P4C 2.8Ghz vs P4C 2.4Ghz vs Barton 2500+ vs Barton 2800+...what's the verdict?

I basically have these choices:

1. Pentium 4C 2.8Ghz + Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 (865PE based low-end mobo) +
2*256MB PC3200 RAM = $370

2. Pentium 4C 2.4Ghz + Asus P4P800 Deluxe (865PE based high-end mobo) +
2*256MB PC3200 RAM = $395

3. Athlon XP 2800 + Asus A7N8X (nForce2 MCP based mobo) + 2*512MB PC3200RAM
= $370

4. Athlon XP 2500 + Asus A7N8X Deluxe (nForce2 MCP-T based mobo) + 2*512MB
PC3200RAM = $380

(Note: The prices might appear higher than normal, but in my region, these
were the best available!)

I can't really make up my mind, as the P4C system would probably be a little
faster than the Athlon XP, but the superior bundle of the Athlon XP
(basically more RAM) should make up for the slight speed difference...?

Also I've read that all four of these chips (P4C 2.4, 2.8 and XP 2500+,
2800+) are decent overclockers with the potential to reach 3.2Ghz (for P4)
and 3200+ (for XP) - Is this true or would I need to spend $30-40 for a
better quality heatsink/fan (especially for the Athlon XP as these CPUs run
mighty hot in any case?)

Thanks,
vin

 

i wonder where you stay coz i configured the same combo on newegg.com
........... which is quite reliable as other ppl will vouch for them as well.
for barton 2500 with asus nforce 2 ultra 400 mobo ( best for overclocking )
and geil dual channel 512 ram pc3200 ( 256 x 2) for around 279 + shipping
which i think is the best combo since the bartons are so overclockable and
if you unlock yours u can easily get to 3200+ xp speeds which costs a whole
lot more .

check out www.newegg.com ......... they have some of the best prices
available ........ also i suggest getting an msi k7n2 nforce2 400 ILSR , i
have had this board and it overclocks like a dream ........ really versatile
and you get all the cables you would want and then some .

 

AMD's have a higher Idle Temp, but only go up a little when under heavy
load.
Mine runs @ about 52°c or 53°c under load, and between 45 and 47°c Idle.
My P4 goes as low as 23 - 26°c Idle : 49 - 50°c Under load. Wow, me did a
good job of putting fans to my system.
Loaded it with 6 Cpoies of Gens - 32X Emu & Knuckles Chaotix + with a
frame skip of 0, one copy runs @ about 130 fps
at slowest. Not like you can play the game @ this speed anyway. What do
I mean by that? For the speed you get from an AMD
if your playing games, most of what's on the market right now will run on
most of the faster AMD systems. Athlon xp 2400+ and up.
If your going to do a lot of Video capture, editing of files, cutting adds
and other. Put other audio to Video files, and on & on.
The burning speed of a P4 3.2 GHz, or an Overclocked P4 2.6 GHz is what
you want.
But, for really great gaming, you really @ the time, don't really need all
that extra speed.
I wounder if my spelling is a ok, I'm not spell checking, cause I don't feel
like it.
All Smiles, cause I got my new Socket a AMD XP MB, and as soon as I back
some stuff up, I'll be installing it.
Denny E Strausser Jr (Raichu) Huh, what am I doing?

 

Well, it depends what you want it for. WinXP certainly likes a minimum
of 512Mb to work well but if you're just running office apps and
internet browsing then anything beyond that is probably pointless.
Unless you say what you're going to do with this machine you won't get
any useful advice.

 

For this kind of money I'd get an A64 3000+ and 512MB of PC4000 ram. Which
I plan on doing pretty soon.

 

I dont understand "Region"..
It's a global market these days (Despite what the RIAA and MPAA say)

 

If you think that, try ordering from one of the US hardware sites with a
European shipping address...

For some reason the weak dollar doesn't seem to have brought hardware
prices tumbling over here yet...

