AMD or Intel?

[Tochiro]

Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD
system because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than
Intel's and I am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.

My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is
there any risk of malfunction with AMD?

Thank you for your help

Tochiro

 

[Michael Cody]

Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD system
because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than Intel's and I
am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.

My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is there
any risk of malfunction with AMD?

Thank you for your help

Tochiro

I have a K7 800 Mhz, an AMD XP 2200+ and an AMD XP 3000+ and I am very happy
with them and they are quiet. I was also happy about the fact that AMDs are
much cheaper than Intel. My next upgrade will be AMD 64 bit. I don't even
think about Intel.

Alias

 

[GT]

Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD system
because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than Intel's and I
am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.

My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is there
any risk of malfunction with AMD?

AMD are just as capable of running any software as Intel. If they couldn't,
basically they wouldn't sell! If you do not need cutting-edge performance,
then look at a mobile version of either processor and use a specially
designed heatsink and fan to reduce noise and build a pretty quiet system.
Intel do an ultra low voltage processor, which would produce a lot less heat
than their current top of the range furnaces. With the 'normal' processors
AMDs do tend to run cooler at the same performance level, so you could cool
it more easily and therefore more quietly.

Its not just the processor fan that makes noise though - the graphics card
will have a small, loud, annoying fan (probably), the PSU has a constantly
droning fan, the motherboard chipset may have another little, noisy,
irritating, whiney fan, the hard disks make a noise. So you need to consider
quite a lot to build a quiet system.

What performance do you require?
Do you need to run the latest games?
Tell us what you want the computer for and we can advise on components, but
AMD are just as good (some, including me, say they are better) as Intel -
cue the debate...

 

[Peter A. Stavrakoglou]

Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD system
because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than Intel's and I
am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.

My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is there
any risk of malfunction with AMD?

Thank you for your help

Tochiro

You will have no problem running any software on an AMD system nor risk any
malfunction that would not happen with an Intel system. int the past, Intel
CPUs ran cooler than AMD CPUs but that is no longer the case.

 

[Noozer]

Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD system
because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than Intel's and I
am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.

Intel was the one to choose up to (and including) the Northwood P4. Since
then, they have not improved much - except for when it comes to heating a
room.

Go with a socket 939 64bit AMD CPU. Make sure you get a pair of memory
sticks instead of one large one to take advantage of the dual memory bus.

Also, if you want a quiet PC, go for a unit that uses 120mm fans in the rear
of the case. If you can find a power supply with 120mm, go for that.
Optionally, a front fan can help with cooling and you'll want a 120mm fan
there if you choose to have one installed. Finally, a CPU heatsink that
takes a large fan will not need to work as hard so it will be quieter than
average as well.

 

[Alceryes]

Intel was the one to choose up to (and including) the Northwood P4. Since

then, they have not improved much - except for when it comes to heating a
room.

Yea, I really liked the Northwood's...but the AMD Athlon's that were
compared to that were just as capable unless you were a straight AV junkie.
As far as OC'ing around that time, I gotta give it up to the 1.6A Northwood.
When I heard they were discontinuing the 1.6's I got one because of the
great OC'ing potential and was running it at a 160+FSB on my BD7-II.
Methinks it'll be a while before we can get a 1Ghz OC on an air-cooled
system.
--


"I don't cheat to survive. I cheat to LIVE!!"
- Alceryes

 

[Tochiro]

First thanks to all contributors on this thread.

What performance do you require?
Do you need to run the latest games?
Tell us what you want the computer for and we can advise on components, but
AMD are just as good (some, including me, say they are better) as Intel -
cue the debate...

I need good performance because I am in the graphic design and web site
design business (including video). The best system for me would have:
- 2 Gb of RAM,
- 250 Gb of HD,
- 256 Mb of video RAM,
- a 19" high-quality LCD monitor,
- a DVD burner,
- a CD/DVD driver.

I think AMD is the way to go from the various posts. I also noticed a
case that seems effective, it is called P180 by Antec. I do not know
for the graphics card though...

 

[psanand]

I have an AMD machine and following is from my experience. Some of my
friends are also have AMD processer machines. Me and my friends are
having some problem or the other(including infamous one called blue
screen death). I dont want to go deep into it becos i dont know exactly
whether they a processor, motherboard or software problem.

