AMD Athlon 64 3200 VS Intel P4 2.4

Rjupiter · 13-June-04, 07:25 AM

Right now I have an Intel P4/2.4CGHz 800M 478P/512K HT RT I am looking for something a bit better and was thinking AMD. How does the AMD Athlon 64 3200 rate against what I have now? Is it a better investment for the long run?

Any opinions and input would be appreciated.

Crazy_J · 13-June-04, 07:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rjupiter


	Right now I have an Intel P4/2.4CGHz 800M 478P/512K HT RT I am looking for something a bit better and was thinking AMD. How does the AMD Athlon 64 3200 rate against what I have now? Is it a better investment for the long run? Any opinions and input would be appreciated.

Most people would be happy with a 2.4 yet. I can't make a suggestion, because I don't know your complete system specs and I don't know what you use your PC for.

Peng Lord · 13-June-04, 08:32 AM

If everything else were the same, the Athlon 64 would outperform the P4 2.4. My Laptop has a Mobile Athlon 64 3200+ and posts a PCMark04 score of 3612, My Desktop is a P4 2.53GHz with a 2901 score.

putwig · 13-June-04, 08:55 AM

Personally, I would stick with the 2.4.

Wait until the next gen 64 procs and mobos (with PCI-X) drop in price.

Andrevas · 13-June-04, 09:41 AM

PCI-X is on the way OUT not in, there is a difference between PCI-X and PCI Express. It is confusing as hell though took me awhile to catch on to that one.

j-dogg · 13-June-04, 10:34 AM

P4 2.4 = Ford Mustang GT

A64 3200 = Ferrari 550 Maranello

Wordbiker · 13-June-04, 12:11 PM

Personally, I would wait for socket 939 A64s to drop in price, and they will as AMD plans to support that platform for a good long time. For now, you have one of the great overclockable processors. Even if it takes a new OC friendly mobo, faster RAM and a quality heatsink/fan (though the stock Intel H/S is great), you'll spend less to get 3.4GHz (if you haven't already) than to go 64 bit on an upgradeable platform.

Fu3lman · 13-June-04, 12:18 PM

your 2.4 should have no problems keeping things up to speed long enough to see the new AMD architectures mature in technology and stability, and decline in price...

$SOLID$ Necro · 13-June-04, 12:51 PM

I will probably wait for 939 pin PCI express to upgrade, but there a lot of things I have found to like recently about the 754 pin.

1. The new motherboards finally have a working PCI lock.

2. The platform is more mature than 939, so the prices are pretty reasonable.
939 is the "Premium" platform (read expensive) and will continue that way, since they are matching Intel's pricing.

3. 754 performs pretty close overall to 939 in a lot of apps at the same CPU speed, AMD's are not as memory bandwidth hungry as Intels, so the benefits of dual channel memory are somewhat limited. There are a few scenarios where the 3700+ 754 pin will beat the 939 3800+

4. Your current AGP card will still work!

AMD plans on supporting this platform for a while, if you didn't have a 2.4c allready, it would probably be money well spent.

Go check out the review at [H]ard OCP I hyperlinked this chart from

Scotty · 13-June-04, 04:27 PM

Personally i really like my AMD 64 bit CPU, fast and over clocks well as far as i can tell. And seems to constantly outperform the P4 equivelents. But then im not really that knowlagable so dont take it as meaning to much

Chrome_Rust · 13-June-04, 05:35 PM

as a 2.4c user, i could smoke a 3200. but i have a 1.2 ghz overclock too.....and if you decide to go A64 i will buy your 2.4C from you.......lemme know

Scotty · 13-June-04, 05:38 PM

Lol yeah an over clock like that will do it. But if the 2 were running at the same speed then the 64bit will win over the P4. Just wish you could change the damm multiplier.

Spc. Forces Bob · 13-June-04, 06:10 PM

id just wait to upgrade till pci-x comes out and some 64bit software

khellandros66 · 13-June-04, 07:00 PM

Yeah personally my next comp is gonne be A64 but i want to wait for more support from content creation and games.

