AMD vs Intel CPU's...what should I get!

steve_b

Ok guys....the only way this is related to stamps is that whichever one I get, it'll be the computer that PBasic will be running on!! haha

Anyhow, here I am looking at all these boxed barebone computers that everyone is offering.· (actually just picked one up for my parents as the P1 133 died...haven't seen the new one yet).·
Anyhow, I know there is a price difference between Intels and AMD's....and a performance difference....but I'm unsure how to compare the 2.
AMD has their 64bit processors now....so they do twice the work of 32bits?· Is that a fair statement?...probably not! lol

I'm not looking to blow the budget on a new machine....but I'd like something that's gonna work for me!·
I've read enough lately to know that all the new processors are egg friers!· So, cooling is uber-important!

Basically, I'm looking for a machine that I will be able to do my music mixing/recording on and also some small projects with the stamps -- and the obvious Internet stuff.·
I've gotten out of PC games....(Xbox for this guy)....but I still need the horsepower for the recording (video down the line)....

I post this here as I know there are some ppl out there that know more than me on this!

Thanks

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Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

Forrest

That's an easy decision - you just need one of these www.apple.com/macmini/

It ships with music mixing/recording and video software in the box - and best of all there are no viruses for it and it contains no Microsoft software. I'd recommend upgrading the memory to 1 GB.

steve_b

Oh no...lol ANOTHER option!! haha

It's bad enough that McD's has so many selections at the drive-thru these days!

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Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

kelvin james

I really think with the speed of the processors now, that it realy doesn't matter what you use, unless you are doing some major video/ graphics rendering, and the ram is the big factor in that application.
The AMD runs a little hotter than the INTEL, and both have their pros and cons depending on the application, but i think they are pretty equal. Macs are nice, with the software and such, but i still find them to pricey compared to the PC. The hardcore preachers of the different formats will always tell you that theirs' is the best, but it is just personal preference, same as any other personal opinion. Just get a 2.5 to 3 gig processor, 1 gig of ram, a nice audio card for your music, and you are set to go. I wish the price of laptops would come down to around the desktop level, but i won't hold my breath waiting for that to ever happen.

kelvin

steve_b

Thanks guys....I'm using external hardware for my music. So all I'd need is a firewire or USB port to bring it in.

How available are things for the Mac? The mini-MAC just looks like a PC104 type computer.
I don't want to be handcuffed to a good system that I have to really go searching for peripherals/software to do what I want!

My only AMD experience was with the AMDK6 series and they were pretty picky with their hardware combinations!
A lot of software seemed to crash in those systems too.

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Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

Forrest

I'm a dual platform user - having used both Mac and PC's for 15 years (and other home computers before that). Both have their strenghs and weakness. The PC strengths are games and a wider availability of software, and the ability to use Parallax's $99 logic analyzer. The weaknesses are the viruses, trojans, spyware and Microsoft's heavy handed policy to software registration. Note no versioin of ANY Mac OS has ever required a serial/registration number and there are no viruses or spyware for MacOSX (which was released 4 years ago). The other Mac strong points are excellent audio/video applications that include GarageBand, iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, iTunes and the stability of OSX (which runs on top of Unix). I've only seen a system crash twice in the past 4 years - and both were fixed by restarting the computer!

A 1.42 GHz Mac mini with an 80 GB hard drive, a SuperDrive (writes DVD and CDRW discs) and 1 GB of memory will work well and costs $699. All the software I spoke about above is already included. Since the Mac mini includes both Firewire and USB 2, it's very simple to expand - such as adding this external 250 GB hard drive/Firewire/USB hub www.megamacs.com/v1/index.php?action=view&pid=2735495&criteria=MiniMate - all in a 6.5 inch box, the same size as the Mac mini.

Don't take my word for it - check out a Mac at your local Apple or CompUSA for yourself and tell them what you want to do.

steve_b

what's the equivalent AMD/Intel with regards to a 1.42Ghz Mac mini?!

I've been Intel since I got rid of my Tandy....but with 32bit vs 64bit and different ways of doing things, the "Mhz" number is no longer valid!

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Steve
http://ca.geocities.com/steve.brady@rogers.com/index.html
"Inside each and every one of us is our one, true authentic swing. Something we was born with. Something that's ours and ours alone. Something that can't be learned... something that's got to be remembered."

