AMD vrs. Pentium

[Froggin_Ashole42]

Damn it. I dont know what to buy...

[MrFancypants]

You have to decide anyway yourself and you won't find an unbiased advice here
Just look for the things that are interesting for you:
-how expensive is the CPU
-how fast is the CPU (you can find benchmakrs with google)

If you go after that AMD is the CPU of choice for you.

And if you look at benchmakrs, don't forget that you won't notice a difference of 2 or 3 FPS while playing a game.

[Froggin_Ashole42]

For me, I'm getting a whole rig not just a processor so I also have to take into mind which processor works best in conjuction with the best comp parts.

[Witch Hunter General]

traditionally you knew exactely what you got with Intel, not with AMD. It's like comparing Aeroflot with Lingus Air.
I've seen enough T-Birds go to CPU heaven.
around a year ago there was really no contest unless you built a low-end cheapass system. the price/performance ratio was strangely enough better with the P4 than with the trusty old K7(atleast when you were going to build a system with some serious bang). A Northwood 2.6 ghz with 800 mhz FSB was actually comparable to an XP3200+(Barton) in sheer performance and alot cheaper(where I lived atleast).

judging a CPUs power by clockrate alone is stupid, but the AMD system for marketing is a complete joke. The only time when the PR-rating was comparable to a P4 was when the first Northwood was launched at 1.8 Ghz(mainly because it was "calibrated" to match the Northwood, before that an AMD was faster than the a "comparable"(PR-rating wise) P4). Since then the improvements on the P4 has been far greater than the improvements on the K7, so the PR-rating became totally invalid. It may have been correct if you simply compared it to earlier CPUs from AMD. But they just didn't have the same leap in performance as the P4 experienced with things like going from 400 to 1066 mhz FSBs, HT and so on. the leap from 1.8 ghz to 3.0 ghz on the P4 was far greater than the leap from XP1800+ to XP3000+.

Since the K8, it's mainly a toss-up. But I recommend AMD, because Intel is the big bad capitalist monopoly corporation. Be a commie, buy AMD!

[MrFancypants]

Originally Posted by Froggin_Ashole42

For me, I'm getting a whole rig not just a processor so I also have to take into mind which processor works best in conjuction with the best comp parts.

In that case it's important to have a good motherboard and the right RAM.
As for all this CPU-stuff. AMD and Pentium offer you more or less the same speed, and that, regardless what others may say, is what it is all about if you want to buy a CPU. The development of the last months/years are not so important for you .
Just look at a benchmark, decide how much you want to spend and take the CPU that offers the best FPS for your money.
If you are a fan of some game that hasn't been released yet it would make sense to check in the internet if your CPU has enough power for it.

[Big {Daddy}]

Versatility is more important than sheer clock speed. I want a processor that will fit in a motherboard which has all my desired features. Things such as disk interfaces, RAM capacity and expantion slots are a lot more important than the fastest processor.

I build my own home PCs and tend to buy industry standard components (Asus motherboards, Pentium CPU's, Kingston RAM, Adaptec disk controllers, Plextor devices, 3Com NICS, Fuji or WD disks). I build a well balanced system with components which are easy to integrate and support. As a result of this, I rarely spend time troubleshooting problems.

[Froggin_Ashole42]

I also heard that Pentium has a longer life time than AMD.

[BAM]

AMD runs with a higher temp thats why ...

[MrFancypants]

If you get decent cooling it's fine. I used several AMD CPUs over the last years and never had problems with lifetime.
The probability that you will buy a new CPU before your old one ceases to work is rather high anyway

Edit:

"Versatility is more important than sheer clock speed. I want a processor that will fit in a motherboard which has all my desired features."

There are excellent mobos for AMD as well as for Pentium CPUs, as far as I know.

[Froggin_Ashole42]

I found some great AMD 64 and Pentium Extreme systems on Ebay's buy it now page for awesome prices. Theres a 1,399 p4 extreme edition system,1 gig DDR, 120 g hd, and sapphire radeon 9800 pro 128 mb on there. I have to wait for the money though .