DDR Fumbles, RDRAM Scores

[Beeblequix]

poser.

who cares if ddr memory is now more expensive? who cares if the mobo is more expensive for asus' top p4 dog+ddr than the p4 +rambus 817ch? Actually as my research shows, this is completely false. Where the hell'd he get his info? I checked today's prices on pricewatch, finding the lowest price for that product. The p4t-e lists for $146. This board does not have audio. The p4b266-C retails for $112. This board does not have audio. The Asus P4TE-SWA retails for $165. That one has audio and usb 2.0. The Asus P4B266 retails for $147 and has onboard audio and usb2.0.
Okay, so why is the d00d(not) comparing the p4 rdram solution without audio and ammenities with a p4 solution with audio and usb2.0 built in? Why doesn't he compare them as equals? That puts his little arguement in a different light ($165 vs $146). Boner. Well, he was way off on that one.

AMD's solutions are much more attractive to the enthusiast and average consumer, which makes up most of the market. Sure, power users and professionals have their niche, but hey, my corporation here still has hundreds of PII's in use.

I find it quite CONVENIENT that the author of this article blatantly fails to mention that the p4 PROCESSOR is still ENORMOUSLY more expensive than a similarly rated Athlon XP. Thus, the whole system, similarly equipped in other regards will be much more expensive for the Intel platform. A quick check on pricewatch tells me:

$296.....Athlon XP 2000
$209.....Athlon XP 1900
$149.....Athlon XP 1800
$117.....Athlon XP 1700
$110.....Athlon XP 1600
$104.....Athlon XP 1500

$559.....Pentium 4 2.2GHz Sock 478
$355.....Pentium 4 2.0GHz Sock 478
$403.....Pentium 4 2.0GHz
$253.....Pentium 4 1.9GHz Sock 478
$239.....Pentium 4 1.9GHz
$200.....Pentium 4 1.8GHz Sock 478
$195.....Pentium 4 1.8GHz
$177.....Pentium 4 1.7GHz Sock 478
$174.....Pentium 4 1.7GHz
$158.....Pentium 4 1.6GHz Sock 478
$152.....Pentium 4 1.6GHz
$140.....Pentium 4 1.5GHz Sock 478
$137.....Pentium 4 1.5GHz
$137.....Pentium 4 1.4GHz Sock 478
$130.....Pentium 4 1.4GHz

Hmmmm...P4@ 2 GHzs478 costs $59 bucks more than an AthlonXP2000. It's always a nice side benefit when your cpu company sticks with 1 socket form factor for so long. Otherwise, the poor sobs who bought the 423 would have to pay $107 more for a similar rated speed. I didn't include the newest p42.2 since there isn't an equivalent AMD solution as of today. Comparing the newest intel to the newest amd is too uneven (in favor of amd for price comparison).

Mobos.
I'll subdivide this into chisets:
kt266-a
Asus A7V266-E.....$147
Epox EP8KHAL......$78
SHUTTLE AK31A.....$78
MSI K7T266A Pro2..$105
Soyo K7V Dragon+..$154
ABIT KR7A-RAID....$149
Gigabyte 7VTXH....$115

amd761
Abit KG7-Lite............$102
EPOX EP-8K7A.............$77
MSI K7 MASTER MS-6341....$83
Asus A7M266..............$115
GIGABYTE GA-7DXR.........$112

SiS735
ECS K7S5a.........$53
Leadtek 7350KDA...$98

intel850
ECS P4ITA socket 423.....$101
Asus P4T socket 423......$145
Asus P4T-E socket 478....$147
Intel D850GBC socket 423..$122
Intel D850MV socket 478..$147
MSI MS-850 Pro5..........$127
Epox EP-4T2A socket-423..$133
Abit TH7-RAID socket 423.$145
Abit TH7II socket 478....$147
Gigabyte 8ITX3 socket 423.$119
Gigabyte 8ITX-E Socket478.$136

I'll leave out the non-rimm P4 platforms, since the author wanted to show the viability of rambus paired up with the p4, not ddrram. I wish to show the much more attractive solution of AMD+ddr.

system configurations:
cpu.............mobo...2 256M mem.modules......$..
AMD AthXP2000+ A7V266-E 512(2100)(2*$57) =$557
Pentuim4 2Ghz TH7II 512pc800(2*$72) =$646

Hmmm...mobos cost the same...cpu's different...memory different.

I know, I could put higher grade ddr ram in place, but these chipsets were designed for a 266 fsb. Still want to see the price comparison? Okay.
For my ddr platform, the total with pc2400 comes to (2*68) $579. With pc2700 it comes to (2*71) $585. So, my ddr platform will kick ***, and still cost less. $61-$89 less. That $ will make the difference between a Geforce2mx400 and a Geforce3ti200. Or a classic Geforce3 and a Geforce3 ti500. Or a 20Gig and an 80Gig hard drive. Or adding a 24x10x40 burner. Or owning RETURN TO CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN. Shoot, I can think of a lot more things to do with $61-$89. And paying more for an equivalent(possibly under-) performing system isn't one of them. Oh yeah, give me the exact same amount of money, and I'll build you a more 1337 system. Oh yeah. Bring it on, baby!

Beeble Quix.....edited for peace...