Paul Baker

Even an AMD/Intel operating frequency comparision is not an adequate measure of a processing power. There is no "best method" of doing comparisions unfortunately. You can compare benchmarks (assuming you can find a benchmark which is availible for all the platforms your seeking to compare) but these do not accurately measure real-world performance. You can also compare the time it takes for an application to perform a function (like encoding a 10 Meg video file using Adobe Premier). But nearly all cross-platform applications have a "home" operating system in which they are developed on first then exported to other platforms, depending on how this is done, the versions of the programs may render the comparision as another apples to oranges comparision. I could tick off each processor/operating systems strengths and weaknesses but nearly all marks are AMD/Intel comparision and its hard to determine where the Mac fits into the heirarchy.

The 32/64 bit issue is an extremely complex issue, an applications performance is dependent upon the hardware/ operating system/ and the applications' method of implementation and which feature sets of the chip/operating system are used. This obviously results in not being able to determine the exact·performace of a particular application.

To give an analogous issue, multithreaded applications have be possible for nearly a decade, yet the vast majority of programs produced to this day are single threaded. So if your intent is to run such an application (and you are not running any other computationally intesive applications on the machine) it makes absolutley no sense to invest in a multiprocessor/hyperthreaded ·system, that extra processing capability is never utilized.

Post Edited (Paul Baker) : 5/2/2005 4:46:42 PM GMT

Forrest

None of the Mac applications I listed are very processor intensive and none of them work on a PC - so you can't really compare Mac vs. PC. I can tell you that my 1.33 GHz G4 PowerMac with 512 MB of RAM and a 64 MB Radeon 8500 feels just as fast as the my Athlon XP2500+ box with 512 MB of RAM and a 128 Mb Radeon 9600SE while playing the same games.

The G4 and Athlon XP2500+ are both 32 bit processors. The G5 and the Athlon 64 are 64 bit processors. Aside from first person shooters, I'm not sure there's an application you can run at home that really takes advantage of 64 bits - with the possible exception of MPEG2 encoding for DVD's. The iMac has a G5 processor and PowerMacs have (2) G5 processors (except for the lowend model). The Mac mini, eMac, PowerBook and iBook all have a G4 processor.

You'll really need to try these apps for yourself at a local CompUSA or an Apple store to see how they perform for you. Apple stores have a Midi keyboards setup and some pro Audio applications (such as Reason, Logic and others) installed to you can try these out.

If you want to talk to other Mac users - the forum at dealmac.com/ is always lively.

Don Buczynski

I have built and operated·both AMD and Intel based systems.·I have found that flaky operation has more to do with the components·than the CPU brand. The better quality motherboards and components are worth their extra cost in the long run.·Check out the website·http://www.tomshardware.com·for reviews. For·your AMD/Intel question, have a look at their "Mother of All CPU Charts" at http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/index.html. There is also an AMD/Intel·stress test report.

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Don Buczynski

http://www.buczynski.com

paysonbadboy

Funny.

I think I mentioned this on another thread, but I killed my computer last weekend by BORROWING the CPU fan form my home PC to test another motherboard and didn't clean off the old gray paste before putting it back on. I just added more paste
---It cooked in 5 seconds! Becaue i NEVER got video again.

Anyway. I went and bought a AMD 64 Bit motherboard/CPU combo with 512 megs of 400 Mhz DDR ram for about $278

It came boxed set with a fan too. And it is QUIETER than the thlon 2200+ Thermal take fan.
I can not even HEAR the fan running.


Anyway. I need to go buy Windows XP 64 bit here soon. I still used the standard XP Pro for now.

I haven't ran any programs where i noticed more speed even though I should be about twice as fast as my AMD XP 2200+.
The wondows pop up faster, but I guess running DVD Shrink and my usually daily routines (posting in forums) hasn't shown the power yet.


Oh yeah. Just for info I threw in my 4 or more year old sound Blaster Live card and Nvidia capture card and it didn't freak out at all.

Next thing to buy is also a new SERIAL hard Drive since it has all those hook ups. the cables are only like 1" wide too [noparse]:)[/noparse]

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http://www.paysonarizona.net/

LoopyByteloose

Buy one of each Then you can tell us what we don't know.

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G. Herzog in Taiwan

pcrobot

This is solely my opinion...

AMD!

LOL...
Actually, I recommend (even though, by now, you have probably made your decision.) the AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor!
Check it out:

www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_12898,00.html

Though, they aren't out yet...I think.

So you'll have to look at the AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 Processor!

www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9488,00.html

Go AMD!

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Robotics
ro-bot-ics (noun)
the science or technology of robots, their design, manufacture, application, use, etc.

Tricky Nekro

Amd for ever!!!

They have twice speed compering with Intel

I have an Amd64 3500+ and i can say it does everything. Also an Amd is the choise of a proffesional gamer and they are half priced as i know here in Greece. What's more it gives you a full overcloaking experiance .