Dwayne

Ok its that time to get a new computer because my old PC cant even play games that require over a gigahert of power. I have been looking at computers and of course the selection of chip comes down to an Athelon or Pentium. I am used to Pentiums and I can tell how much processing power they have easily, but I dont get Athelons. Can some one please compare and contrast the two proccessors and recomend which one is the better choice for the price.

Lasereth

Well, I was gonna compare and contrast the processors, until I saw this ending:

Athlons are better for the price. I don't care how big of an Intel fanboy gets ahold of you, they simply can't argue their way out of the price-for-performance ratio that Athlons have. Athlon XPs used to be much, much cheaper than Pentium 4s a few months ago, but Intel lowered their prices. AMD lowered their Athlon XP prices as well however, creating an only slightly smaller price gap. In other words, AMD Athlon XPs are still the best bang for your buck.

To be fair, I'll compare and contrast them with a few simple facts. Athlon XPs are better for gaming, and Pentium 4s are better for media creation/encoding/ripping due to their high clock speeds. The faster the processor (and I mean actual speed, not structure), the faster media is encoded. Pentium 4s have always been faster than Athlon XPs in raw clock speed, so they're better for applications that require more clock cycles (media).

Games require L cache on the processor, data stream paths within the processors, and processor-to-memory pipelines. Athlon XPs generally excel in all of these categories, making them better for gaming (compared to a same-model rating Pentium 4).

So: Athlon XPs are better for gaming, and Pentium 4s are better for media applications. Athlon XPs are better bang for your buck, but if you really need fast clock speed for media applications, then Pentium 4s are an excellent choice.

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

jujueye

Wow Lasereth...nice job. I thought for a minute you were gonna go all Athlon on us. You were fair and that's really cool. As for me, I really am an Intel guy. I've read the reviews at places like www.tomshardware.com and www.anandtech.com and just really liked how the Intel chips come out in the end. No big deal.

Dwayne, if you're really looking to upgrade, some online reading is in order. And to point at Lasereth's post, make sure you have an idea of what you want to do with your new rig. For me, I bought the fastest Intel P4 chip I could afford, and plopped it on a P4P800 DlX board. I am really enjoying it (since my last box was a 1G.)
Good Luck!

Jesus Pimp

Athelon?

__________________
Never date anyone who doesn't make your dick hard.

billege

Do a search of the "Computer Forum" where, oddly enough, people have discussed this, about one million times.

They've even spelled "Athlon" right.

Look, you're a rookie, so I'm gonna do you a one-time solid.

Your question has been explored MANY times, here are just a few links from our own TFP COMPUTER FORUM.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium
http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...lon+vs+pentium


This should be a bloody good start.
If that's not enough, do an "Athlon vs Pentium" search on Google, and you'll get far more than you can handle.

__________________
I can sum up the clash of religion in one sentence:
"My Invisible Friend is better than your Invisible Friend."

bltzkriegmcanon

Ouch.

__________________
What do you say to one last showdown?
- Ocelot, Metal Gear Solid 3

The password is "Who are the Patriots?" and "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo." "La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo." Gotcha.
- The Colonel and Snake, Metal Gear Solid 3

Lasereth

That's definitely not a good idea. Typing in Athlon vs Pentium on any search engine should be outlawed. I can see it now: "100,000 replies for Athlon vs Pentium. Page 1: INTEL SUX AMD ROCKS AMD ROX INTEL SUX AMD SUX INTEL ROCKS AMD SUX INTEL ROCKS CHEAP FAST EXPENSIVE GOOD SUX FAST CHEAP AMD"

-Lasereth

__________________
"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert