Help me decide! Bus Speed.....CPU

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Centropolis

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I am buying a new computer. I have been thinking about bus speeds, CPUs and coudln't decide if the 533MHz bus speed for Intel's B CPUs are worth the extra money for what I am going to use my computer for.

I'm picking between AMD XP 2600+ with 333MHz bus speed compared to Intel 2.66B (533MHz). Not only the CPU costs more but the mother board does too. I know it will come down to what I am doign with my computer.

I am going to use it for the usually word/spreedsheet stuff, little bit of Photoshop (not heavy use), Bittorrent. In terms of gaming, I like games but not crazy about them.....Counter-Strike, maybe Sim 2 when it comes out, not that into graphics intensive games......I guess.....actually, i don't know what games are graphics intensive! haha

Anyways, the price different is significant for me because the extra money could get me a 80GB harddrive instead of 40GB, 512MB ram instead of 256, and even a tad better graphics card.

Need advice....comments....

BTW, someone could also tell me if the 8MB buffer for harddrives wil be a noticebale difference as compared to the regular ones. Thanks.
 
Well youre talking about a $60 difference here bud. The Intel is the "better" chip, but as you said, its a question af application. If you wanted a closer comparison, take the 2800 Barton. Its closer price, and with the new core itll compete more evenly with that intel.

Anyhow, go AMD. With your applications (adobe specifically) it'd be much smarter to have 512MB of ram than a marginally better processor.

Oh and 8MB buffer IS normal. 2MB is crap, dont bother with it. Do you know what the buffer does?

A buffer is a temporary storage area. The hard disk buffer is a portion of the hard drive allocated to RAM used to speed up access to data on a disk. The hard disk buffer acts as a holding area for data so that the processor is free to perform other functions. The larger the buffer size, the more information can be temporarily stored and the quicker it can be accessed.

Its no contest. Not even a question in my book. 8MB is the way to go.
 
Hmm.....well, yeah, it's about $60-$70 and I could spend that on extra RAM.

The biggest question is the bus speed though. I mean, the number is 333 and 533. Sounds like a lot....but is it? Because I'm looking down the road....upgrade and stuff.....

Shrapnill said:
Well youre talking about a $60 difference here bud. The Intel is the "better" chip, but as you said, its a question af application. If you wanted a closer comparison, take the 2800 Barton. Its closer price, and with the new core itll compete more evenly with that intel.

Anyhow, go AMD. With your applications (adobe specifically) it'd be much smarter to have 512MB of ram than a marginally better processor.

Oh and 8MB buffer IS normal. 2MB is crap, dont bother with it. Do you know what the buffer does?



Its no contest. Not even a question in my book. 8MB is the way to go.
 
Nah, the bus speed isnt the biggest question. In your case its a matter of application vs price. Not to mention, chip performance varies greatly brand to brand and chip to chip. Like I said, a 2800 Barton is a closer competitor. It would run alongside that Intel any day, despite the FSB. Theres LOTS more to consider aside from the bus speeds.

If you wanna give me a price range of your build I could part out a computer for you, if youd like a second opinion on things.
 
Hmm.....here is what i'm looking at.....mind you.....the prices are in CANADIAN DOLLARS!

Motherboard ASUS A7V8X-X
RAM 256MB DDR333 PC-2700
Hard Drive WD 40GB 7200rpm w/ 8MB cache
Floppy Drive 1.44MB FDD
CD-RW LG 52X CD-RW
Case 300W Case w/ USB front
Video Card Radeon 7000 32MB
Sound Card Onboard Sound Card
Monitor LG 700S 17"
Keyboard HP Internet Keyboard
Mouse HP Wheel Mouse
Speakers Altec Lansing 120 speakers

Athlon XP 2000+ $569
Athlon XP 2200+ $575
Athlon XP 2400+ $589
Athlon XP 2500+ $605
Athlon XP 2600+ $629

With this system I was gonna get rid of the monitor cuz i already have one....which lowers the price by $116. So the Athlon XP 2600+ is now $513. I want to upgrade to 512MB of RAM and 80GB harddrive which adds about $70. So it's about CAN$583 now converted to US$ it's about USD$459.

That's the one I'm kind of wat to get. I think I will need to upgrade the video card as well to lay games. Any suggestions?

I am not sure if the M?B supports 2800+ Barton that you recommended...also don't know how much more it'll cost me.

Comments?

Shrapnill said:
Nah, the bus speed isnt the biggest question. In your case its a matter of application vs price. Not to mention, chip performance varies greatly brand to brand and chip to chip. Like I said, a 2800 Barton is a closer competitor. It would run alongside that Intel any day, despite the FSB. Theres LOTS more to consider aside from the bus speeds.

If you wanna give me a price range of your build I could part out a computer for you, if youd like a second opinion on things.
 
bus speeds ain't everything. Consider this intel has 3.2ghz with 800fsb 512cache and amd has a 3200xp 2.2ghz 512cache 400fsb competeing with that. And it does trust me. from 333 or 400 to 533 not much difference 533 to 800 enough so you can notice it. Intels quad pumped fsb allows you to overclock a bit more because if you set it up by 1 say you had 200 and put it up to 201 bus would now be 804 but with amd it only goes up by two duel pumped and if you set it up by one it would be 200 to 201 = 402. I am intel biosed because they make best chipsets hands down butamd does the job pretty well as well for low-medium work station/home pc's
 
Dude, I don't know where you're buying your parts but you're paying way too much. I recently bought an Intel P4 2.8 GHz 800 MHz FSB for 342 Can dollars.
Check at ncix.com.
The money you save would allow you to purchase more RAM. Any how, here is what I bought and the price I padi in Can dollars.

Intel D865PERL mobo 181.00$
2x kingston 512 MB DDR PC3200 124.00 each
CPU already mentioned
Seagate Barracuda 80 GB HDD SATA 160.00$

That was just before the hollidays so the prices might have come down some since then.
 
Actually, if you look on Ncix.com and check out their systems, the prices are about the same. I think you just got a good deal around Xmas.

Anyways, the point I need to know is about whether the system will be good for what I need. And also, will a cheapy $60 GeForce4 64MB card ast me another year or two if I'm gaming a bit?

zerozero said:
Dude, I don't know where you're buying your parts but you're paying way too much. I recently bought an Intel P4 2.8 GHz 800 MHz FSB for 342 Can dollars.
Check at ncix.com.
The money you save would allow you to purchase more RAM. Any how, here is what I bought and the price I padi in Can dollars.

Intel D865PERL mobo 181.00$
2x kingston 512 MB DDR PC3200 124.00 each
CPU already mentioned
Seagate Barracuda 80 GB HDD SATA 160.00$

That was just before the hollidays so the prices might have come down some since then.
 
wait wait... thats for that entire system? Okay then yea, thats a decent deal. But mind you, thats not a terrefic computer. Go with the 2600+, 512RAM and 80GB hard drive and youre looking at a decent computer.

And the GF4 is a fine card, but it certainly wont give you 2 years. One, yea probably. But it also depends on the type of games youre looking at. Consider the Radeon 9200 128MB for $65USD.

Jesus christ, I just realized Im paying as much for my video card as you are for your whole system... *SMACK*
 
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