New computer
I'm going to have to put together my new system as my b-day cheque is on its way. ("Spell your name." "the bore?" De BOER! "Ah... boer... like when you went to Africa and killed everybody?" Yes. Like that. 14 years, they still don't know my name. Sigh.) I know what I need HD-wise, memory-wise, audio/video-wise... but have no idea of the CPU. Intel Pentium 4 2,4 or Athlon XP 2400, people, what should I do?
Anything above 1,5 MHz will be fast enough. The problem is of course the choice of your processor dictates the choice of the motherboards and the kind of RAM memory you need as well nowadays.
Apart from that, AMD's CPU's seem to get a lot hotter than Intel's, so you might have to look into a silent way cooling things as well. Standard cooling fans are noisy, especially if they have to work all the time.
In short: the choice between AMD or Intel dictates a lot of other choices as well. Maybe it's best to make a wishlist based on what you're willing to spend.
Also, when the cooling fan on the processor fails, the Athlon is likely to fry (literally) whereas the P4 has something called "clock throttling" which saves the CPU and warns you in time that something is amiss.
You choose to let others build your system, but Athlons are a bit tricky to install. I went for a P4-system just for that reason.
The Ahtlon has some good value for money though, but if the b-day cheque permits it, invest a bit more.
Best option is a HyperThreading Pentium 4, which gives you two processors in one unit. When the programs you use are designed to take advantage of multiple procesors, you'll notice an performance improvement.
That neat little trick only works in Windows 2000/XP Professional thought. And with the right motherboard. Which adds to the cost of your new machine.
I made my new computer "HyperThreading Ready". When the HT-processors drop in price, I can upgrade.
We now return you to your scheduled programming... ;)
Go with an Athlon and don't look back. The money you'll save on not getting an intel, you can invest in better audio/video or more ram.
Thanks for the advice!
even if it's contradictory.