I would suggest you to go for a Pentium processer and motherboard
though it will cost a little more but will " avoid lot of headaches in
future".

I will advise you to search for both the AMD and Pentium machines
problems in net for the configuration you select before buying and also
buy from vendor with good support.

Wish you all the best.

Regards
Anand

 

[GT]

First thanks to all contributors on this thread.


I need good performance because I am in the graphic design and web site
design business (including video). The best system for me would have:
- 2 Gb of RAM,
- 250 Gb of HD,
- 256 Mb of video RAM,
- a 19" high-quality LCD monitor,
- a DVD burner,
- a CD/DVD driver.

I think AMD is the way to go from the various posts. I also noticed a
case that seems effective, it is called P180 by Antec. I do not know for
the graphics card though...

Graphic card will be entirely down to whether you want to play games or not?
If not, then any graphics card will be more than fast enough at it will be
purely running Windows 2d work, so you can choose an older, cheaper model
with just a heatsink and no fan.. If you do get a TFT screen (as you would
like), then get a graphics card with DVI out - improved picture quality over
'normal' cable.

For the hard disk, I would personally recommend the Samsung Spinpoint - I
have the 160GB version and it is silent - all you can hear is the 'clicks'
when opening an application or searching. They do a range of sizes - perhaps
you could get 2x160GB instead of 1 large one. Then you could consider RAID
arrays, or just system on C drive, data on D:?

You can replace the motherboard cooling fan with a large passive heatsink
(so long as air can flow round it). Get a silent PSU and replace any case
fans with larger, silent alternatives.

I'll leave it to others to recommend a modern CPU and cooling solution, but
I suspect the consensus will be a socket 939 AMD. I use an Athlon XP 2500
which I have undervolted and cooled silently with a Zalman Flower cooler.
For my software development work and all games I have tried so far, it is
more than enough power. I do alot of multimedia and photo manipulation and
1.5GB RAM (used to have 2GB, but a 512MB stick failed) is more than enough
for me to be able to turn off virtual memory completely in Windows, so
perhaps you can reduce your RAM requirement?

You can get expensive, quiet optical drives, but you need to consider how
often you will be using them - they are only noisy when they are in use.

 

[Michael Cody]

I have an AMD machine and following is from my experience. Some of my
friends are also have AMD processer machines. Me and my friends are
having some problem or the other(including infamous one called blue
screen death). I dont want to go deep into it becos i dont know exactly
whether they a processor, motherboard or software problem.

I suspect it is a computer user problem (you).

I would suggest you to go for a Pentium processer and motherboard
though it will cost a little more but will " avoid lot of headaches in
future".

What headaches?

I will advise you to search for both the AMD and Pentium machines
problems in net for the configuration you select before buying and also
buy from vendor with good support.

Wish you all the best.

Regards
Anand

I suggest you don't post if you don't know what you're talking about.

Cody

 

[psanand]

Just search "amd blue scree reboot" in google groups or in google. You
will find lot ppl having this. I just wanted to make him aware of the
problems since he was asking
"My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is
there any risk of malfunction with AMD? "

Iam not saying AMD is bad or pentium is good. It will be good for him
to be aware of the problems different configuration has before buying.

Regards
Anand

 

[Michael Cody]

Just search "amd blue scree reboot" in google groups or in google. You
will find lot ppl having this. I just wanted to make him aware of the
problems since he was asking

The processor has nothing to do with the BSOD. Nothing, unless it was
installed incorrectly. Your "advice" is incorrect, regardless of how many
other people think it is. Do the same search for Intel, and, guess what,
over 460,000 results.

"My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is
there any risk of malfunction with AMD? "

No, there isn't.

Iam not saying AMD is bad or pentium is good.

Nor am I.

It will be good for him
to be aware of the problems different configuration has before buying.

Regards
Anand

The "problem" you cited doesn't exist.

Cody

 

[kony]

Just search "amd blue scree reboot" in google groups or in google.

OK, now do the same search but substitute "Intel", "P4", or
"Celeron". Having a windows problem you will find the most
popular hardware does tend to show up in a vague search.

You
will find lot ppl having this. I just wanted to make him aware of the
problems since he was asking

No you won't, you'll find a lot of windows problems... and
you didn't recommend avoiding windows.

