Should i buy a new mobo cpu now, or wait??

[hapoo]

I really really need to get a new cpu and motherboard.
I was looking at getting either an AMD Thunderbird 850 and an Asus A7V which would cost about $250, or an Intel (undecided, but i know the AMD is a much better value). I also read about the upcoming Pentium 4 and AMD chips. I'm really not sure if i should wait or not, I know when the new chips come out they'll be hella expensive so if I'm going for those i'll have to wait even longer but by then the prices on the current chips will also fall. Absolutely any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks

[Edited by hapoo on 10-22-2000 at 01:21 AM]

[sbp]

First of all forget about the Pentium 4 happo. Its going to be overpriced and its outperformed by Coppermine Pentium III's and AMD Thunderbirds of the same speed. Even Intel admits 6 months or so down the road they will be coming out with a revision of the Pentium 4 that uses a bigger socket. This is when Intel will shrink down the P4's fab size .13 microns.

AMD just cut their prices on their processors. Intel will be cutting its prices on its processers at the end of the month. These are probably the last prices cuts for this year. Intel always cuts its prices in January after all those computers have been bought for the holidays and New Year.

AMD Thunderbird prices:
1.2Ghz $612
1.1Ghz $460
1.0Ghz $350
950Mhz $282
900Mhz $215
850Mhz $193
800Mhz $170
750Mhz $112
700Mhz $88

$669 1GHz Pentium III drops to $465. The 933MHz Pentium III will fall from its current $508 price to $348.

The difference in speed between AMD Thunderbirds and Coppermine Pentium III of the same speed is neglible. AMD Thunderbirds have more compatibility problems than Coppermine Pentium III's. Getting Athlon certified power supplies and getting memory you know will work with Athlons will solve most of those compatibility problems.

http://www1.amd.com/athlon/power

Its likely the Thunderbird 1.2 GHz will be the last Athlon released this year. There's no reason for AMD to release higher speed Thunderbird Athlons when AMD is already reaming Intel on the price versus performance scale.

The best Thunderbird motherboards are Abit's KT7 and Asus's A7V.

Personally if I was buying a cpu and motherboard right now I'd lean towards getting a Thunderbird and would use Asus's A7v motherboard with it. Also don't forget about durons hapoo. You can buy a cheap duron and then early next year upgrade the cpu to a cheap thunderbird that runs at GHz plus speeds.

[Edited by sbp on 10-22-2000 at 07:03 AM]

[kick@ss]

The best choice will be to wait. AMD will be releasing a new chipset with 266MHz (133MHz DDR) FSB and support for DDR memory before christmas.

[Aristo]

I'd suggest you to wait for chipset utilizing DDR memory. Just my 2cent.

[hapoo]

Thanks for all your help.

sbp: I checked and both my memory and my power supply are compatible with AMD's specs. Also, I've checked with pricewatch and the prices on Thunderbirds are lower than what you listed. The price of an Intel at the same mhz is about $100 more.

If I wait for the new chipset that supports a 266mhz FSB wont my cpu also have to support 266mhz ?? And since I already have 128 megs of ram i'm probably not going to get new ram.

[hapoo]

I also can't seem to find any prices on DDR ram.

[sbp]

The prices I listed are the prices amd suggests for retail thunderbirds. OEM thunderbirds will be cheaper and dealers can always trim the price regardless.

"If I wait for the new chipset that supports a 266mhz FSB wont my cpu also have to support 266mhz??" You'll need a thunderbird with a fsb speed of 133Mhz. There aren't any out there.

Micron has DDR ram. It doesn't co$t much more than SDRAM. You'll need a new motherboard to use DDR ram by the way.

[kick@ss]

You will be able to use 200MHz or 266MHz FSB CPU's in AMD's new chipset. DDR-SDRAM will be required.

[hapoo]

Originally posted by sbp

Micron has DDR ram. It doesn't co$t much more than SDRAM. You'll need a new motherboard to use DDR ram by the way.

It costs about twice as much as SDRAM directly from Micron.


how much of an improvement would i see if I switch from SDRAM to DDR-SDRAM? not theoretical improvement, practically speaking

[ken]

Yeah, but how much will it all cost??

I'm also looking, but need to buy before the end of this year. Will the DDR sdram be around then, with motherboard, and in supply?

Plus, whats the best ATX case? Looking for ease of entry, cost, fans and 300 watt powersupply. If anyone knows any good stores out of california and with cheap or free shipping, that would be nice too.

[sbp]

"how much of an improvement would i see if I switch from SDRAM to DDR-SDRAM?" There should be a 15-20% increase in performance using DDR instead of SDRAM. DDR ram won't cost much more than SDRAM.

DDR is Double Data Rate ram that transfers information on the rising and falling egdes of a clock cycle. Basically almost twice the data is being transferred in a clock cycle compared to SDRAM.

Some videocards like the GeForce GTS use this type of ram.

http://www.karbosguide.com/module2e.htm#RDRAM

Sharkypageextreme preview of AMD DDR chipset:
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardwar.../tyan_760_ddr/

Tomshardware preview of Micron's DDR chipset.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/mainboard/99q4/991216/

Pictures of DDR ram:
http://www6.tomshardware.com/busines...13/mp3-02.html

[sbp]

"Yeah, but how much will it all cost??" It won't cost much more than SDRAM.

"I'm also looking, but need to buy before the end of this year. Will the DDR sdram be around then, with motherboard, and in supply?} DDR sdram is already available in very limited supply. Quanties of DDR sdram will increase once motherboards using AMD's 760 chipset are released. A few motherboards using AMD's 760 chipset should come out before the year is up. The situation will be much better next year in terms of DDR sdram and DDR chipset motherboards.

[hapoo]

Thanks for all your help, especially you sbp. I've decided to wait till Asus makes a motherboard with the 760 chipset.

[hapoo]

Well Damn, I just read an article on the K8 and i'm starting to lust after it, especially the better FPU and the extra 64 bit instructions. It should be released early 2001. What do you guys think about it?

[sbp]

AMD is making a smart move releasing a 64-bit processor that will be backward compatible with current 32-bit applications. Intel's 64-bit processor which is not backward compatible will require applications to be written specifically for it.

I have a PIII 600@800 Mhz, GeForce 2, and 384MB of ram. The motherboard I'm using is Asus's CUSL2 which currently takes up to a Ghz PIII. I'm not going to build a new system until fall of 2001.

[hapoo]

Originally posted by sbp
AMD is making a smart move releasing a 64-bit processor that will be backward compatible with current 32-bit applications. Intel's 64-bit processor which is not backward compatible will require applications to be written specifically for it.

I have a PIII 600@800 Mhz, GeForce 2, and 384MB of ram. The motherboard I'm using is Asus's CUSL2 which currently takes up to a Ghz PIII. I'm not going to build a new system until fall of 2001.

I've read that Intel's 64 bit processor will have a 32 bit mode, although its going to be really really slow (relative to the K8)

[hapoo]

Originally posted by chosenfool

Originally posted by hapoo
I've read that Intel's 64 bit processor will have a 32 bit mode, although its going to be really really slow (relative to the K8)

emulations are always slow, even on a fast system... [/B]

I dont believe its an emulation.