PC Processer

[Rob B]

I am in the process of buying a pc for work to run MC. There is a major discussion about which processer(for the computer) is overall best Intel or AMD. Can you give me some feedback on this. I don't know if there are any differences between the two. I will be running 2000NT OS.

[SVO]

Take it for what it's worth but I was under the impression that the AMD chip is faster at the mathmatical computation side of things. I have a P4 I use at work because thats what they bought me. My wife swears by the Pentium she uses. I just built a Athlon XP for my use at home. Some might compare it like Fords and Chevys. More importantly you should probably be more concerned with the brand of chipset and the video hardware that will be going into it to avoid known compatability problems. Do a search, there has been good advice about these issues. If I were building or buying a box to run MC, I would use the Athlon and spend whatever it would take to get the best hardware from a local vender.

 

just my 2 cents worth...

 

Dan

[Rick Damiani]

quote:

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I am in the process of buying a pc for work to run MC. There is a major discussion about which processer(for the computer) is overall best Intel or AMD. Can you give me some feedback on this. I don't know if there are any differences between the two. I will be running 2000NT OS.

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The best processor, price being no object, would be one of the newish hyper-threaded Xenon units from Intel. Next up would be a P4 on a RAMBUS motherboard, followed by a P4 on a DDR board. AMD CPUs offer great bang for the buck, but they are falling behind as of late.

 

Here is a link to a good run-off between various Intel and AMD CPUs. Keep in mind when looking at them that the Athlon XP 3000+ runs at ~2.1GHz out of the box. The test results for Athlons at higher speeds are the result of overclocking. Its only the overclocked Athlons that managed to come close to the fastes P4 systems.

 

Overclocking is great for game system. For CAM systems that will be doing heavy-duty number crunching pretty much all the time, it means a quick and certan death. Especially with a hot-running chip like an Athlon.

 

Tom's Hardware Guide CPU test

[Bullines]

http://www.emastercam.com/info/hardware.php?section=cpu

[Guest]

If you want the fastest chip, wait 6 months. Then when that day arrives, wait 6 months.....

The Xeon is great and I really like mine. But my 500PIII also does a very good job for less demanding jobs. I also have an AMD and it does well.

The new, (last couple of weeks), AMD benchmarks very close to the 3GB P4. However the cost is high and the P4 is still the best bang for the buck.

The biggest problem I have heard about with the AMD is they tend to run hot. Gamers seem to like the chip, but often add aftermarket cooling.

Here is a site that has a dual AMD machine and some ideas on components. http://www.centralcomputer.com/

I have only used them for ideas and have no experience purchasing here.