Intel P4 vs AMD

[bold]brobear & Sophocles & whoever else gave me info.[/bold]
I just want to thank you yett again for helping me back on pg 33. (I was kookoo76 untill i got bann for having a cuss word in my sig lol bt w.e) I got my memory and video card both upgraded.(ex i didnt install the vcard[bold] *yet*.)[/bold]
My memory is now upgrated 1gb, and geforce 6200..(Not that great, but i'm not going to buy a great card like the geforce 7800gtx yett, well i will when prices drop alote.) It still is an improvment from an integrated card that took up 64mb of my memory. It's still a pretty decent computer.
[bold] I just have this one question left.[/bold]
Before i install my new video card in my Pc, would i have to disable the Intergrated one[bold] before, or after[/bold] i have installed the new card? I dont want to mess anything up. It doesnt give any information about this in the instruction book they gave me.
Thankz again.

 

Brobear, try this link for bios update:

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...gen&releaseid=R73674&formatcnt=1&fileid=96032

Release Title: BIOS: Dell Dimension System BIOS, English, Dimension 8300 / 8300N, A05
Release Date: 03/01/2004
Description: Dimension 8300 A05 System BIOS

 

KoOkOo67

Turn your PC off, Install your card, boot up and it should be recognized and displayed on your first boot page. If you see it then disable the integrated card. It won't hurt you to disable the integrated card first because once you install your new card it will run in compatibility mode until you complete the driver installation. If for some reason it doesn't work and you've disabled your integrated card then remove your system battery for a few seconds and it'll reset your integrated video.

 

K thanks.

 

Sophocles and Scubabud
Since I posted, I tracked down my problem... Dell. I'd already updated the BIOS, shortly after the update was available. As far as adjustments, the OEM BIOS is locked. The OEM board supports a faster processor than the P4 2.8GHz Northwood I have in it. I could put a P4 3.4GHz Northwood in it and it would work. At least that is what the Dell tech told me; no BIOS adjustments necessary. The problem is, the CPU Dell has that would work with the board costs over $700 delivered. You can guess what I told them... Why not just buy a PC, it would be cheaper. I've not seen any other 3.4 processors besides the Prescotts like the one Newegg sells. I'm not sure that Dell doesn't have some more proprietary secrets they're not telling about. By the way, Newegg only wants $45 for the returned merchandise fee. Nice of them isn't it? I've decided to just forget about it and live with the return fee. At least all won't be lost and I learned a lesson. I'll just live with what I have and build an AMD later.

I realize I could get a custom board, but then I'd get into issues of it possibly not fitting the Dell case. Then there's case issues and power supplies. If I'm going to build a new PC, it's not going to be around an obsolete socket 478 processor.

Thanks guys. Remind me not to buy any more off the shelf PCs, even if I am in a hurry.

Catch you guys in a few days or so... I'm going on a short vacation; a little sun, sand, and golfing.

 

brobear

Keep the Northwood and return the Prescott and lets do a little over clocking. For less than the cost of your CPU you can have a machine that will scream. This board overclocks easily and you could easily hit 3.2 Ghz with the much faster Northwood.

At newegg get this board it's good with both Northwoods and Prescotts and it has dual channel memory as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131492R

Here's a review of the board.

http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/asus-p4p800-e/

[bold]Get this case,[/bold] and you should be able to use your current power supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129152

We've spent about $140.

Use your current hard disks, memory, CD roms, and video card. That's it.

 

Brobear

I can totally agree with Sophocles on his point and recommendation for two reasons. First I have that board and second, my 2.8 Northwood, now in another machine I built over-clocked an additional 15 % to 3.22 and was extremely stable 24/7. It's now on a Soyo Dragon2 for my wife and my Northwood 3.4 in on the Asus at 3.74 for me.

PS, if the sand, sun and golf is in Florida, stop by and say Hi! We live in Palm Beach County. Either way, enjoy your mini-vacation!

 

brobear

When your documentation stated that you could put 3.4 Ghz processor in your machine they were talking abut this.

http://www.excaliberpc.com/Intel_Pentium_4_Extreme_Edition/JM80532PH0992M/partinfo-id-553583.html

It's easy to forget that the original P4 extreme sported a Northwood core.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Components/CPUs/Intel/auction-43065999.htm

 

Sophocles & Brobear,

I have the disk for the Asus P4P800 motherboard. Let me know if you need it and I will e-mail you a copy.

Happy New Year

theonejrs

 

Brobear,

If your bios is locked you should be able to use Clockgen to set the CPU/FSB speed.
http://www.cpuid.com/clockgen.php#mainboards

You need to pick a version compatable with your motherboard but they have quite a few. P4s are pretty well supported.
Sisoft should have the PLL clock generator type in it if you can't get the make and model of the board.

 

You can also get a 3.4 Northwood for $269.
http://www.starmicro.net/detail.aspx?ID=543

 

Hey guys, Im an advanced user, but I haven't had the luxury of being able to buy an amd chip to try out, and I'm trying to resist going amd, i'm an intel guy. I was debating on the athlon 64 3500+/3700+ against the 3.2 ghz 2mb L2 cache/3.4 ghz 2mb L2 cache chips. Comments? They pretty much both cost the same with a dif of 10 or so bucks per stage. I'm making a pc for mainly video editing.

 

If the cost is pretty much the same and video is the primary use then AMD would be my recomendation. If you must go Intel I would grab one of the cheap dual cores they have out. Just get plenty of cooling.

 

The thing about advanced users is they really don't care which brand they buy. They just get the best choice at the time. AMD just has an edge right now.

 

Brobear,

Why don't you just keep the P4 as is and build a second computer to sit beside it. Share the monitor an keyboard. The best data security is a second machine. While one is down the other will work hard for you.
Take your time. Look for deals. Improve as you desire. You can put together the second machine dirt cheap to start with. A $50 sata 80 gig drive, a $60 NF4 board you can build on, a less expensive processor to start. This is the fun part for me because the whole time your main machine is still doing to mule work.

 

kronos288


Since they're almost the same price I'd go with the the San Diego core 3700+. It can be easily over clocked to 2.6 Ghz and if you have good quality memory 2.7 Ghz and higher is doable on air cooling only. There's no way that a 3.2 Ghz Intel would even come close to its performance.

 

6402

As you know I've been considering purchasing the X2 4400, but after days of research I've decided that the Opteron 175 is a better choice. They both have the same clock multiplier and speed. The truth is that they are probably the exact same core, with one small difference. Opteron's are binned to a higher standard than the X2's and their voltage requirements are .5 lower. They should be the best of the best, which means a high potential for over clocking. On the net they're hitting an average of 2.75 Ghz. Also they are available as OEM's which means that they actuall cost less than the X2 4400. I'm curious did your X2 3800 come with a different heat sink fan combo than your venice did?

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merc...ode=M&Product_Code=120343&Category_Code=amddc

 

The heat sink was the same but the fan was faster. Otherwise Identical.

 

Thanks, I thought the fit would be the same, I didn't give any consideration for the fan.

 

I've returned after my week away, and have just read the 4-5 pages of stuff written in my absence. I thnk the important issues really would be:

Single-core Extreme: FX is the obvious solution, but single cores are old technology, and cost even more than the X2s at high performance levels.
Single-core high speed: Athlon64. Pure and simple.
Single-core low-budget: That's a little more difficult. Probably sempron64 or low-speed Athlon64.
Dual-core: X2 3800/4200. 4400 if affordable maybe. Then overclock them. Never go near intel dual cores unless you either use watercooling or have a PC that sounds more like a hovercraft.