is more acceptable or reliable or more expensive or less than AMD.

You would find most enthusiasts own AMD; then you have to judge how many enthusiasts amoung PC users.

It would be like; Is Harley Davision a better bike than Honda?

Two schools of thought; two different designs. If you like to tweak with bike more than riding it ... Harley. If you like riding more than tweaking .... Honda. Now, some will say changing spark plug is nothing ...... yet my Honda with over 20,000 miles with the original plugs.

I have owned Triumph, Harely and Honda. When I become a bit less enthusiast in tweaking, I settle down with a Honda.

My son in law is an AMD guy, not because he is fond of it... is the pricing that he likes. My brother has over 500 workstartions under his management; he cannot afford the expense to run around AMD workstations, he is an Intel guy and nothing could change his mind.

As far as cost; A64 and P4 are similar.
AXP is the best in value; Intel Celeron has no comparison in performance at AXP price point. P4 C is the best in flexibility as far as OC and HT function.

Two great products from two excellent companies; what else could you ask. Buy two of them like most of us have.

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lazyman

Opteron 165 (2) @2.85 1.42 vcore AMD Stock HSF + Chill Vent II

RichBa5tard

Erh, most large companies own intel desktops because "no-one has ever been fired from buying Intel".

Here's a conversation I had recently with a guy responsible for buying a few new systems for his company:
Him: "So, which is the best, but affordable, desktop system I could get nowadays?"
Me: "That'd be an A64+ 3200+ with a raptor 74GB and 1.5GB DDR400."
Him: "AMD? Really?"
Me: "Yes, equally priced as Intel and a noticable bit faster."
Him: "But is it reliable?"
Me: "As long as you don't overclock, yes".
Him: "Sure?"
Me: "Yes."
Him: "Can I blame you whenever we encounter a problem? Any Problem?"
Me: "Sigh.... buy an Intel P4C 2.8Ghz."

__________________
HTPC (mac osx): Mac Mini | Core Duo 1.6Ghz | 2GB DDR2 | 26\" TFT
Development (mac osx): Macbook | Core 2 2.0Ghz | 4GB DDR2 | 250GB HD
Games (win xp): E2160 @ 2.4Ghz | HD3850 OC | Asrock 4coredual-vsta | 2GB DDR2