P4

[burn'em]

Why is everybody dumping on the P4. How many of you have a P4 and don't like it?
I'm an Intel guy. Stop right there I don't want to here it. You drive a Chevy I drive a Ford. You won't buy an Intel and I won't buy a AMD. So lets not even stat that.
I have a P4 and it works fine. It's fast. I don't play games I use my machine for pushing Data. The machine I use at work is an AMD 800 it's fast.
here's a real world benchmark Take 250,000 Names address phone numbers, fax number and about six more fields of Information. In a Data base program, ACT 2000, Access, Goldmine, you pick. Export them to a text file then import them back in to a Data Base file see how long that takes. Granted the P4 is twice as fast (as the 800AMD)but it out performs the AMD by three to four time. How much of this as to do with the cpu I don't know.
The P4 are getting a bad rap. I don't go by the stats I go but what is see and I see a great cpu.
As soon as the next Intel chip comes out I have one. And some one will be bad rapping that one too. But I wonder if they will own one.
My computer also has a full load of drives 4 scsi hd a burner, DVD, AGP 64mb gts, network card, scsi Zip drive. and more software install than most computer can hold. It not a stripped down race machine its a mule. Its the lead machine in a five computer graphic and Data Base management system.
The P4 may not be the best cpu but if I was giving one away I bet there would be a line to get it.
P4's all the way .




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[William]

the P4 gets smoked by an athlon, and at times a p3 gigahertz. The biggest problem with P4 is that they are pricy in that the chip is expensive, the motherboard expensive, and the RDRAM is expanisive too. Its not that they don't work, its just they aren't worth spending that much more of your money on. The benchmarks prove the numbers. its not that the P4 is slow, it is just slower. Its not that it doesn't work at all, it just it is so darned expensive for something that just isn't a big improvement over a p3. People don't automatically bad rap the newest intel chip. The fact is we were expecting something well better. I also have some real issues with using RDRAM. And I would take a free P4 any day. But will I buy one for my next computer, absolutely not. I can build an AMD system for the price of the CPU. for a 1.7ghz cpu, i pay 350 for the chip. Around 160 for the RAM plus 150 for the mobo. I get an Athlon, get a 1.33 ghz CPU for 185, a mobo for 110, and 256 CAS2 sdram for 60 dollars. that about the same as the chip itself. Add the other stuff, and I am a long way towards system number two. All for two systems that are either a tad faster or a tad slower depending upon which benchmark. Now tell me why to get a P4.

*Modify* If i was going the intel route, i could have two 900mhz plus p3 computers for a similar price to a p4.

[UnseenMenace]

burn'em (Jun 14, 2001 02:56 a.m.):

here's a real world benchmark Take 250,000 Names address phone numbers, fax number and about six more fields of Information. In a Data base program, ACT 2000, Access, Goldmine, you pick. Export them to a text file then import them back in to a Data Base file see how long that takes. Granted the P4 is twice as fast (as the 800AMD) but it out performs the AMD by three to four time. How much of this as to do with the cpu I don't know.
The P4 are getting a bad rap. I don't go by the stats I go but what is see and I see a great cpu.
As soon as the next Intel chip comes out I have one. And some one will be bad rapping that one too. But I wonder if they will own one.
The P4 may not be the best cpu but if I was giving one away I bet there would be a line to get it.
P4's all the way .

Yes lets take a real world benchmark and run it on one 800 AMD ( but you fail to state if it is a Athlon or a Duron ) and run it against a Intel Pentium 4 which by your own admission is "twice as fast" ( somewhere in the region of 1500mhz is twice as fast, going by current CPU releases ).. and announce the faster CPU wins.... Do you honestly consider this to be a real world comparison !!!!
The real world for most people has cost considerations as well as the performance and in this arena the Pentium 4 does not even compete.
It May also be worth pointing out that this is an enthusiasts forum and as far as I know the majority of people here do not spend a great deal of time exporting database files to text files and back again so the performance you seek is not even real world to us and even if was a Xenon would still do the majority of those tasks faster than a Pentium 4 for the same clock speed
I would agree with you that if you were giving away P4's there would be a queue and hopefully I would be at the front, however consider that I would queue for twinkys if they were free.. I just object to paying for a CPU that is overpriced and under performing compared to the competition

[el]

P4's aren't bad they are just too much money! I would love a P4 but not for the arm and leg it costs. I could build 2 1.33g@1.5 for the money the P4 at 1.7 would cost. P4 is really nice with the 1.7xeon but again the money it too great. If P4 1.4=tbird 1.4 then you would have the money from the difference for a G3 if you went the tbird way!!! And remember that is still a big if.

