AMD vs. Intel

We all need new hardware - even if we just purchased new hardware yesterday, there’s a new hardware purchase waiting for us around every corner. Whether you need to upgrade your monitor or your memory, you’re going to need new hardware sooner or later. Lockergnomie Neels Mostert apparently made the right decision when it came down to the biggest hardware decision a geek can make: the processor. His experiences were chronicled to me in the following email:

I recently got really excited when I bought a new Intel Dual-Core processor. This processor has 2Mb cache shared between the two processors. I installed it and waited with bated breath for the PC to start (as I wanted to benchmark it). Previously, I had a Intel Celeron D 2.8GHz processor, which was much cheaper when compared to the Pentium 4 D. I installed the new processor and ran a few software tests, most notably SiSoft Sandra 2005. I could not believe my eyes. According to Sandra, my P4D processor outperforms a few of Intel’s more expensive processors (and most of AMD’s processors). I Have a Asrock P775D880P motherboard with a Via880Pro chipset. This chipset supports both PCI-E and AGP. It also supports Dual DDR & Dual DDRII, not to mention the two SATA controllers and built-in Via audio codec.

Due to money constraints, I’m still using my old ATI Radeon in the AGP Slots. The whole plot thickens when I think of how I actually wanted the board based on the Intel chipset (instead of the Via chipset). In the end, I purchased the Via based board and I can say that I am so glad I did. I found out that the Intel 915 chipset does not support the Intel P4D processors, something that really does not make a lot of sense to me. So, how does Intel manufacture a chipset that does not support its own processors? Only time will tell.

Another thing that has been in the back of my mind the past few weeks is the take-over of ATI by AMD. Traditionally, AMD has been associated with nVidia since nVidia manufactured chipsets for AMD boards. ATI, on the other hand, started making chipsets for Intel boards. What are we going to see happening now? Is AMD/ATI going to start making chips with no equal and then locking them to the AMD-specific chipsets, forcing ATI fans to either move to AMD or to go with nVidia? I guess we will just have to wait and find out. As for the new range of physics processors, I don’t know how well they will catch on - but I do know one thing: these Asus Physx boards are extremely expensive. I guess the South African importer thought that he would make a killing by selling them at the highest price possible. For these, and all other PC add-ons, to be readily accepted, the manufacturers will have to start keeping an eye on the importers and resellers. A recommended retail price would be starting point and would help keep world-wide pricing in line as to prevent these high prices.

Guess I should’ve waited a few weeks before I got that “new” Intel system, eh? Live and learn.

[tags]intel,amd,hardware,cpu,processor,motherboard,chipset[/tags]