Hi!

I wanna buy a new CPU, so that's the question: which is the better? Does anyone know a good comparision site or just have personal an opinion? Thx.

They would both come out about the same (or so I recon). The way AMD names their processors, its 2600= speed of P4 @ 2.6GHz. The 2500+ is like 100 slower then the 2600 which wont even be noticable, and you can get the 2500+ for $90. Dont know the price of the P4 2.66 however Im sure its around twice as much. Get the 2500/2600+

OK, I know prices, but I've got the mainbord already for free. So it's given to buy the P4.
Well, you think they are almost the same in performance. I hope P4 is a bit better, though I'm an AMD fan. (<= not cooler ) So I must by the P4.

I say it depends on your preference. AMD's have the advantage of price, and have good performance despite their lower clock speed. Intel's I think have the advantage of stability as well as their running temperatures are significantly lower than AMDs.

So I would think about these things, how much you're willing to spend, plus research the motherboards that you may plan on buying for each solution as well as the extras that come with each. Will you use dual channel ddr400? SATA? RAID? On-board sound, or seperate PCI card for that? Gigabyte LAN?

At stock speeds, the P4 will crush the Barton. AMD's PR system really isn't accurate once it passes the AthlonXP 2000+ (1.67GHz, I believe). Most P4s with equivalent clock speeds of the PR past 2000 just slaughter the XPs.

Take the AthlonXP 3200+ (512K L2, 400MHz FSB) for example. In UT2003 @ 1024x768x32, it gets outperformed by the 2.8, 3.0, 3.06 and 3.2GHz P4s. It just barely beats a 2.66GHz P4 by about two frames a second. The 2600+ gets beaten even by the P4 2.4GHz.

Unless you're going to be overclocking, I would say go ahead and snag the P4. You've already got the motherboard for it, and it's going to be faster than the 2600+ anyway.

Links: Anandtech's P4 3.2GHz vs. AthlonXP 3200+ review

How much are you willing to spend? According to pricewatch, XP2600's are going for around 90-100. The P4 2.66/533 is approx 150-160. At that price, I'd recommend you get the P4 2.4C/800 instead of the 2.66/533. You'll be better off, and it's at the same price point (150-160).

Personally id go with the 2600+ barton - or even a 2500+ barton - they will both overclock happily to over 3200+ speeds (ive seen a 2500+ as fast as 3ghz [250*12] with some serious watercooling). The AMDs also have a considerably better bang per buck ratio than the intels. The 2500+ has offically got the BEST bang per buck of any PC component ever, according to custom PC. Along with some decent cooling, some high quality ram and a good motherboard a 2600+ (or 2500+) will give you all the performance you could ever want - assuming you willing to try overclocking.

Steg

I'm surprised you don't have one on your rig, Steg. Do you OC your 2100 any bit?

Yeah, as I said, its up to your budget. How much you're willing to spend will determine what you will get.

Although you're going w/ INTEL, I just wanted to share my thoughts, as I currently have both an Intel P42.6C (clocked@3.3Ghz) and an AMD XP1700+ (clocked at 2357)

The XP1700 only cost me $50, while the P4 cost 3.5 times that much, and they offer about the same performance. Also, I didn't need uber expensive RAM w/ the XP1700 since the BUS is only around 205 to remain in sync, while on the P4 you need some expensive PC4000 to get those nice 250mhz+ bus speeeds to remain in sync.

I'd probably go w/ the 2500+ Barton instead of the 2600, and I'd go w/ an Intel P4 2.4C(800mhz FSB) instead of a P4 2.66 (533)

The P4 2.4C's are infamous overclockers. Had I known then what I know now, I would have bought one myself instead of the P42.6C. It seems most folks are getting as good or even better (on average) overclocks on the P4 2.4C than the P4 2.6C....Go figure.......

I have to over-volt my P42.6C like mad (1.7v) to remain stable at 3.3, so I had to buy a nice Zallman 7000 cooling solution as well....


I had to over-volt my 1700+ to 1.9v to get to 2357 stable as well, and a Volcano9 to cool


Good luck w/ whatever you choose

It's pretty obvious that the AthlonXP line is not slow in any sense of the word, but there's no possible way that a 2.3GHz AthlonXP is delivering the same amount of performance as a P4 clocked @ 3.3GHz... unless you have a crappy video card in the P4 machine and a great one in the other.

Can I get some benchmark numbers? I'd like to see the AXP keeping up with the P4.

My ($175) P4 2.6C @ 3.3 scores 17,752 on 3DM01

My ($50) XP1700+ @ 2288 scores 17,013 with the same GPU (video card), but considerably slower RAM.


This was before I popped on the Volcano9, and I have safely squeezed another 70 or so mhz out of the little $50 XP1700+

With faster RAM, the scores would be within a few hundred points, or perhaps about even....When we're talking a score of close to 20,000, a hundred just isn't much....

I'm telling you, in games, the two are virtually indistinguishable.....
in business app's, the P4 rig seems to open programs a little quicker, but I feel that's because of the signifigantly faster RAM on the P4...

I don't feel like switching GPU's and memory between the two boxes tonight, but maybe when I'm fiddling around I'll re-run the tests w/ the faster RAM on the XP w/ the same GPU, just to see how close they are. As it stands, they are, what, about 5% apart, even with lousy RAM on the XP

Thats quite an overclock....great performance...nearly going to beat out that overpriced Intel....I love AMD products..so inexpensive..yet soo powerful.....

Very interesting benchies Swine.. Glad some peeps agree with me

How do your two systems benchmark in PCMark or SiSoft (RAM, CPU)?

OK. Thx for all your replies! One more question. How can I OC my Palonimo 1700+ like PreservedSwine? (your cpu is not a palonimo, is it?) Merry Xmas! Ciao

Ok, so your g/card is capable of a score like that, it just means that your CPU in both cases dont bottleneck it and let it score like that then... like Scol says, I bet they're no that close in PC Mark or Sandra.

About overclocking, you'll have to mess with settings in BIOS. I would suggest doing some research before taking on this endeavor for the first time. You don't want to risk doing anything that may damage your CPU without first getting "edumucated" LOL

Thanks for getting back to me.

Those scores are pretty impress to say the least. However, could you run some CPU intensive applications and games to see how the two setups compare? For example, PCMark and/or SANDRA, and UT2003 botmatch? It would be interesting to see the results.

It's just a matter of preference. In my experience with AMD, I've only had problems (but, I will admit that I've never used a Athlon XP system...so that's probably why).

I will be buying a 2.6C/800 CPU and be OC'ing it (it is possible to get to 3.4Ghz without anything more than a Zalman CNPS7000 HSF).

subKamran, it is possible to get to 3.4 with a zalman 7000cu (or alcu). however it depends if you are lucky enough for your cpu, mobo, and ram to run stable. don't get me wrong, a lot of people can OC their P4 very far, but getting to 3.4 is not a sure thing.