 

If you think that, try ordering from one of the US hardware sites with a

It's not too much of a pain buying from the US..
Major companys tend not to do it however, and some times it's because you
dont realise that they have a different european divison and that's why. My
only problem with shipping from the US is that my credit card company
wouldnt pass address verification back to the US companys and I would need
to fax a copy of my DriverLisence & CreditCard (front only).

The big thing about importing is trying to keep on top of the VAT.. The
customs for things is now european rates for some things and still british
rates for other (as I am in the uk) and none of the rates are publish'd in
public view (You have to phone to find out).

One HUGE problem that I bet most people have is when they try to order from
american systems and the PostCodes or PhoneNumbers dont work in their
systems.

If you were going to be ording LOTS of stuff.. then you might even be
willing to pay for the fee's of a Package Forwarding service like
http://www.myus.com/
or http://www.whatsinteresting.com/indexremailing.htm (I have never tried
either)

 

If either of you thing ordering from Europe is bad, you should try NZ. The
only US-based company I've succeeded in ordering from is Texas Instruments,
when I got my calculator shipped in[*]. Various other show-stoppers have
been:
[] Doesn't take non-US credit cards (most US-based retailers are in this
catergory)
[] Takes overseas credit cards, but not from dodgy third-world backwaters
like New Zealand (I've only got this one once admittedly)
[] Doesn't ship overseas, even if they accept non-US cards
[] Ships overseas, but charges stupid shipping rates

Even if you do manage to actually get the thing shipped, it's usually
cheaper to buy locally at higher prices, which is quite possibly *why* the
local prices are higher

[...]

[*] = Pretty much unrelated, but TI is actually one of the best companies
I've dealt with. They charged reasonable rates for shipping, and shipped
things very fast. I was just about floored when I ordered some DSP samples
(no cost, no shipping) and they shipped them via
ultra-urgent-learjet-to-the-door style courier. The cost of shipping the box
must have been nearly an order of magnitude above the worth of the contents.

 

I'm sorry that I forgot to mention it before, but this is going to be my new
*Gaming PC* for 2004 (I'll be throwing in a Radeon 9600 Pro videocard into
this mix).

best,
vin

 

I don't know what you run on XP, or how you measure "well," but I'm running
XP 'well' on 256 meg.

My apps on those systems (2) are office, video encoding, DVD
authoring/burning, and home theater. For CAD, photo, and video editing I
use the 512 Meg machine but they still perform 'well' on 256 Meg, it just
uses a bit of the page file.

I don't game and so can't speak to those needs.

I measure 'well' by the commit charge being less than the installed RAM
under normal use.

Part of the problem is a number of apps these days load in a ton of things
that may or may not be used just to 'have them there'. EZCDCreator 6 is a
big offender.

 

Thanks everyone for 'answering' this main question to the point?! Huh?
If you want a really good system for gaming, I'd go with an AMD system of
some kind.
One of the Athlon 64's 3200+ or 3400+ if you have that kind of $, spend it.
If not, then get something & Overclock it. I have a AMD Athlon 2000+
Overclocked to 2400+
a little over 2 GHz, and no vcore boost what's so ever. It seems stable
anyway.
As for that Athlon of mine, it has become my favorite system to play games
on, and I still
have only put a little over 300$ into it.
If I want to play a video game, the AMD is the first system in mind, not
this P4 2.6 @ 3.23 GHz system.
this system is just plain Overkill for most of the software out there.
Ease of overclocking a 2000+? Almost as easy as my P4 is.
I would have to say, go with a 2000+ 2100+ or 2400+ 'And don't spend the
extra $$ just to get a P4C'
I just don't see the point of getting something so fast @ the time, or at
least not till there's more software
out there that will use the speed.
Example = Who can play quake 3 running @ a speed of over 350 fp/s
I can run Sega 32x emu. Gens Knuckles Chaotix @ over 200 fp/s
Sonic 3 & Knuckles @ over 500 fp/s, but where's the point of running a game
so fast, if you cant even play it?
Might as well get the cheaper of the two systems, and let Intel in your
dust.


Denny. Always with a smile, even if times are bad.