Intel P4 vs AMD

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1619

Well as The Donald pointed out, my current build has me content for the moment, while waiting. I thought I said that somewhere. LOL According to insider supplied rumors, Intel is shooting for Q3 of 06 if at all possible for the Conroe release. That's according to the DailyTech article above. At half the price of the comparable AMD used in the test supplied at the trade show ($530-$1000), the Conroe might be worth the wait for those like me. If you're in a hurry, go ahead and get one of the current AMDs or an Intel as The Donald suggests. 6 months is a long time in computer history and you could be enjoying blazing performance immediately. I'll just wait to see what happens and what we're going to get with the Vista OS. Vista is as much a reason for waiting as the new CPU releases. My next package has to last a couple of years. I'm still wanting a new Harley and I can't be spending money on PC equipment all the time, if I'm ever to have hope of getting one.

 

Does that come in Blue!!! <G>

6402,

What are you running now for home use?

 

theonejrs
Such a handsome visage, I'd be looking at it all the time. Though Sophocles has never seen me, I'm sure he'll comment along the line of broken mirrors.

 

I believe this picture was captured of Brobear on his bike when he was in a bad mood!

 

I really can't see those price cuts that early. If the 9xx series is going to be 1/3 of the price then, it'd be cheaper now.

 

Donald just might be right, rumors have it that Conroe won't be available until 2007. Another rumor is that AMD is going to release AM2 soon but that it will be short lived because AMD intends to release AM3 in 2007.

Whatever the upcoming changes, there's no reason to wait for a new build if one is ready for it (god knows nothing has made me wait. LOL) because there will always be something new on the horizon.

 

Absolutely. X2 really acts as a price cut for 939 systems.

 

Scubabud,

I run 4 machines in the office. A 3800+ dual core at 2.6ghz
2 3200+ at 2.7 ghz
1 Dual Athlon MP 1800

 

ScubaBud
If I could only catch the paparazzi who took the photo...

 

Brobear,
It is hard to price a processor that isn't for sale at 530 dollars.
Even harder to pretend that you have to pay 1000 dollars for something you can get for 400-500 dollars in a 4400+ or a 175.
I have no doubt that a fair test would show todays AMDs still beating the more expensive vaporware processor that isn't for sale.

It is pretty sad that Intel can't even pretend an imagined victory much less have one in real life. If I were Intel I would have made up something that made them look better.

 

LOL!!!
It's great to speak to people who have such a wonderful sense of humour.

 

The Donald
I'm really not worried about the Conroe that much. Time will tell and if it turns out to be akin to vaporware, then there's nothing lost (except Intel's rep). As I said, there's more to my waiting game than just waiting for Intel and the Conroe. I'm no fanboy for either AMD or Intel and when it comes time, I'll try to get the best for my budget at the time. For those just waiting on processors, that's their call. There's good dual cores and the near future has no guarantees of anything greatly superior. Normally there's something better just around the bend, so it comes to how far one wants to go with their current hardware and software before taking the plunge for the next round.

 

Brobear,

He's been looking for you! You broke his camera!!! He He

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

I figure by next year our needs will be different. Maybe less encoding and more just ripping to dual layer or blue ray or something.
Video cards may completely eliminate the need for a fast processor in games. Quad core multiple GPUs.
Intel and AMD might have the wrong solutions in the pipeline.
My next PDA phone might have a Centrino Duo processor.

I just can't see next year yet.

 

6402,

Hey!!! Don't look at me. My crystal ball is in the shop!! There's a lot of this year left and it's gonna be a hell of a year! Even our threads back on track!

Under the heading: Questions Nobody Asked? If the Conroe is a $530 chip, then how come the "Inferior" top end Pressler and Smithfields are around $1000? Answer: You'll never see a chip as good as the Conroe for that price! I think Intel just wanted to stop the bleeding!!! Either that or they think we are stupid! They lose!!! We ain't!!!

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

I'll believe it when I see it is the stance I have on things promised but not yet delivered.

 

64026402
well actually the only thing hold me back is my monitor. my card is not that old and plays all the new game without a hitch. I'll wait till next year to build and go nvidia with a hd monitor since ati doesn't support hd except in a couple of top line cards.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30811

 

theonejrs
i think you got the specs on the conroe mixed up with another chip, especially wattagehttp://endian.net/details.aspx?tag=Conroe

 

Baltekmi,

You may be right on the Conroe's wattage. I just repeated what I read in the article. I do however doubt the wattages listed in the specs you provided. If Intel could do that right now, they would! They are getting their ass kicked in the wattage/heat department by AMD. Heat is a very big issue for Intel. I had to laugh while reading reviews of their high-end Pentium Ds. The very first one I read mentioned temps in the very high 60s. That was in the Pros!!! In the Cons, it said: "nothing I can think of"! Guess he thought high 60s were O.K. Perhaps the authors lumped in the 135 watt rating as that's what Intel's present dual-cores are reported to be. Power aside, I doubt you will ever see a $530 Conroe with that kind of power. I think it was a BS deal all the way.

I tried a little experiment last night. I changed my settings in the BIOS to the defaults and ran my computer at 3.0. The reason I did this is because a friend told me that his stock 3.0 Prescott with the stock cooler never ever ran over 45C. Consider that I now have 5 high quality fans, a premium top rated CPU cooler (another fan) and a 7th. on the Graphics card. They create enough airflow that it will hold a piece of bond paper firmly against the air vent holes on the right side front of the case without moving. Airflow is "not" a problem! One more fan and it could probably hover! It actually runs hotter than when OC'd 20%. It jumped right up to 60C while encoding and eventually hit 64C. I think he fibbed (lied is such an ugly word) just a bit! Either that or he forgot to tell me about the rather large piece of dry ice he used to help things along.

The bottom line is this. If Intel could do the Conroe at the price quoted they would. they are losing market share as well as the benchmark wars. Their sales are going down while AMDs are going up. Even Dell figured out a way to get Athlon 64x2 dual-cores into their lineup. I'm sure that we will see more "Alienware" models from Dell in the near future.. Intel wouldn't run the risk by threatening Dell as if they lose Dell, they are dead!

Happy Computering,
theonejrs

 

Theonejrs
Prescott temps aren't indicative of Intel's over all ability to build CPUs. They've built cooler running processors in the past and their mobile processors are cool running processors as well. So a cooler running desktop processor wouldn't come as a big surprise. They know how to do things if they'd just do them without funny moves to try to get more bucks with PR bull. As for pricing, like the rest of the Conroe situation, that's still wait and see. Rumors are running rampant, so it's getting to where a person doesn't know what to believe.