Read this before buying a P-4

[batboy]

A couple of my buddies have faster computers than me now, so I was looking at a number of upgrade options including dual overclocked P-III procs and even a jump to the P-4 platform. Here are a few P-4 facts.

1) The new 1.3 gig P-4 is the best overclocking CPU and will usually do 1.7 gig with no problem. Prices are about $350 to $400 for OEM chips at most venders.

2) The Asus i850 motherboard at around $250 is the only overclocking choice.

3) 1+ gig overclocked P-III's will benchmark almost as well (and better in some regards) as non-overclocked P-4's.

4) P-4's require new expensive RAM to be installled in pairs. The good news is that a pair of 128 meg sticks of RAM are currently included in the retail box version of P-4 CPU chips.

5) The Willamette (spelling?) P-4 chip will be phased out by the end of the year and a new P-4 Northbrook will replace it. This will require a different socket, thus a different motherboard. So that $250 motherboard you buy now will be obsolete in less than a year with no upgrade path.

6) Even the new P-III 1.13 gig CPU that will be released soon will need a different motherboard. I guess Intel thinks we will buy a new motherboard everytime we want to upgrade processors.

7) P-4 price will continue to tumble in the next few weeks as AMD continues to challenge sales. Look for big drops after the traditional May 1st (2nd quarter) price slashing. If you can wait, mobo and P-4 combos will probably be under $500 by then.

Well... common sense provailed, so instead of spending upwards to $700 to upgrade to a P-4 system, I decided to buy a P-III 700 for about $170 shipped that I should be able to hit 1 gig (at least 933). I still haven't totally ruled out the dual proc idea yet... hmmm.

[Jon]

AMD will be my choice when the P3 series doesn't cut it anymore. I've been on Intel's bandwagon for over 10 years and they truly are beginning to humiliate themsleves to me.

Change is good.

[bdf24]

I have to agree with jon. I have been buying intel since I started with pc's. And I love em. But with there prices so high and with Amd kicking out pretty similiar results clock for clock and stability wise. I will have to go with AMD for price reasons when I upgrade.

[rozzyroz]

ive had all types of chips from both intel and amd...even a few cyrix chips 8). amd had a strong following even when they produced the k6-2 and previous. lots of people read articles from this site and get pointed into amd's direction with all of the good amd reviews linked on this page. i was wondering myself about why all the bad reviews on the p4 and how i see p3 and athlons beating it.
i think that when the p4 pans out a bit ,the story of how amd is a god ,will quickly change as it did from intel when amd started putting out decent chips. when the p4 establishes a large consumer base, people making software will optimize there products for the p4. this is when we will see some benchmarks of a different color. my choice right now would be to wait even longer 8). its hard to establish what is right on the web, because i see marks going either way, depending on what page i look at. i am also very surprised that no p4 systems have found their way to the cpu database...

[klosters64a]

As both the 1 Gig PIIIE and 1 Gig T-Bird match the performance of the 1.5 Gig P4, except in QIII, where's the incentive to spend the extra ~$380? Chipzilla has stated that the P4 is an interim CPU. Gimme a flippin' break.

Oops, sorry. I forgot that Intel is swell--no matter what. Is Chipzilla kewl even if its board of directors is psychotic and sociopathic? Oops, sorry. I forgot that the Wharton School considers this a good thing.