Athlon XP future

BrianD3

I am building a system and still deciding what processor to get. I think an Athlon XP 3200+ would suit my needs. But I'm just wondering, now that the Athlon 64 has been introduced, does this mean the beginning of the end for the XP? Lets say I build an XP system now using a motherboard with 400 fsb. In 2 years time, will I be able to buy a faster XP processor to upgrade my system, or will the XP be long gone and superceded by the Athlon 64 by that stage.

BrianD3

unkel

It's the end of the road for the Athlon XP, so if you want to build a rig now that needs to be upgradable, this is not the way to go

Building an Athlon 64 rig is not that expensive now though

bizmark

wait till Socket 939 is out or else you will have to get a new Amd 64 motherboard in a few months if you want to upgrade

Woden

the swift answer to you question is yes the XP is dead in 2 years time you won't be able to by an XP processor to upgrade to and it will be long superceded by the A64.

the xp3200+ is the last socket A XP chip from amd so i won't upgrade now if i had the option tbh.

however there seems to be a little life left in the xp system itself as amd have announce some XP products for socket 754 boards see here for details

http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1985

imo any user now should wait til socket 939 boards come out and both 64bit chips are uniformed before doing any major upgrade

data

Mutant_Fruit

I was thinking of building a new rig soon (within a few months), but after seen the roadmap on anandtech, and most especially this chip.. "AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHz 512KB May '04" i started drooling and i've decided to hold on until that drops in price a bit.

Also, i wouldn't bother upgrading to a new athlon rig if it isn't socket 939, as that seems to be the dominant slot to come.

joePC

True the socket 939 & PCI express is the way forward but if your looking for a quick answer build yourself a AMD 64 3/0/2/400 system very good processors, but wait what about the P4, the 2.8 P4 800Mhz FSB is a very low price and easily overclocked I would personally go with this or 64, P4, 64, P4, 64 ahhhhhhh read some reviews & decide.

Good luck

Thanks joePC ...........

unkel

Yeah you can always wait forever because the next thing is just round the corner

As JoePC says, a P4c is still a very viable option. Especially if coupled with a mobo that will take Prescott cpu's.

Drooling over an Athlon 64 3800 that runs at 2400 somewhere in the near future? Running at 3800 real ones myself atm

Mutant_Fruit

yeah, but the whole point of the athlon naming scheme is that the 3800+ performs the same as the P4 3.8ghz. Trust me, megahurtz (deliberate typo) ain't everything.

Civilian_Target

As has been said, the AthlonXP series is going no further. The 3200XP chip is also quite redundant given that you can get a Athlon64 3000 for just over €200 (although the board will cost you a few bob more too). If you want a PC now, then its either that or a similarly priced P4 (if so, stick with the 800mhz FSB ones). I'd always go athlon (nuless you plan to do some serious AV editing), but I'm a bit on the biased side...

If you don't want/need now, wait until the middle of the summer, when prices are traditionally at their lowest. There's a shiny new range of graphics cards on the way

astrofool

well considering the a64-3000+ outperforms the Intel p4 3.2ghz, running at "real" ones ain't all its cracked up to be, and in fact means that you've been duped by Intel's marketing department, and that yes, you are one of the idiots who would buy a Dell in another lifetime

unkel

Comparing a stock 64-3000+ to a stock Intel p4 3.2ghz is more of a Dell man's thing to do

A p4c 3.2 can easily be run at 4-5 GHz and will say goodbye to an overclocked 64-3000+ in most applications

Before the war starts again :eek: :

I've had many years of AMD's before going Intel for my current rig. The p4c 3@3.8 AI7 rig I have now is a lightyear ahead in speed compared to my previous A7N8X-X nforce2 xp3000+ rig. FSB went up from 350 to 1000 :cool: and HT is the best thing computingwise that has happened to me

I'm not into gaming much and at the time (early December 2003) I decided on the system, the basic Athlon 64 was a lot more expensive than the p4c 3000 I bought. Also socket 754 was and is not the way to go forward with socket 939 coming out soon. Will probably go socket 939 or whatever is best at the end of the year maybe running longhorn beta

Woden

Originally posted by unkel
Comparing a stock 64-3000+ to a stock Intel p4 3.2ghz is more of a Dell man's thing to do

A p4c 3.2 can easily be run at 4-5 GHz and will say goodbye to an overclocked 64-3000+ in most applications

i don't think its fair to say easily in this case, i reckon with most pentiums you'll be doing well to get 4ghz and that will be with very good cooling, good ram, good motherboard etc, so yes while they are nice and overclockable they are not that nice and oveclockable

unkel

Originally posted by Dataisgod
i don't think its fair to say easily in this case, i reckon with most pentiums you'll be doing well to get 4ghz and that will be with very good cooling, good ram, good motherboard etc, so yes while they are nice and overclockable they are not that nice and oveclockable

OK Data, fair point, I'll be more specific:

4.0 Ghz (1000FSB) with good but cheap mobo (AI7, €100), stock intel cooling, half decent ram, half decent psu

4.8 Ghz (1200FSB) or more with very good, probably non-air cooling, excellent mobo, ram and PSU

And you don't want to be unlucky with the individual cpu and mobo either

BrianD3

Thanks for the info. Looks like the Athlon XP is out. Also, I'm in no mood to hang about and wait for socket 939 for the Athlon 64. If I don't build this system within the next couple of weeks, it'll never get built

So, it looks like it'll have to be a pentium 4 system. Quick Q: how do I know which motherboards are compatible with the P4 Prescott CPUs? It's not too clear from the motherboard specs. Are the Abit AI7 or Abit IC7 compatible with Prescott?

<edit> I just found some info on this - apparently all Abit motherboards with the 865PE or 875P chipset are Prescott compatible. This includes the AI7 and IC7.
http://www.techseekers.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3523

Thx,
BrianD3

Mutant_Fruit

A p4c 3.2 can easily be run at 4-5 GH

Yeah right, if you used the same equipment to cool a P4 and an Athlon64 and overclocked both as much as they go safely, and post up results, i'll belive ya.

Until that happens, i sincerely doubt a fully overclocked P4 will beat a fully Overclocked A64. Clock for clock, the A64 is about 35% better.

secret_squirrel

Originally posted by BrianD3
So, it looks like it'll have to be a pentium 4 system. Quick Q: how do I know which motherboards are compatible with the P4 Prescott CPUs? It's not too clear from the motherboard specs. Are the Abit AI7 or Abit VI7 compatible with Prescott?

Afaik you'll be better off with a p4c Northwood. the P4e prescott is proving to be a bit of a dog in terms of heat output and performance. (Clock for clock at around the 2.8/3Ghz mark P4c Northwood is faster and cooler running). Prescott is designed to come into its own at around the 4Ghz mark, I'd be surprized if you could hit that without extreme cooling.

BrianD3

Afaik you'll be better off with a p4c Northwood. the P4e prescott is proving to be a bit of a dog in terms of heat output and performance. (Clock for clock at around the 2.8/3Ghz mark P4c Northwood is faster and cooler running). Prescott is designed to come into its own at around the 4Ghz mark, I'd be surprized if you could hit that without extreme cooling

Thanks for that. I wasn't really considering a Prescott CPU - but I would like to have the option to upgrade to Prescott in the future hence my wish to purchase a Prescott compatible MB.

BrianD3