Intel vs. AMD

so spend some extra cash and upgrade to Core 2 Duo technology. when pricing out new pc?

 

I definitely would.

The Pentium D is fast in its own right but even the slowest Core 2 Duo would make the fastest Pentium D sweat.

Even though they're slower in Gigahertz they process things in a very different way. If there were a stock 3.4GHz Core 2 Duo to match the Pentium D 950 it would still blow it out of the water completely.

 

how do you guys keep up with all this? is there a dummies guide?

 

sorry i meant the Conroe cores woops lol

 

I don't really think there's a dummies guide.

If you're building a new system you have to be willing to learn about the parts and how they perform. If you don't know what you're doing you'll likely face failure and broken/incompatible parts.

When I started I was pretty PC retarded too but I just kept asking around here for answers and searched the internet.

If you need to know the performance of a certain part it's usually best to use google to look up reviews. They'll tell you the basic price and performance and whether it's a good buy or not.

 

Bang for the buck, the Core 2 Duo is the best option. That became apparent last year shortly after release with all the positive reviews and positive performance comparisons to other avialable processors.

As for a guide, just pay attention to what's getting the popular reviews and do a little research. What's getting the writeups and whats being discussed on forums is a good indicator. Once the choice is made, it's just a matter of compatible parts and how performance oriented do you want them. Are you going to be happy with stock settings or do you want a performance system that can stand a hefty OC?

 

thank again all. i am sure there will be more questions soon!

 

You're welcome. But beware when you start asking questions on individual components for a build. We don't always agree and there's usully more than one good solution. You also need to figure a budget and stay close to what you can afford. CPU, mobo, RAM, and PSU are your main concerns and then case and drives.

 

Funny thing is Intel just came along and put us 5 years ahead with C2D.
And made it affordable!!!
Nearly forgot...........The psu is the heart of any system.....without it,everything else is useless!!
Just don't skimp on your psu.

For a free speedboost with your current system,defrag your hard drive!!!!
I hadn't defragged for a while and was horrified to see this!!!!!



It's like a 100mhz overclock...nearly)!!!

The system is just quicker to open files/folders etc.

 

Crowy

You'll have to speak for yourself. Intel was behind for a few years and C2D was a correction for going down the wrong path with Netburst. Then add 5 years is a long time in PC development. Intel's move ahead with C2D was a noticable leap ahead in available computer technology though. I'm just wondering how long it's going to be before we see another milestone in PC development. Hopefully it won't be five years.

 

I just went on and used my pentium 3 for a while tosee what it could do and iam impressed:
I ran Grand Prix 4 with the 2006 Italia mod on high detail graphics, 1024x768 at a maxumin of 42fps when the car has a smooth road a ahead.
Screens:




Specs:
Intel Pentium 3 Coppermine EB 133FSB 256kb high speed L2,@933.3mhz
ATi Radeon 9600XT 256mb AGP
512mb PC133 SDRAM 2x256mb
160gb IDE 7200rpm UDMA
20gb IDE 5400rpm UDMA
DVD Combo Samsung TS-H552B
Anyone got anything to say.
P.S may I ask how the **** did i manage to do this?
Is it the graphics card which did it all?
or is the pentium 3 an alright chip?

 

lol crowy i bet you freed up 10 gig defragging huh . i try to defrag at least once a week

 

From the "You're never too old to learn something new Department"!

The other day, I had to take my Cooler Master Cavalier case cover off while it was running and I noticed a pretty good amount of air moving in the area of the top of the CPU cooler. I got to thinking about it and remembered that I had tried an 80mm fan in place of the air duct on the cover before. I had installed it blowing in figuring that it would help blow some cool air over the top of the CPU cooler. My temps actually went up a few degrees. This time I put the fan blowing out and was rewarded with about 6 degrees C lower CPU temperatures while Encoding. Before the addition of the fan it would hit 52C, and now it doesn't break 46C. The chipset also runs cooler as the air vent below the air duct pulls more cool air right over the chipset!

A couple of side benefits to this is that it actually runs quieter with the extra fan, as the Arctic Freezer 7 CPU cooler which has an electronic fan control built into it, runs about 200 rpm slower and cool air flows over the video card, which helps cool it better as well.

I guess you are never to old to learn something new! LOL!!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Theonejrs
Which way did the instructions say to align the fan?

dajila
A good graphics card helps, but a newer and faster CPU is also nice to go along with it. What happens when you have the cars in a twisty with the background changing and a few of the cars mix it up with spins and crashes? If you use games with more demanding 3D function it effects graphics performance more. Some of the road races are the easiest for graphics cards to handle. If you don't mind the occasional slowdowns and video distortion then there's games you PC will get you through. I'm not a serious gamer, but I'm not going to seriously use one of the P3 systems sitting around here to play games. Kids shy away from them if that tells you anything.

 

dazila,

The 933MHz Coppermine was also an alright CPU.

When the 1.4GHz P4 came out the 1.4GHz Coppermine outperformed it. Not sure by how much though.

And you can still use that 9600XT with very good performance in a P4 system. I'd say score one of the old 2.66GHz Prescotts without hyperthreading. They're fairly quick and'll give a nice boost to that 9600.

I'm actually very surprised that a Pentium 3 system has high enough AGP to support that card. Well done dazila. Good screenies

 

Before I'd waste funds on anything that old, I'd save my dollars for some more up to date hardware. Sinking money in old tech hardware is like drilling a dry hole. You always come up short of what the newer tech toys will do.

 

PacMan777,

The manual didn't say anything about it or even mention that you could add a fan there. I just noticed that the air duct had the same screw spacing as an 80mm fan so I tried it. When I installed one when I first got the case, I had the fan blowing in and I guess it interfered with the air flow of the CPU cooler as it ran a little hotter. Now, when I make the fan blow out it runs much cooler. My room is 25C right now and the CPU is running at 28-29C with a Chipset temp of 32C after being on for the last 5 hours. The CPU now drops as low as 26C if I turn the ceiling fan on for a few minutes, a temp I have never seen before except maybe right at startup.

The Cavalier case is made with an 80MM in the front that draws air in through a grille in the bottom of the case and a 120mm that blows air out the back of the case. There is also a roughly 5.5x4.5" air inlet on the cover about 2 inches below the air duct which is directly in front of the Northbridge and my X800 that draws air into the case as well as a small inlet on the back of the case between the side cover and the card locks that's about 1x5" which pulls in cool air as well.

What ever it does to the airflow, it all works very well this way. I'm especially pleased that my Encode temps have dropped about 6C and no longer approach 50C, let alone exceed it! I'm sure that the Antec 900 or the Xcilo "Rocket" case would even do better given the huge airflow they are capable of. The CPU never gets warm enough to kick the cooler fan up to it's max of 3000 rpm, so less noise in spite of the extra fan is a bonus!

BTW, I appologise for messing up your name. For the life of me I could have sworn it was PackMan777. I won't make that mistake again! Sorry!!!

Sincerely,
theone

 

LOL I don't pay attention to such things. I wouldn't have noticed you had it right if you hadn't mentioned it. LOL
Had you thought, you could have checked to see if the opening was an intake or exhaust and then added your fan to enhance flow instead of pushing against it.

 

PacMan777,

That's the thing, it's called an air duct which is supposed to draw cool air towards the CPU. I never even though about reversing it until I noticed all the airflow in that area when I took the cover off while it was running. I felt like the guy with the light bulb over his head (Grampy from Betty Boop) when he had his thinking cap on! LOL!! I just figured because it was supposed to be an inlet that I should make the air flow that direction, but it didn't work. it's amazing how much quieter the whole computer is because the CPU cooler fan never goes to 3000 rpm any more at all. I did a huge video the other day where it was encoding for over an hour and it never got hot enough to make the fan run faster than about 2800 rpm. It's amazing how much 200 rpm can make when it comes to noise levels. One of these days I'm going to take the computer into work and put it in the Acoustic Chamber and see just how much noise it makes in db! I know it won't be quiet by Sam's standards, but then again, not much is! LOL!!

Estuansis,

My Dual 1GHz P3 dell 420 Workstation is better than 40 to 50% faster than the 2.8 Prescot in the Dell 3000 I had. Even with a single CPU installed, it was still about 20% faster. It ate the 1.4 P4 for breakfast! I have 2 matched slockets (that actually work) and some day I will put 2 matched 1.4 socket 370 P3s in it just to see how much better it will actually run! Fastest P3 I ever saw! If it had 4x8x AGP instead of 2x4x I would still be using it everyday!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

theonejrs...

Do you play games? lol As I've seen so far you really only encode...

And if so what games?