Athlon XP & Pentium 4 systems

[uncleel]

Weekly CPU Pricing Guide

Product Price Comparison
http://www.3dspotlight.com/prices.shtml
Intel Northwood P4 1.8GHz - $214.10
Intel Northwood P4 1.6 GHz - $153.95
AMD AthlonXP 1900+ - $196.00

Weekly CPU Pricing Guide
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/WCPG/article.php/975941

• 
  P4-1.6GHz/400 Sock 478 (OEM) $128
  P4-1.7GHz/400 Sock 478 (OEM) $145
  P4-1.8GHz/400 Sock 478 (OEM) $162
  P4-1.9GHz/400 Sock 478 (OEM) $225
  P4-2.0GHz/400 Sock 478 (OEM) $318
  P4-2.2GHz/400 Sock 478 Northwood (OEM) $472

• 
  Athlon XP 1500+ (1.33GHz) $102
  Athlon XP 1600+ (1.4GHz) $106
  Athlon XP 1700+ (1.47GHz) $113
  Athlon XP 1800+ (1.53GHz) $137
  Athlon XP 1900+ (1.6GHz) $189
  Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) $249

Two market forces @ work. intel dumping prices on P4's while the XP's (made @ the Dresden plant) doesn't have the production to bring the prices down yet.

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by Rick
The Athlon XPs are fairly overpriced. You might want to seek prices eslewhere than Azzo for the Athlons because they seem very, very pricey.

I wasn't pricing them to buy, just was clicking round the sponsers to see what they had to offer and noticed that at similar clock speeds the P4 was actually cheaper. Haven't actually been watching CPU prices much recently

 

[Bobes]

Sorry to offend you Arris. I meant "selective" moreover than doctored, once again apologies, didn't think you had changed the prices or anything

As to the system problems, well setting the memory to 100Mhz has helped, although I shouldn't have to do that and it is STILL very slow!

I was surprised to see prices that high, but I don't look @ American prices @ all (not pricewatch, pricegrabber now any store) because of import taxes etc. Prices were quoted from www.overclockers.co.uk and www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk both have similar prices.

 

[TS | Crazyace]

performance differs upon system configuration.

A DDR Northwood system with good ram at a 3:4 memory ratio is pretty tough to beat. Actually, I thinik it will smoke an XP. But, at stock speeds (not overclocking or multiplying bus at all), the XP looks to nudge it out slightly when all benchmarks are counted. They are real close, it's really a tough call now. But like I said, if you speed up the memory, the P4 just takes off incredibly. It is very ram hungry, as most of us know.

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by Bobes
Sorry to offend you Arris. I meant "selective" moreover than doctored, once again apologies, didn't think you had changed the prices or anything

Ach no problem.
Thought it was strange behaviour for you but obviously just a misunderstanding.
I just wanted to highlight the price difference between CPU's from AMD and intel running at the same clock speed. I think if I shop around I would most likely find XPs cheaper than P4 and P4 northwoods, even if some of the middle of the range P4 northwoods do seem to be at a decent price for once....

 

[Bobes]

Originally posted by 3DS Crazyace
performance differs upon system configuration.

A DDR Northwood system with good ram at a 3:4 memory ratio is pretty tough to beat. Actually, I thinik it will smoke an XP. But, at stock speeds (not overclocking or multiplying bus at all), the XP looks to nudge it out slightly when all benchmarks are counted. They are real close, it's really a tough call now. But like I said, if you speed up the memory, the P4 just takes off incredibly. It is very ram hungry, as most of us know.

Is there some secret setting I've missed? Latest drivers..check. OS updates...check. BIOS settings on optimal (apart from memory)...check. Performance: awful! I'm having to play Counter-Strike in 640x480 because anything higher is chug-city. I'd really like some feedback from those with P4 systems like you Paul because this is just stupid for a P4 system.

This is deffinately a Northwood system. I'm not going to even attempt OCing it at the current temps though...

Glad the misunderstanding has been sorted out Arris.

 

[TS | Crazyace]

first step: reformat

second: sdram or ddr sdram?

 

[uncleel]

rambus, ddr, or sdram?

