system upgrade: dual p3 1ghz x 2 or athlon t-bird 1.4ghz?

[yaputzis]

hi,

i am at a dillima here.

i am about to buy a new system and i was wondering which solution would be the best of these two:

1. dual p3 at 1ghz x 2= 2ghz or

2. athlon t-bird at 1.4 ghz

i am going to use this system for general applications, video and mp3 encoding and games.

i have read at some other threads that athlon t-bird is running a bit hot.

your advice would be very helpful.

thanks in advance,

antonis

[Kuasimodem]

One of the other things you have to think about is that most games, and a lot of other programs are not set up to use both processors in a dually rig, so only the primary will get used.

As for temperatures, just get a high quality heatsink/fan for the cpu, and a case with good airflow.

<edit> Don't forget the cost, the T-bird system will be cheaper, and easier to upgrade later!
I think you would be more satisfied with performance building a single T-bird rig, I know I like mine a lot!

[This message has been edited by Kuasimodem (edited 08-06-2001).]

[jaida]

my vote goes towards the single t-bird system.

This is due to the many points that kuasimodem has listed above and also that you really have no real need for a dual processor system

[card_magic]

Yep, you don't need the dual setup. Like they said, the dual architecture isn't taken advantage of by everything, and unless you really know what you're doing, it can be a real pain in the ****. I'd say get the 1.4 Athlon, and use the money you save on a really good graphics card and a bunch of memory. Thats what I did. I put in a 1.4, 512MB DDR, and a GeForce3... the thing screams. Its so fast, it knows what I want to do before I even make up my mind.

[ooops]

I don't know guys .... I'm running 2 Dual setups @ home ( both are dual 1 ghz P3's on ECS D6VAA m/b's ) I'm running XP on both , was running Win 2000 ..... I agree with ya' program issues , but the OS can do so many things at the same time and these systems don't even burp ..... anyway yaputzis if you can wait a few days .... read on ........ According to the CBS Market Watch, Intel is preparing a "price bomb" on August 26 to get back market share lost to AMD. High end processors will be slashed by some 50%, and low end will be cut as well but probably not by as much. This means a CPU like the 1.8Ghz P4 should be around $260 whereas its current price is $562. Intel is even prepared to cut prices further in October if the cuts in August don't have their desired effect. Think of what you can build with savings like that . http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[daveleau]

I have both systems in question (Well i have a 1.2 OCed to 1.4, and a dual PIII 750). For Photoshop in Win2K, PS FLIES on the dual. Other than that, it is not worth it. The dual PIII is used by our resident graphic designer (my fiancee). I would definately go with the Athlon. only the realy complicated things get a boost in a dual.
Dave

[yaputzis]

thank you for your replies.

you guys are great.

i think i will go with the athlon solution.

regarding the price drop of intel's cpus, even if they drop down the mombo and memory will keep the price up.

thanks once again.