which cpu?

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vigor101

Which is a better all around cpu..Pentium D 805(2.66 GH
/533 FSB) or Pentium 630(3.0 GHZ/800 FSB)
 
Even as a long time Intel fan, I have to
advise going with AMD. Until Intel
cleans up the P4 architecture, looks like finally with
Conroe later this year: I recommend AMD.
I just recently bought my first AMD system ever.
 
Which is a better all around cpu..Pentium D 805(2.66 GHZ
/533 FSB) or Pentium 630(3.0 GHZ/800 FSB)?
Click to expand...

Hmm.. according to www.newegg.com, the Pentium D 805 is going for $135
while the Pentium 630 is going for $171, a fairly large gap in price.

In any case, my personal recommendation between those two chips would
be the Pentium 630 for people interested primarily in games and the
Pentium D 805 for the rest of the world.

That being said, I really wouldn't recommend the Pentium 630 at all.
As others have hinted at, AMD has Intel beat pretty solidly at the
moment for desktop chips, especially for games. An Athlon64 3200+
($166 at Newegg) should handily beat the Pentium 630 in the vast
majority of games. Going another step up to an Athlon64 3500+ ($201)
will further increase the gap.


Sadly though, AMD doesn't have a low-cost dual-core chip available.
The cheapest dual-core chips they sell are the Athlon64 X2 3800+
($295) and the Opteron 165 ($325). If these chips exceed your price
range then Intel is pretty much you're only bet for dual-core chips.
For the vast majority of users these days, a dual-core chip would be
what I would personally recommend. The improved response time should
more than make up for any loss in single-threaded performance. The
notable exceptions to this are people who are buying their computer
primarily for playing games or who mainly use a single application
that is not multithreaded.

At the current cost of only $135, the Pentium D 805 offers some pretty
tremendous value. The best processor AMD offers in that price range
is the Athlon64 3000+ ($131). While the AMD chip will offer better
single-threaded performance, overall I would give the nod to the
Pentium D for most users. The main hesitation I would have with this
chip is it's rather excessive power consumption. Unfortunately
Intel's 90nm chips consumes SIGNIFICANTLY more power than their AMD
counterparts. A Pentium D 905 (built on a 65nm process instead of the
90nm process), if such a chip ever sees light of day, should help this
issue somewhat, but no such chip has been announced yet.
 
Tony Hill said:
counterparts. A Pentium D 905 (built on a 65nm process instead of the
90nm process), if such a chip ever sees light of day, should help this
issue somewhat, but no such chip has been announced yet.
Click to expand...

How about the X2 3800+ ($295 Retail) vs. the 920 ($226 or $253 OEM/Retail).
Once you're down at the $226 price, does the performance of the 3800+ beat
it sufficiently to justify the $70+ price difference?
 
How about the X2 3800+ ($295 Retail) vs. the 920 ($226 or $253 OEM/Retail).
Once you're down at the $226 price, does the performance of the 3800+ beat
it sufficiently to justify the $70+ price difference?
Click to expand...

In my mind, yes, especially if you're comparing retail to retail (mind
you, for the OEM version you would need to add on an extra $20-$30 or
more for a heatsink, so really there is no price savings). At that
point and every price/performance point about there, AMD is king.
Intel just isn't able to compete at the high-end at this point in
time. Really the only place where they are competitive is with the
low-end dual-core desktop chips, ie the Pentium D 805. Their higher
end dual-core chips and all their single core desktop chips look
pretty weak compared to AMD's offerings.
 
Raymond said:
Even as a long time Intel fan, I have to
advise going with AMD. Until Intel
cleans up the P4 architecture, looks like finally with
Conroe later this year: I recommend AMD.
I just recently bought my first AMD system ever.
Click to expand...

Or use a Pentium M, desktop motherboards are now available.
 
Or use a Pentium M, desktop motherboards are now available.
Click to expand...

Why lose the memory & FPU performance for the same, or more, money?... just
to avoid AMD? Yes it's possible for a Dothan to get close to an Athlon64
in a few selected tests if overclocked... and it can make a nice PVR system
without the overclock & fans but why would you do the former?
 
George said:
Why lose the memory & FPU performance for the same, or more, money?... just
to avoid AMD? Yes it's possible for a Dothan to get close to an Athlon64
in a few selected tests if overclocked... and it can make a nice PVR system
without the overclock & fans but why would you do the former?
Click to expand...

I've recently build with a Celeron M 1.4 1MB cache. Why? This is a second
computer used exclusively for internet, so performance is sufficient. The
Celeron M is not expensive and I already had some parts that I wanted to
reuse:

1) 300W quiet PSU, but probably to weak for P4 or AMD.
2) a 40GB 5400 HDD.
3) 2x256 DDR

Of course the quiet low power running is another bonus.
 
I've recently build with a Celeron M 1.4 1MB cache. Why? This is a second
computer used exclusively for internet, so performance is sufficient. The
Celeron M is not expensive and I already had some parts that I wanted to
reuse:

1) 300W quiet PSU, but probably to weak for P4 or AMD.
2) a 40GB 5400 HDD.
3) 2x256 DDR

Of course the quiet low power running is another bonus.
Click to expand...

A horse for the course.<shrug>
 
Or use a Pentium M, desktop motherboards are now available.
Click to expand...

Pentium M? Ok, maybe if you're trying to make a super-silent,
passively cooled system. Otherwise it's a waste of money for
desktops. The Pentium M 740 sells for $210 at www.newegg.com, or the
same price as the Athlon64 3700+ ($212). With a half-gigahertz clock
speed advantage, double the memory bandwidth and lower memory latency
the Athlon64 3700+ will beat the pants off a Pentium M 740 any day of
the week. Add in the SIGNIFICANTLY higher cost of Pentium M desktop
motherboards and you have a REALLY poor choice for a desktop system.
 
George said:
A horse for the course.<shrug>
Click to expand...

I could perhaps have used an AMD Turion, but I needed a small format
motherboard. The DFI board I've used is the same size as the VIA EPIA
boards, but the Celeron M is infinitely better than a VIA C3 or similar.

The main headache was finding a proper size cooler in this format.
Clearances are very small indeed, so you couldn't just do a hatched job.
Luckily, CoolerMaster of Taiwan supplied a one-off cooler for me.
 
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