Why Pentium?

[Talal Itani]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely most
businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make their
purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

T.I.

 

[badgolferman]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than
Pentium, and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the
case, why do most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon
based PCs? Surely most businesses research the pros and cons of a
product before they make their purchases. Thank you for clarifying
this for me.

T.I.

I believe most businesses purchase computers in lots. They buy the
exact same computer and configure it the same way. In order to buy
these kind of quantities they purchase their computers from computer
companies such as Dell or HP. Until these manufacturers drop the Intel
chips and move over to AMD-based computers you will continue to see
most large companies staying with Intel. It is really more of an
economic consideration than technical one for the buyer.

 

[Dave]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely
most businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make
their purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

T.I.

Most businesses buy the cheapest workstations they can from Dell, and Dell
usually uses Intel processors. In other words, the businesses aren't
choosing the processor.

BUT, last I checked, Intel processors were actually cheaper. That happened
because AMD has been kicking Intel's ass for years, performance wise, so AMD
chips are in great demand. Plus, AMD has not ramped up production capacity
to match Intel, yet. -Dave

 

[Mark Mandell]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely
most businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make
their purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

T.I.

I own two PC's I put together myself, one with the Athlon 2600+, the other
with the Intel Pentium D dual core. The latter actually runs a bit
faster(even though both PC's have the WD SATA Raptor drives running at
10,000 RPM). But it also runs at a higher temp and after nine months was
beginning to overheat a bit. So I applied some thermal compound the other
day which has corrected the problem.

 

[Conor]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely most
businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make their
purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Athlon for Gaming, Pentium for Media Encoding/image manipulation.

Why do they use Pentiums? Because the mass manufacturer they buy from,
i.e Dell, have a tie in with Intel so they get better prices.

And for desktops, most businesses never bother researching anything
other than the price.


--
Conor
Sig under construction. Please check back when Duke Nukem Forever ships
and/or Windows Vista is released.

Cashback on online purchases:
http://www.TopCashBack.co.uk/Conor/ref/index.htm

 

[Conor]

I own two PC's I put together myself, one with the Athlon 2600+, the other
with the Intel Pentium D dual core. The latter actually runs a bit
faster

No, really? I wouldn't ever have guessed a processor, a generation
newer than the other, with dual cores and twice the L2 cache of the
other would run faster.


--
Conor
Sig under construction. Please check back when Duke Nukem Forever ships
and/or Windows Vista is released.

Cashback on online purchases:
http://www.TopCashBack.co.uk/Conor/ref/index.htm

 

[Travis]

Intel has cheaper and more low-end hardware than AMD. But it does have the
more powerful processors.

A Celeron is cheap, but it's not the best (I haven't had many problems with
it)

 

[Bazzer Smith]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely
most businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make
their purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

If you choose Pentiums you don't have to bother installing a central heating
system.

 

[Gojira]

Intel is far from cheaper,if you go by CPU's that are comparable in
speed.Performance and cost are the main reason AMD has become a serious
competitor for Intel.Until they appeared,Intel pretty much had the market to
themselves,so businesses got used to using their products.

 

[Don Burnette]

If you choose Pentiums you don't have to bother installing a central
heating
system.

Hmm, running Athlon XP64 4400+ dual core here, did not have to bother
installing a central heating system, runs great and cool!

Go figure,

Don

 

[Don Freeman]

Hmm, running Athlon XP64 4400+ dual core here, did not have to bother
installing a central heating system, runs great and cool!

Go figure,
Don

..

Silly me, I thought he meant that they didn't have to install a central
heading system for the building as the Pentium could serve double duty.

-Don (another one)

 

[John Weiss]

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely
most businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make
their purchases.

Not necessarily. Businesses often choose based on perceived risk; Intel is
better known and has larger market share, so it must be less risky. Also,
some may have long memories about early AMD CPUs and their incompatibilities
and performance problems.

Those problems are far behind AMD. Their CPUs are more than competitive
with Intel -- Intel is now scrambling to catch up!

 

[Bioboffin]

If you choose Pentiums you don't have to bother installing a central
heating system.

This was once the case. I always buy Intel, and I can tell you that the last
dual core processor at 3.2Ghz runs quite hot. In my case with aftermarket
(Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 pro) cooling, I have 50 degrees Celsius (almost
regardless of the ambient temperature).