Originally posted by Arris
Don't know about the different motherboard prices but just noticed this over at.....

Checking out http://www.jncs.com motherboard bundles. Important things to consider:
rambus, ddr, or sdram?
Quality motherboard.

Intel Plans More Pentium 4 Price Cuts
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,73703,00.asp
Dropping P4 Prices
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,77264,00.asp

"As Intel has rapidly dropped prices on the P4 to compete with AMD in a tough market, the company watched its less expensive Celeron lose market share. The Celeron dropped from 27.2 percent in the third quarter of last year to 20.9 percent of the market in the same quarter of this year, according to research firm Dataquest. In that same period, Intel introduced the Pentium 4, and that chip went from a zero market share to 23.9 percent."

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Originally posted by Bobes

Is there some secret setting I've missed? Latest drivers..check. OS updates...check. BIOS settings on optimal (apart from memory)...check. Performance: awful! I'm having to play Counter-Strike in 640x480 because anything higher is chug-city. I'd really like some feedback from those with P4 systems like you Paul because this is just stupid for a P4 system.

This is deffinately a Northwood system. I'm not going to even attempt OCing it at the current temps though...

My P4 rig:
Soltek SL-85SD-C
P4 1.6 GHz @ 2.0, not Northwood
768M PC-133 SDRAM
Gainward/Cardexperts GeForce2Ti 500 XP
SB Live! Value
Pinnacle PCTV Rave
Realtek RTL8139B NIC
Samsung 40G hdd
Toshiba DVD-ROM
Ricoh MP7060S CD-RW
External TekComm 56k modem
No floppy drive

Temperatures stay below 45C, overclocking has been the only reason to cause lockups. I don't know about Windows drivers since I don't have that OS.
RH Linux 7.2 with kernel 2.5.1, NVIDIA_kernel_2314 & GLX_2313, runs Quake3 @ 85 FPS (1280x1024x32) and UT about the same. I'll check if I have any problems with HL & CS.

I think it has something to do with AGP bus, or your OS just doesn't like your mobo. Have you tried any CPU tests like Pifast? Do they run correctly?
Are you sure that motherboard supports Northwood P4s?

 

[Bobes]

Originally posted by 3DS Crazyace
first step: reformat

second: sdram or ddr sdram?

I'm deffinately going to reformat in the end, but I'm not sure what you mean by that other point. Do you mean SDR/SDRAM as opposed to DDR/SDRAM? If so, the motherboard only accepts DDR/SDRAM running at 100 or 133Mhz (PC1600 & 2100). My PC2400 should have been more than up to the task of running at 133Mhz!

I have no reason to doubt the motherboard's compatibilty with Northwood design Pentium 4s.

I'll run some rough benchmarks to show you what I mean.

 

[TS | Crazyace]

set your motherboard memory timing to 3:4

i was just asking what kinda memory you had


But really, if you are having all those problems and say you can only play counter strike at 640x480, your system is really screwed up.. Reformat, then give us an update..

I can run damn coutner strike at 1280x1024 on my old celeron system!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bobes]

It was running at 3:4 (133Mhz)

Actually, now its at 100Mhz, the system does seem a lot more stable. I think I've only had three or four crashes since I used slower memory speed settings (used to have crashes every ten minutes or so!).

But like you said, I've got to go for a clean installation to try and get the full speed out of it.

Thanks to everyone who's helped on this thread!

 

[Per Hansson]

Bobes; This was just something I got thinking of, have you checked what speed the processor is really running at when it reaches 60C?

As we all know it has it's built in safety feature that throttles the CPU clock down when it gets hot...

WCPUID will be able to tell you what speed the processor is running at, start the "real-time" monitor in that along with seti RC5 or some other thingy that loads the CPU to 100% and see what happens...

 

[DaveSylvia]

I agree with you there Per. I was thinking the same thing.

Also, when you say this,

Originally posted by Bobes
...I've got to go for a clean installation to try and get the full speed out of it.

do you mean that you took a hard drive that already had Windows (or Linux) installed? If so, I believe that would be the cause of the lack of performance. Enlighten me if otherwise sir.