Which cpu is better?

[Scyth]

I have some spare computer parts and i am building my friend a computer. I have to choose between a celeron 2.0 ghz with dual channel ddr memory or an athlon xp 1600+ with slightly worse memory. it will also have radeon 9700 for the video card. both have stock heat sinks but the celeron does not overclock beacause it is an intel board. if you have any ideas i will appreciate it.

[dead_man311]

How far can the 1600 clock to ? and how much worse is the memory in the AMD system. and how much is in each system.

Welcome to the Forum !

[Scyth]

512 pc3200 in the celeron and 512 pc133 in the amd

I have gotten the athlon to a 1900+ stable

[Osirus]

I would say the athlon, celerons arent very good at overclocking, although I did take a 2.6 to 2.9 and ran it full load for 2 days..

[Moto7451]

Athlon for sure. The small cache of the Celeron kills it because of its long pipeline.

[Caffinehog]

As far as CPU's go, the Athlon would normally outpace the celeron by a slim margin, at stock speeds or overclocked. But the memory issue is the killer. The memory bandwidth on that AMD board just sucks compared to the intel board with DDR. Plus, the memory will limit your AMD's overclock, because SDRAM doesn't go much faster than stock. The pc3200 with the intel will take pretty much anything you can throw at it with a celeron. Both of the CPU's are good overclockers, but because your AMD motherboard sucks, I would definately go with the celeron.

[dead_man311]

Run Some test like SiS Sandra on there and 3D Marks and see which one gets higher and then make up your mind. id say there both gonig to to be fiarly close . good luck

[OLMI]

Definitely go for the Athlon. Celerons are horrible hehe

[Caffinehog]

LOL fanboyz.

Just kidding.

AMD has some good stuff, and will generally put celerons to shame. But this isn't a processor issue, it's a motherboard issue. And the motherboard that goes with the AMD processor sucks bigtime.
The truth of the matter is that these two systems should be pretty close in terms of performance. Probably the fact that sways me most is this: If you want to upgrade the AMD combo, you have to replace the memory, motherboard, and processor. Basically, to upgrade, you'll have to start from scratch, costing at least $200. If you want to upgrade the Intel system, you could throw in a P4 northwood or a prescott, (which, by the way, may come in 64-bit versions soon,) for $125-175. And there's a decent chance that you'll be able to use the same memory in your next upgrade after that!
Maybe you want to give the end-of-the-road system to someone else and keep the upgradable one for yourself? ;)

[Captain Newbie]

The question of the thread is simply which CPU is better. The Athlon, of course.

However, in terms of platform and motherboard/RAM, the Celeron's got more sheer memory power when in that configuration.

Realistically, this is a toss-up.

[Steven4563]

i hate myself for saying this but the celeron is most likely going to be faster due to the PC3200 ram :(

[urbancontra]

the celeron with the ddr will be a lot faster in real life, day to day use.

[Sjaak]

The celly 2.0 should be able to do 3Ghz with 1.7vcore..(if a c1 stepping), killing the athlon for sure then. On stock speeds its gonna be close.

I agree with Caffinehog, the celeron is better for upgrading in the future, when northwoods start being bargain priced

[k_r_i_p_l_e_r]

he will be dissappointed with a celeron, you cant get this kid a p4 ?

[Shuzzy]

well he can upgrade to a p4. do not go with the pc 133 ram. thats just awful.