John

 

[George Macdonald]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely most
businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make their
purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Nope most businesses do less research on computer purchasing than gamers
and other individuals do. They choose a brand name, like Dell or HP,
negotiate a purchasing deal, usually for volume, and buy them like cookies.
They tend to like all the client systems to be identical in chipset
characteristics to minimize the number of system install images IT dept.
needs to manage. IOW the inertia is high so change is seldom contemplated.

Things are changing though and AMD is getting a foothold due to superior
thermal characteristics, especially for servers where upgrading requires
consideration of power load and A/C load for a glasshouse. See this
article http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/060506-web-hosts-green.html
on 2nd page. Unfortunately this AMD advantage is about to be wiped out by
the latest Core 2 Xeon 5100 series Intel CPUs which have much better energy
and thermal footprint than previous P4-based Xeons.

Right now, Intel is in changeover and Xeon 5100 series servers are just
appearing, while Core 2 desktop systems are due in a few weeks. What you
buy depends on whether you want to wait or get a good price on a current
system - personally I'd go for the AMD system right now.

 

[kony]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely most
businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make their
purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

T.I.

The answer is simple, like you many management types have no
idea which is the better choice but know the Intel name
better. Past business buying habits resulted in a trend to
buy Intel and although AMD gained substantial ground in
performance more recently, such brand preferences take
longer to change, particularly when these businesses tend to
buy volumes of systems, packages put together under
assumptions by OEMs that the businesses still preferred AMD.

Another way to look at it is the most businesses don't have
"new" systems. Their last site-wide upgrade cycle may have
been before AMD took the lead with Athlon64 or at least
before those platforms became mature and best benefit:cost
ratio.. Businessess tend to like mature and static
platforms, not buying the latest new technology for a
performance advantage except where there is a clear
correlation between performance and productivity- which
there typically isn't today, for most business uses the user
is the bottleneck, not the system.

 

[kony]

This was once the case. I always buy Intel, and I can tell you that the last
dual core processor at 3.2Ghz runs quite hot. In my case with aftermarket
(Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 pro) cooling, I have 50 degrees Celsius (almost
regardless of the ambient temperature).

Yes, Bazzer Smith seems to merely be repeating hearsay. For
years the hotter platform depended on the use and specific
model in the CPU family chosen. There is one particular
model of CPU with a horrible performance:watt beyond what is
reasonable for air-cooling a quiet system- Prescott. Intel
holds this honor and may until the end of time. Even if
Intel or AMD produces a future CPU with the same heat, it
will have higher performance:watt and the user can simply
select lower than the highest speed range in the particular
CPU family for lower heat.

 

[Jack F. Twist]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely most
businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make their
purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Primarily because of pathetic chipsets (e.g. VIA, Apollo etc),
for many years running AMD systems meant constant
compatibility problems, waiting for chipset and driver updates
etc etc. The situation has improved over the last few years
but most large companies are still gun shy.

By the way, Conroe is looking like it'll be the new preferred
platform. Intel is finally taking back its former position as
performance leader.

 

[Mark Mandell]

This was once the case. I always buy Intel, and I can tell you that the
last dual core processor at 3.2Ghz runs quite hot. In my case with
aftermarket (Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 pro) cooling, I have 50 degrees
Celsius (almost regardless of the ambient temperature).

John

Similar situation to my 2.8 Ghz Pentium D dual core which seldom runs below
50 degrees unless the room temperature is cool via my air conditioning being
on long enough.

Mark

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Hello,

I am in the market for a good computer, with a dual-core CPU. I keep
reading that Athlon is better than Pentium, Athlon is faster than Pentium,
and Athlon is lower priced than Pentium. But if that is the case, why do
most businesses have Pentium based PCs and not Athlon based PCs? Surely most
businesses research the pros and cons of a product before they make their
purchases. Thank you for clarifying this for me.

Most businesses don't really have any choice about which processors they
buy. They buy from a computer manufacturer, which in the past has had an
exclusive marketing deal with Intel to only sell their processors to
businesses. The marketing deals are usually worth millions of dollars to
these companies and could mean the difference between making a profit or
a loss in a particular quarter.

Yousuf Khan

 

[Clint]

My 830D processor is running at idle right now, 39C, room temp is about 25.
I put on a Scythe Ninja HS, which dropped the temps appreciably. My CPU
regularly has idle temps less than the MB temps.

Clint