[ken257]

I love Intel cpu's been using them since the 8088 but when the P4 came out I started using AMD for my toy machines. The fact is that the P4 is just to pricey for the speed even though it is a good cpu. The next generation P5? should be a turning point. Right now there were several compromises made in the P4 because of the die size. After the next shrink when this stuff can be put back in the thing should rock and thats when I will consider buying one but not now! For now it's P3 or AMD.

[burn'em]

I realize that the money is an issue for some people as it is for all of us on some level, lets take a look at how much time we have put in to our passion if we applied an hourly rate. We all have way too much invested. I figure at half pay for myself by all right I should have a jet plane by now. LOL The truth of the matter is that I didn't have to pay retail for P4 if I had to pay retail I would have gone with something else. Yes it would have been an Intel.

[thefly]

Ya, I've owned both types of machines. Amd and Intel chips but much earlier ones that the athlon or p3-4 model. I can say that the amd dx 4 100 was a great chip in it's time. Rock solid. I have a p2 233 at the moment and I'm switching back to AMD for my next machine. Just based on what I've read at Tomshardware and here.

P3 or p4 machines can both be extreemly fast. If you were to equipe a p4 and a thunderbird 1.4 with the same hardware they'd probably be quite close. Thunderbird seems to clean up in all bench marks except for some of the 3d stuff.

anyway, both are good. I just think at the moment AMD is producing better chips. Intell has had troubles with there p3 1.3 and will re-release it soon.

AMD is more cutting edge. But that's just my opinion.

[Super]

Isn't this site about saving money? instead of spending a lot of money on a new P4, you get some 800MHz AMD or another Intel such as Celeron, overclock it, and get almost the same performance for a cheaper price. (plus, you get knowledge and the fun times! lol :) )

I personally have no problem with P4, but the price makes me say no to it :(

[William]

well real world and benchmarks can often be different, but never too much. As I said earlier, I am not getting a P4 just because of the price. For maybe $50 more I have two machines, and that is much better. Now the newer P4 should be much better. As is often pointed out, the P4 can't do as many instructions per cycle as an athlon or a p3, which makes it quite a bit slower. This will be conquered when they start going to 2ghz and higher, but right now, 1.7ghz on a p4 may only be like 1.33ghz on an athlon. And considering price differences it doesn't make sense for a p4. Now burn'em, if you got it for half price, you got quite a steal, that is not too bad. And of course, I will always take a free computer, even a P4. (Anyone Offering?)

[Big Lar]

I agree that the P4 is pricey, however, it all depends how you buy. I picked up a 1.5gig off a forum for 200, 2x128mb sticks of samsung pc800 for 150, and yes, I bought a new board, the asus p4t, that did set me back 2 bills. so,for 550 bucks, I have a new setup, and it runs at 1800 @1.7v, I'm not complaining, and whoever says the P3 is as fast... or faster is just plain old wrong, my ex setup was a P3 800e slot1 that I ran @ 1050 daily, and had up to 1164, there is no camparison, the P4 even at 1.5 gig was WAY faster.

[Phil]

When people say the p3 is faster this is only on unoptrimised code and under certain circumstances. The current p4 is a complete shambles, and to be honest I don't blame owners for defending them, I wouldn't like to think something I had paid that much for was as bad as it is. It amazes me how many people just plain ignore the price issue of it, the money you save buying a 1.33ghz tbird and overclocking to 1,5ghz that still out performs the p4 in most things can go towards a better vid card or disk sub-system. I think the northwood will surprise a lot of people in that it may be a pretty good chip. But it will still but overly expensive when compared with an amd option. One thing that makes me laugh is the recent news that dual tualatins out perform dual fosters and that intel is supressing this.