PENTIUM 4 or AMD ATHLON XP?

T

tonyA

New member
Hi, I am about to buy a separate computer dedicated to recording here in New Jersey. I had been advised by a kid going through a California recording school that he preferes and believes that AMD ATHLON XP chips are more reliable especially if used with Windows XP Pro. I was always under the impression that Pentium chips were always better.

We are not too interested in which one processes more jiffies per second, but actually in reliability. I know, motherboard plays a lot in freezing on non freezing of a system, but having all things equal, which one would you prefer?

Thanks in advance. I used to know all these stuff, but have been away from the technology that moves so fast and would like to get your opinion and experience. This computer is not for me, but for my nephew (the kid from California) who is studying digital recording using pro-tools. I don't think he will be using pro-tools at home though.

Oh, while your are at it, which soundcard would you recommend, short of buying expensive ones (Layla, etc.)
 
I guess if all things were equal I would prefer the least expensive chip, which, would be the AMD chip. (Which is what I chose, incidentally.) Your soundcard and motherboard chipset and the correct drivers are things I would consider. On soundcard recommendations, check here to get you started. It is by no means the definitive list, but it will give you a few things to consider when selecting a soundcard...

I wish you were my uncle:D


Vice
 
for music computers, i find a athlon MP to be a little stronger than the P4 and xp..
my next daw will be a dual mp2000 or 2200
 
i posted the same question yesterday and was told that this question has been asked so many times before. so i did a search on chipsets. beware. there are so many that will cause you grief.


there are so many opinions on chipsets that it is even more confusing now after doing the search.

from what ive read an amd is the way to go with a nvidia chipset, stay away from via chipsets.
 
Since AMDs run hotter than Intels be ready to pay serious attention to good cooling, which in our case should also be QUITE.
Also, AMD-approved PSU is a MUST.
Overheating and unstable voltage are two frequent and underlooked reasons for instability of AMD box.
 
Athon: supposedly faster, more power hungry, dissipates heat like a truck engine, noisy and has many chipset issues when it comes to audio cards. Question to ask: Are these good enough reasons to spend less $$?

Pentium: fast enough, isn't power hungry, quiet, good compatability track record because chip and chipset are made by the same company. Question to ask: Do these benefits make sense to you for a slightly higher cost?
 
The points made by brzilian are spot on and you should consider them carefully I posted the same question a few months ago and threads like this always go the same way...ie) some prefer AMD some Pentium.
I was given good advice by Paul 881 ( haven't seen him about the forum for a while ) which basically pointed me to Pent 4 because its classed as the industry standard. Which I think is what brzilian is saying.
So to cut a long story short my mind was made up on Pentium but my system was being built for me by a friend who only had a slight interest in music recording but was totally into the techie side of computers ( he makes his living building and repairing p.c's)
He couldn't get his head round why I wanted to pay more cash for a Pent system when he said he could build a more powerful rig for the same price using an AMD processor and he wouldn't accept that Pentium was the 'industry standard'.
In the end he said if I wasn't happy with the AMD rig he could build he would change it for a Pentium system. At htis point I bit...
and told him to get building.
I have now had this system AMD athlon 2200. Win XP, Nvidia chipset, 80 gig HD, 512 mb RAM ( was adviced to get DDR memory but didn't), for 2 months it was cheap and I haven't had a single problem I can record track after track without any problems and I am more than happy with it.

The decision is yours alone... hope you get what you want.
 
brzilian said:
Athon: supposedly faster, more power hungry, dissipates heat like a truck engine, noisy and has many chipset issues when it comes to audio cards. Question to ask: Are these good enough reasons to spend less $$?

Pentium: fast enough, isn't power hungry, quiet, good compatability track record because chip and chipset are made by the same company. Question to ask: Do these benefits make sense to you for a slightly higher cost?
Click to expand...

Don't make me laugh. A P4 is just as power hungry as an Athlon and dissipates heat accordingly. It does have a heat spreader on the cpu which should make it somewhat easier to keep cool.
A CPU isn't loud, it is the fan that's on its heatsink!

Chip and chipset CAN be from the same company but there are for instance nForce and SiS chipsets for the P4 as well so you need to watch what you buy anyway. And there is no way that you can convince me that a P4+intel chipset is perse more stabile than an AMD computer.
Soundcard + AMD chipset issues are more something of the past.

To make a long story short: There have been good and bad experiences on both sides. PERSONALLY that would make me look at the cheaper option.
 
brzilian said:
Athon: supposedly faster, more power hungry, dissipates heat like a truck engine, noisy and has many chipset issues when it comes to audio cards. Question to ask: Are these good enough reasons to spend less $$?

Pentium: fast enough, isn't power hungry, quiet, good compatability track record because chip and chipset are made by the same company. Question to ask: Do these benefits make sense to you for a slightly higher cost?
Click to expand...

If all that was true, I would go pentium. Since its all nonsense, I'll stick with AMD.
 
Christiaan beat me to it - explain to me how "an Athlon chip is louder than a P4 chip"! LOL!!!!

The bottom line is that either processor can be a fine recording rig. I use both Athlon and P3 systems (each with VIA chipsets) and have had no motherboard-related issues. If you intend to have the PC in the same area as the recording enviorment, you will want to take a few steps to make it quiet. This means a good quality cpu fan (regardless of what cpu you pick) and possibly a high-end power supply with a silent fan. Other than that, I would say shop around and pick what you like.
 
