Should I get regular or XP??

[ben-the-slacker]

I'm planning to build my first computer to start off the new year. For cpu, I've decided on 1.4 Athlon. But lately, I can't make up my mind on which type of Athlon I should get--regular 1.4 Tbird or XP1600...

I'm not an extreme gamer, but will do some benchmarking stuff. Since Athlon XPs are tailored to WinXP, I'm not sure if I should get the XP1600 because I don't plan on running XP anytime soon, probably just Win2K Pro or even Win98SE.

What are some of the advantages to having an Athlon XP besides that it uses less power. As always you guys&gals play big part in the outcome.

Any suggestions, comments, opinions, jokes, threats (j/k)?
Thanks in advance

[storm2k]

the XP runs faster without being overclocked (1.5 to 1.7 ghz i believe) plus it supports sse and sse2 instruction sets (the pentium sets) which can result in higher performance in major multimedia apps.

on the flipside, a tbird based athlon is a lot cheaper.

so it's a price vs performance issue.

[KraM]

I don't think it does SSE2, but it does SSE.

[Lemon]

Athlon XPs are tailored to WinXP

. Athlons are not designed to run with WinXP. It's just a naming ploy by AMD.

I would definately go with the AthlonXP. Having SSE and SSE2 instructions will be better in the long run for you.

[Bullion]

I dont think id even consider a t'bird now, With sse2 many applications are faster, encoding with divx is almost realtime on the xp1800.

[OuTpaTienT]

I say XP all the way. I just put together a system with an XP 1700 and I'm real pleased with it's speed. Check out these benchmarks (it's on par with a P4-2Ghz!):

Sandra CPU benchmark
Sandra multimedia benchmark
Sandra memory benchmark

and BTW, the XP's are hardwired to handle to SSE instructions, but not SSE2.

[Ultima]

My benchmarks are here:

http://www.techimo.com/forum/attachm...=&postid=58766

and

http://www.techimo.com/forum/attachm...=&postid=58768

and

http://www.techimo.com/forum/attachm...=&postid=58771

btw Outpatient, where did ya get that new sandra thing?? I can't find it anywhere. Could you provide a link, or send it to me??

Thanks

And comparing my benches to yours, and that of the P4 2.0Ghz, I royally kick the P4's @$$, by quite a bit.
I just gotta love these XP's, mine runs @ 1.73Ghz, with a 150Mhz fsb that is.
Haven't unlocked it yet.

Ultima

[NDC]

What mainboard are you using with your XP setup, OP & Ultima? I've also been thinking about building myself an AMD XP setup.... Thanks!

[KenKun]

AMD XP ..
Because it runs waay cooler than the tbird ... has new SSE instruction and outperform the tbird in all benchs .... if you don't mind the small increase for a quality product then XP is a must ...
Regards

[ben-the-slacker]

Cool! Looks like I'll be going with the XP then. Gonna probably put it on a Epox EP-8KHA+. Thanks for all the feedback guys!