new comp geek, whats better xp2000 or p4 2.0ghz

[Ash_Housewarez]

id say iv got a little above average knowledge of computers (meaning above average for most peeps not u guys ) and im shopping for a screamin system at minamal cost. iv done a little research and went to some local vendors and these are my choices (suggestions welcome):

intel p4 2GHz
ECS board P4VXAD
512DDR ram
40g 7200rpm drive
52x CD-Rom
G-Force 3 Ti 128 DDR
SB audigy xgamer

or.....

AMD Athlon XP2000
Gigabyte G7VRXP
512 DDR ram
40ghz 7200rpm drive
52X cd-rom
G-Force 3 Ti 128 DDR
SB audigy xgamer


There both basically the same price (the p4 is actually $30 cheaper). so heres the big questions: which is better? what should i change?

thanks for any replies i get

Well, it is known that the XP2000+ will perform better than the P4 2.0G in most games and benches ..

But the XP2000+ will need more cooling than the P4.
So if you pick the P4 you will have quite system that performs very well.. and if you pick the XP2000+ you will have a mighty machine but you'd better consider more cooling.

In real life use i think it is very doubtful to notice any difference in performance between them, both are great chips.

Get the P4 system if you are not a hardcore gamer/tweaker that will milk the system till the last drop then milk it some more .. get the XP2000+ if you are.

After all it depends on what you want to do with your rig, and if you prefer quite environment.

Otherwise, the other parts seems nice, but be sure to pick quality RAM and PSU ...

I use XP1900+ system and i couldn't be happier with performance, just the noise of the fans drives me crazy sometimes (i need more colling to keep my system stable, because i'm OCing the FSB and the video card)

BTW, Welcome to TechIMO

Regards

[Ash_Housewarez]

thanks for the quick reply. i am a hardcore gamer, but not a hardcore tweaker....but im willing to learn. guess i'll just toss a coin hehe

as for the RAM, what would be some examples of 'quality' ram....
and you lost me with PSU, what is it?

[Phynix]

Eh? As long as you don't overclock the AMD, or live in a very hot state with no air conditioning, then the stock retail fan will be just fine for you. AMD isn't going to sell a chip with a fan that isn't sufficient for cooling the chip. They'd get screwed over every summer by warranty replacaments.

If you're going P4, change the ECS board. ECS isn't exactly a great board. And certainly, if you are going to compare prices, comparing a quality Gigabyte AMD board with a cheapo ECS P4 board isn't the way to go.

Yes, the Athlon XP will pretty much beat it's equivalant Intel model in benchmarks. So the XP 2100+ should beat the P4-2.1ghz. The cost of the AMD chips is less then it's p4 equivalant as well. Generally, with AMD, you get more bang for your buck. The choice is always yours though. Some people prefer Intel, some AMD. Choose what you are going to be happy with.

Quality RAM would be Crucial, Kingston, Corsair.

Quality PSU (Power Supply Unit) would be at least a 300Watts Enermax, Antec, Aopen.

Oh yea, what i say is my opinion only so you have to listen to more people about their opinions too

Regards

[EndobioticChaos]

I say if the P4 you're looking at has the Northwood core, go for it. Yes, the Athlon will run a bit hotter, and the P4 also has very good thermal protection for in the rare case your HSF would come off. Also, from what I've been hearing the high-end P4s are more overclockable than the high-end XPs, and seemingly in benchmarks they've been pretty much neck & neck.

Realize that I'm saying this despite the fact that I'm an AMD fan... I still have to look at facts realistically. Of course, on the other hand AMD far and away blows away any Intel offerings in low-end and mid-range CPUs.

Good luck!

[Underclocked]

Ditto on what Phynix said regarding the ECS board. I would stay away from any and all of the Elite Group motherboards. Take a look at an Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or (my current favorite) Epox as an alternative. Check Newegg.com and Multiwave Direct at mwave.com for pricing.

You didn't mention the case or PSU (as KenKun mentioned) or figure the cost of additonal cooling for the XP system.

[newbie~wan]

Ditto on staying away from the ECS boards. The CMOS on mine went south about a week ago and I don't know if I'll be able to RMA it. I'm more p*ssed about the fact that my comp has been dead and will be dead for atleast a while now than the money.

Sometime spending a little more is worth good customer support and peace of mind

[John C. Dechon]

Sorry to disagree, but my ECS K7S5A is just fine, and so are the many hundreds of thousands/millions of others in use right now. The K7S5A has been a huge seller and millions have been sold...that wouldn't happen if they were junk.

Yes, some people are having problems, but look at ANY of the other brands' newsgwoups and see that ALL brands have this problem or that. For example, I've had a Tyan Trinity 400 S1854 mobo before and it worked just fine for me (it's now in my backup computer), but in the Tyan newsgroup you see this complaint or that and TYAN is supposed to be a top-drawer brand! Why is that? Same for Asus, Soyo, DFI, MSI, FIC, EPoX, you name them. But as for cheap mobos, LOTS of them work just fine...ask people using even the "POS" PC-Chips mobos.

I suspect that MOST motherboard problems are due to ignorance re: settings/configurations, not actual hardware failure/defects.

So it depends...I wouldn't say "Stay away from Elitegroup motherboards." There are in LOTS of OEM computers, too, like those P4 systems being sold by ShopNBC.com for specific example (yes, by that "expert" Jim Peterson -- as he calls himself -- what a joke he and his drinking buddy co-host Mike Davidson are) plus other brand OEM stuff...ECS/Elitegroup mobos are in them. Maybe even PC-Chips mobos, too. To cut costs, lots of OEM makers use "cheap" mobos in their sytems so there are LOTS of ECS/PC-Chips mobos out there in WORKING computers.

There are LOTS of "cheap" mobos working just fine and mine is one of them: I've had ZERO trouble with my Elitegroup K7S5A...that's more than some Soyo Dragon (expensive mobo) owners can say judging from the posts I've seen, or Gigabyte, or MSI...FIC has had LOTS of negative posts in its newsgroup. One Soyo owner even reported capacitors exploding off the motherboard. It happened to 2-3 others, too. That's quality?

The point is ANY brand board can have problems, but the cost-per-value-quotient of the cheaper boards works for some people...paying 2-3 times as much for a "better" board is NOT any guarantee you really WILL get better.

As for good or even average tech-support, hardly ANY brand has that! Definitely an area for improvement!

John D.