RWhite said:
Christiaan beat me to it - explain to me how "an Athlon chip is louder than a P4 chip"! LOL!!!!

The bottom line is that either processor can be a fine recording rig. I use both Athlon and P3 systems (each with VIA chipsets) and have had no motherboard-related issues. If you intend to have the PC in the same area as the recording enviorment, you will want to take a few steps to make it quiet. This means a good quality cpu fan (regardless of what cpu you pick) and possibly a high-end power supply with a silent fan. Other than that, I would say shop around and pick what you like.
Click to expand...

Lets see - more power consumption=more heat dissipation=a need for more ventilation.

I guess I just imagine things when I go over to my friends house and hear his Athlon system soundling like its gonna take off...

Sure you can buy a quiet fan for extra $$, but my point is that my P4 came that way. Oh, get this - its even quieter than my previous PII system. Imagine that...

I always love watching that Tomshardware video where they take the heat sink off of a P3,P4 and Athlon processor.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/20...wnload_the_first_toms_hardware_test_lab_video
 
No, your not imagining it, your friend just has a crappy fan..

And that stupid toms hardware video.....If you are dumb enough to run your cpu without a heatsink and fan, you are too stupid to own a computer. All decent boards will shut themselves down before the pc craters if the fan dies.....IF you set them up right.
 
Rehashing this BS again?

Yes lets take the heatsink off the processor, 'oh boy the AMD fries faster than the pentium'. Who cares? I know the odd time I get the urge to run my computer without a processor fan...

Designing and manufacturing a processor is not an easy task. AMD has been around a long long time, they have the technological resources to put out quality, cutting edge processors. They are not manufactured in someones basement.

Sure, there are chipset issues with motherboards designed for AMD chips, as there are for Intel chipsets / P4 platform. One has to do equal research regardless. Buying a P4 will not guarantee universal compatability with ANY soundcard.

The retail box version Athlon fan is no louder than the retail box P4's. Often, people buy the OEM AMD chip, and the store they bought it at throw in a $5 Vantec fan that is extremely loud.

As for the price difference. I really haven't found a significant one(maybe $100 - $150 average on a system), provided you are using good components.
 
Hey that sounds like a cool video! I downloaded it but I guess I don't have the right Codecs... and the link to them is dead. I'll check it out later.

Yes, Emeric summed it up quite well. The Athlon system I am typing this on is no louder that the P3 system it replaced, despite having 3 fans in the box instead of two. Just stay away from cheap fans, regardless of what chip you choose.
 
RWhite said:
Hey that sounds like a cool video! I downloaded it but I guess I don't have the right Codecs... and the link to them is dead. I'll check it out later.

Yes, Emeric summed it up quite well. The Athlon system I am typing this on is no louder that the P3 system it replaced, despite having 3 fans in the box instead of two. Just stay away from cheap fans, regardless of what chip you choose.
Click to expand...

www.divx.com

Emeric is totally missing the point . Being a person with a computer engineering and product development background, the fact that the Athlon has no failsafe for such a situation tells me AMD doesn't put as much effort into the development for their products. All that tells me is that AMD is cheaper than Intel because they cut corners in terms of quality - plain and simple.

I'll pay a premium for quality over performance anyday...
 
Thanks for the link.

I don't have a computer engineering background, but I do have 18 years building / servicing /selling / supporting PCs. I've seen just about every possible failure /explosion possible. I completely agree with you that the notion of an expensive cpu destroying itself in seconds if it's fan suddenly fails is offensive.

However it's my understanding that the same situation can happen with the P4 as well. Just a week ago I had a Dell P4 system die, although the exact cause was a mystery. The motherboard / CPU / power supply were all replaced by the Dell on-site drone, which was fine with me.
 
I'm not sure exactly what your point is brzilian.

I'm talking real world application. It's easy to say some aspect of a product could be designed better, but the worse part is you're harping on and on .. on a trivial point. An AMD machine build to spec will operate just fine. I don't lose sleep at night worrying whether a fan is going to suddenly stop spinning. This is rare to begin with, provided the machine is built properly, enviromental conditions (and precautions) taken into account, and a bit of common sense. And of course, this applies to both AMD and Intel machines. Complain to the designers at AMD if you feel so strongly about this 'flaw', that more than likely will effect .0001% of computer users in the real world.

Both platforms are fine (provided the proper build specifications are adhered to). I have no allegiance to either. The mac versus pc debates are boring enough.
 
Emeric said:
I'm not sure exactly what your point is brzilian.

I'm talking real world application. It's easy to say some aspect of a product could be designed better, but the worse part is you're harping on and on .. on a trivial point. An AMD machine build to spec will operate just fine. I don't lose sleep at night worrying whether a fan is going to suddenly stop spinning. This is rare to begin with, provided the machine is built properly, enviromental conditions (and precautions) taken into account, and a bit of common sense. And of course, this applies to both AMD and Intel machines. Complain to the designers at AMD if you feel so strongly about this 'flaw', that more than likely will effect .0001% of computer users in the real world.

Both platforms are fine (provided the proper build specifications are adhered to). I have no allegiance to either. The mac versus pc debates are boring enough.
Click to expand...

Each to his own I guess.

This is the same reason why I drive a Honda and not a Dodge. Sure, the Neon is cheaper and has a bigger engine, but the Civic is a car that wont make me worry that the head gasket will blow at 36,100 miles and the dealer says they wont pay for the repair
 
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