Athlon XP2500+ Barton, or P4 2Ghz Northwood?

[Unleashed]

The name speaks for itself, I have the option of either. I currently have the P4, but ive been offered the same price for it and its motherboard as I have been for the Athlon and motherboard, so do I sell and buy Athlon, or just keep it?
Any advice is much appreciated

 

[Doom]

Well I have an athlon 2800xp barton. My mate has the p4 equivelent. We have both benchmarked both pc's and they are pretty much the same so id say go for it if you can be bothered. Mind you it's not much better than the one you already have.

 

[LeeJend]

As an even swap the Barton will be faster. BUT...

Does the Intel MB support higher front side bus speeds like 533 or 800? If it does then the Intel system has more upside growth potential.

Final consideration. What is the quality of the 2 MB's and built in features (RAID, SATA USB 1 & 2, firewire, etc.)?
If both are ASUS - fine. Is one a FIC and one an ASUS? If you have the FIC go for the deal. (FAST before he changes his mind!)

Asided for a small (~20%) speed advantage to the AMD ask yourself "why am I being offered a $300+ Intel trade for a $200 AMD".

 

[Unleashed]

Hmmm looking at all my finances I also will be able to afford a 2600+ 333FSB. So now its:
P4 2Ghz Northwood
Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
or
Athlon XP 2600+

 

[Unleashed]

I'll give more detail on motherboards etc later, right now I have to go to school.

 

[Unleashed]

The current motherboard I have is an Abit SA7:

CPU 1.Support for Intel Pentium 4 Socket 478 processors with 400MHz (100MHz QDR)CPU Front Side Bus
Chipset 1.SIS645/961
2.Supports Ultra DMA 33/66/100 IDE protocol
3.Supports Advanced Configuration and Power Management Interface (ACPI)
4.Accelerated Graphics Port connector supports
AGP 2X(3.3V)and 4X(1.5V)mode (Sideband) device
6.Supports200/266/333MHz (100/133/166MHz Double Data Rate) Memory Bus Settings
Memory 1.Three 184-pin DIMM sockets support PC1600/PC2100/PC2700 DDR SDRAM module
2.Supports up to 2GB DRAMs for unbuffered DDR PC2700 modules
3.Supports up to 3GB DRAMs for unbuffered DDR PC1600/PC2100 modules
Audio(Optional) 1.C-Media 8738 /PCI-6CH PCI-Based HRTF 3 Dextension Positional Audio Chip
2.Support 6CH DAC for AC3 5.1 CH purpose
Professional digital audio interface supporting 24-bit SPDIF IN and OUT
System BIOS 1.SoftMenuIII Technology to set CPU parameters
2.Supports Plug-and-Play (PNP)
3.Supports Advanced Configuration Power Interface (ACPI)
4.Supports Desktop Management Interface (DMI)
5.Write-Protect Anti-Virus function by AWARD BIOS
Multi I/O Functions 1.Two Channels of Bus Master IDE Ports supporting up to four Ultra DMA 33/66/100 devices
2.Audio connector (AUX-IN, CD-IN, Line-in, Line-out, Mic-in, and Game Port)
Miscellaneous 1.ATX form factor
2.1 AGP slot, 5 PCI slots
3.Hardware monitoring - Including Fan speed, Voltages, System environment temperature
4.Built-in Wake on LAN header
5.Built-in Wake on Ring header
6.Built-in IrDA TX/RX header


The one I would get if I were to get an Athlon would be an Asus A7V8X-X:

CPU Types Socket A for AMD Athlon XP/Athlon/Duron up to 2.25GHz+ Thoroughbred/Barton Core Support Processors that a Motherboard can take.
Chipset VIA KT400 VIA VT8235 Make and Model of chipset on motherboard
Slots 1 x AGP 8X 6 x PCI Number of PCI/ISA and AGP Slots
Onboard Devices Sound/LAN/USB 2.0 Fax/Lan/Audio/Graphics
Max Memory Max. 3 GB Maximum amount of memory device can take
Form Factor ATX Form Factor Form Factor
Supported RAM Technology unbuffered PC2100 / PC1600 non-ECC,PC3200,PC2700 Max to 2 banks only Supported RAM Technology
Memory/RAM 3 x DDR DIMM Sockets Memory/RAM
Mainboard Socket A Mainboard
Audio Output ADI 1980 6-channel CODEC S/PDIF out interface Audio Output
Networking Realtek 10/100 Mbps Ethernet PHY Networking
Storage Controller 2 x UltraDMA/133/100/66 Storage Controller
Dimensions 30.5cm x 24.5cm Dimensions
Warranty 12 Months Warranty
FSB Speed 333 / 266 / 200MHz Processor Front Side Bus Speed


I will be keeping my 512mb PC2700 (333mhz) DDR, and all my other hardware.

 

[Unleashed]

Scratch that Athlon motherboard, I'll be using this one instead:

MSI K7N2-lan SKT A NForce 2 Chipset 8x AGP 6Ch-Sound & LAN

General Product Type Mainboard
Form Factor ATX
Width 30.5 cm
Depth 23 cm
Compatible Processors Athlon, Duron, Athlon XP
Chipset Type NVidia nForce2 SPP
Max Bus Speed 333 MHz
BIOS Type Award
Processor Installed Qty (Max Supported) 0 ( 1 )
Memory Supported RAM Technology DDR SDRAM
RAM Installed ( Max ) 0 MB / 3 GB (max)
Supported RAM Speed DDR266/PC2100, DDR200/PC1600, DDR333/PC2700, DDR400/PC3200
Storage Controller Storage Controller IDE - integrated
Controller Interface Type DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra) Fast Drives
Audio Audio Output Sound card
Sound Output Mode 5.1 channel surround
Compliant Standards AC '97
Telecom / Networking Networking Network adapter - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet - integrated
Features BIOS Features ACPI support, DMI support, power failure recovery (AC loss resume)
Manual Settings CPU frequency, memory voltage, AGP slot voltage, FSB ratio (CPU:memory)
Hardware Monitoring CPU core temperature, chassis temperature, CPU fan tachometer, system voltage, CPU overheating protection, CPU core voltage
Sleep / Wake Up RTC (real-time clock) wake up, suspend to RAM (STR), suspend to disc, wake on PCI device, wake on ring (WOR)
Hardware Features Diagnostic LEDs
Expansion / Connectivity Expansion Slots Total (Free) 1 ( 1 ) x processor - Socket A
1 ( 1 ) x AGP 8x ( 1.5 V )
3 ( 3 ) x memory - DIMM 184-PIN
4 ( 4 ) x PCI ( 3.3 V/ 5 V )
1 ( 1 ) x shared PCI / ACR
Interfaces 1 x storage - floppy interface - 34 PIN IDC
2 x storage - DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra) Fast Drives - 40 PIN IDC
1 x serial - RS-232 - 9 pin D-Sub (DB-9)
1 x parallel - IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP) - 25 pin D-Sub (DB-25)
1 x audio - line-In - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x audio - line-out - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm
6 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A
1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45
1 x keyboard - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
1 x mouse - generic - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style)
1 x audio - line-In - 4 PIN MPC
Miscellaneous Cables Included 1 x USB panel
Software Included Live BIOS, Live Driver, Live Monitor, PC Alert 4, MSI Live Update 2
Compliant Standards Plug and Play, FCC Class B certified, CE

 

[Cosmin]

I would keep the p4 and prepare for AMD Athlon 64FX

 

[Unleashed]

Yup, ignore all that before
Ive settled on a P4 2.6Ghz 800FSB
Just need to save a teeny bit of money - or get a loan from the parents