~Bob

Arkangyl · 13-June-04, 08:19 PM

the 3200+ will wup your 2.4C in anything but vid editing.

as for the s939 wait thing. I'm kinda thinking that 754 is the way to go ATM, think about it. Socket 754 is well develtoped stuff; the mobos now are great and the nForce 3 250 and KT800 Pro OC giants are starting to appear. Seein as your 2.4C is at stock, well, I think one of Asus's KT800 boards will be fine as they are great at stock speeds. Seeing as a 754 and 939 CPU of the same speed are abour the same (wait, wasnt the 3700+ faster than the 3800+, ooooo) and 754 is by and far cheaperr, well, go 754. PCI-E is coming out "sometime this summer" and unless your doing a total overhall I'd say 754 now and then 939 and PCI-E sometime at or after X-Mas. Hell, if you get 754 now grab a new vid card for AGP later and just skip s939 and go right to s900 and dual-core goodness next year.

Andrevas · 13-June-04, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spc. Forces Bob


	id just wait to upgrade till pci-x comes out and some 64bit software

Not to be an ass, but again PCI-X is out already, it's an extended PCI bus.

PCI Express will debut later this year (PCI-E)

Peng Lord · 13-June-04, 11:11 PM

In regards to pricing, the performance increase doesn't justify the price, the only reason I got an Athlon64 was because it is a laptop, IOW, I figured "I would be best off getting the most power possible to last a while, as it sits there is no really good operating system to take advantage of the 64-bit arcitechure on a desktop environment yet, not to mention the issues with drivers and lack of software support.

Rjupiter · 15-June-04, 03:07 AM

thanx for all the feedback and info I now have some stuff to think on for a bit and might stick with what I have while I bring my coffin case back to life and replace all the drives I fried a couple of months ago.

I am thinking though of overclocking what I got now and wondered if water cooling is better as right now I only have a zalman fan on it and on a good day it is around 96.

13-June-04, 07:25 AM		#1 (permalink)
Rjupiter Apex Advanced Techie	AMD Athlon 64 3200 VS Intel P4 2.4 Right now I have an Intel P4/2.4CGHz 800M 478P/512K HT RT I am looking for something a bit better and was thinking AMD. How does the AMD Athlon 64 3200 rate against what I have now? Is it a better investment for the long run? Any opinions and input would be appreciated.

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13-June-04, 08:32 AM		#3 (permalink)
Peng Lord Apex Tech Maniac Supreme	If everything else were the same, the Athlon 64 would outperform the P4 2.4. My Laptop has a Mobile Athlon 64 3200+ and posts a PCMark04 score of 3612, My Desktop is a P4 2.53GHz with a 2901 score.

13-June-04, 08:55 AM		#4 (permalink)
putwig Dr. Hydro Pimp	Personally, I would stick with the 2.4. Wait until the next gen 64 procs and mobos (with PCI-X) drop in price.

13-June-04, 09:41 AM		#5 (permalink)
Andrevas Apex Elite Tech	PCI-X is on the way OUT not in, there is a difference between PCI-X and PCI Express. It is confusing as hell though took me awhile to catch on to that one.

13-June-04, 10:34 AM		#6 (permalink)
j-dogg Mystical Schwinn Guru	P4 2.4 = Ford Mustang GT A64 3200 = Ferrari 550 Maranello

13-June-04, 12:11 PM		#7 (permalink)
Wordbiker Apex Tech God	Personally, I would wait for socket 939 A64s to drop in price, and they will as AMD plans to support that platform for a good long time. For now, you have one of the great overclockable processors. Even if it takes a new OC friendly mobo, faster RAM and a quality heatsink/fan (though the stock Intel H/S is great), you'll spend less to get 3.4GHz (if you haven't already) than to go 64 bit on an upgradeable platform.