"My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is
there any risk of malfunction with AMD? "

Iam not saying AMD is bad or pentium is good. It will be good for him
to be aware of the problems different configuration has before buying.

Yes, the problem is that people who don't know the problem
can tend to place blame. For example, junky power supply
kills motherboard- user concludes motherboard must be junk.
Self-built system didn't even have thermal guidelines met
and P4 overheats- user blames case manufacturer or Intel or
heatsink manufacturer or ????? . Premature conclusions are
why so many problems don't get solved and just end up as a
high SNR.

 

[Bob]

The processor has nothing to do with the BSOD. Nothing, unless it was
installed incorrectly.

I kad a K6-II that would cause BSODs if I enabled the L2 cache. If I
disabled it, no BSODs.

That sure sounds like the CPU is causing the BSODs.

I built a new machine and this time used a 2.4 GHz Celeron D. That's a
P4 Prescott chip that did not pass the P4 test but is otherwise
usable. I compared the performance against my son's 3.2 GHz P4
Prescott and it compared quite favorably. The test was with DVD Shrink
which is very CPU and disk intensive based on how it heats both of
them up so much.

Of course the P4 Prescott is a faster chip overall but I do not need
it because I built an Internet machine, not a game machine like my son
did. My Celeron D cost $75 whereas his P4 cost $236.

 

[Skeptic]

The P180 is a very good case when it comes to keeping things cool,but it can
be a challenge building a system with it because of the design.If you're
having a good place build it for you,that won't be a problem.

 

[GT]

I kad a K6-II that would cause BSODs if I enabled the L2 cache. If I
disabled it, no BSODs.

That sure sounds like the CPU is causing the BSODs.

Sounds more like either you didn't enable the right setting in Windows, or
you had a faulty processor - damaged by heat or static perhaps? If you use
faulty components, then you will end up with software crashing as a result,
no matter what the component and who manufactured it!

 

[John Fryatt]

Hello,
I do not want to start a processor war here. THe truth is that I do not
know the first thing about processors. There has always been Intel
processors in my PCs up to now. I am now thinking of buying an AMD
system because somebody suggested the processor remains cooler than
Intel's and I am looking for a PC as much silent as possible.

My question is: are AMD processors fully supported by software? Is
there any risk of malfunction with AMD?

I think historically there may have been come compatibility issues
between Intel and other makers in the early days of making 'clone' CPUs.
Cyrix springs to mind.
However that has long since been sorted and I don't think you'd have
trouble running anything on an AMD that would run on an Intel CPU.

 

[kony]

I kad a K6-II that would cause BSODs if I enabled the L2 cache. If I
disabled it, no BSODs.

That sure sounds like the CPU is causing the BSODs.

No, a K6-II does not have L2 cache, at all, therefore it
was the specific motherboard you were using. The vast
majority of motherboards had no problem with their L2 cache,
so as always it can be a sign that a junk or defective
motherboard should be avoided no matter whose CPU is in it.

 

[Bob]

No, a K6-II does not have L2 cache, at all, therefore it
was the specific motherboard you were using. The vast
majority of motherboards had no problem with their L2 cache,
so as always it can be a sign that a junk or defective
motherboard should be avoided no matter whose CPU is in it.

Then how come the problem went away when I replaced the CPU?

 

[kony]

Then how come the problem went away when I replaced the CPU?

I have no idea, you didn't mention the specifics. It could
be a lot of things, like an earlier K6-2 that used 2.4V but
a motherboard marginal at that current, then swapping in a
later CPU that was more tolerant of that because both AMD &
Intel's process improves over time.

Then there's the oddball CPUs- a few K6-2 300MHz were spec'd
for only 66MHz FSB. You also mentioned something about it
running hot, another sign something else was amiss as there
is no K6-2 that runs hot, they were all really easy to keep
cool with even a mere $3 heatsink. IIRC, you cited 60C
temp, there was something else wrong that was overheating
your CPU. Since at that time neither AMD or Intel's CPUs
had the interal temp reading feature, we can't even know
what temp the CPU really was, but probably well above 60C.

Whatever happened, it seems most likely the cooling system
failed. IF it was a part defect in the supplied AMD
heatsink, you then have an argument to blame AMD for that
failure, and yet, they don't use that heatsink anymore so...