13-June-04, 12:18 PM		#8 (permalink)
Fu3lman Light My Fire	your 2.4 should have no problems keeping things up to speed long enough to see the new AMD architectures mature in technology and stability, and decline in price...

13-June-04, 12:51 PM		#9 (permalink)
$SOLID$ Necro Mastah Overclocker	I will probably wait for 939 pin PCI express to upgrade, but there a lot of things I have found to like recently about the 754 pin. 1. The new motherboards finally have a working PCI lock. 2. The platform is more mature than 939, so the prices are pretty reasonable. 939 is the "Premium" platform (read expensive) and will continue that way, since they are matching Intel's pricing. 3. 754 performs pretty close overall to 939 in a lot of apps at the same CPU speed, AMD's are not as memory bandwidth hungry as Intels, so the benefits of dual channel memory are somewhat limited. There are a few scenarios where the 3700+ 754 pin will beat the 939 3800+ 4. Your current AGP card will still work! AMD plans on supporting this platform for a while, if you didn't have a 2.4c allready, it would probably be money well spent. Go check out the review at [H]ard OCP I hyperlinked this chart from

13-June-04, 04:27 PM		#10 (permalink)
Scotty Apex Techie I	Personally i really like my AMD 64 bit CPU, fast and over clocks well as far as i can tell. And seems to constantly outperform the P4 equivelents. But then im not really that knowlagable so dont take it as meaning to much

13-June-04, 05:35 PM		#11 (permalink)
Chrome_Rust Apex Tech God	as a 2.4c user, i could smoke a 3200. but i have a 1.2 ghz overclock too.....and if you decide to go A64 i will buy your 2.4C from you.......lemme know

13-June-04, 05:38 PM		#12 (permalink)
Scotty Apex Techie I	Lol yeah an over clock like that will do it. But if the 2 were running at the same speed then the 64bit will win over the P4. Just wish you could change the damm multiplier.

13-June-04, 06:10 PM		#13 (permalink)
Spc. Forces Bob Apex Elite Expert Tech	id just wait to upgrade till pci-x comes out and some 64bit software

13-June-04, 07:00 PM		#14 (permalink)
khellandros66 Apex Master Tech	Yeah personally my next comp is gonne be A64 but i want to wait for more support from content creation and games. ~Bob

13-June-04, 08:19 PM		#15 (permalink)
Arkangyl Hoe-lier than Thou	the 3200+ will wup your 2.4C in anything but vid editing. as for the s939 wait thing. I'm kinda thinking that 754 is the way to go ATM, think about it. Socket 754 is well develtoped stuff; the mobos now are great and the nForce 3 250 and KT800 Pro OC giants are starting to appear. Seein as your 2.4C is at stock, well, I think one of Asus's KT800 boards will be fine as they are great at stock speeds. Seeing as a 754 and 939 CPU of the same speed are abour the same (wait, wasnt the 3700+ faster than the 3800+, ooooo) and 754 is by and far cheaperr, well, go 754. PCI-E is coming out "sometime this summer" and unless your doing a total overhall I'd say 754 now and then 939 and PCI-E sometime at or after X-Mas. Hell, if you get 754 now grab a new vid card for AGP later and just skip s939 and go right to s900 and dual-core goodness next year.

13-June-04, 11:11 PM		#17 (permalink)
Peng Lord Apex Tech Maniac Supreme	In regards to pricing, the performance increase doesn't justify the price, the only reason I got an Athlon64 was because it is a laptop, IOW, I figured "I would be best off getting the most power possible to last a while, as it sits there is no really good operating system to take advantage of the 64-bit arcitechure on a desktop environment yet, not to mention the issues with drivers and lack of software support.

15-June-04, 03:07 AM		#18 (permalink)
Rjupiter Apex Advanced Techie	thanx for all the feedback and info I now have some stuff to think on for a bit and might stick with what I have while I bring my coffin case back to life and replace all the drives I fried a couple of months ago. I am thinking though of overclocking what I got now and wondered if water cooling is better as right now I only have a zalman fan on it and on a good day it is around 96.