From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Oct 19 23:25: 2 2001 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from hotmail.com (oe17.law11.hotmail.com [64.4.16.121]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2E87B37B401 for ; Fri, 19 Oct 2001 23:24:58 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Fri, 19 Oct 2001 23:24:58 -0700 X-Originating-IP: [24.116.152.150] From: "Sivar" To: "what ever" , References: Subject: Re: pentium-4 v. pentium-3 Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 00:35:30 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4522.1200 Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 20 Oct 2001 06:24:58.0040 (UTC) FILETIME=[F0BDF380:01C1592F] Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG Why not an Athlon? Pentium 4 is very slow compared to other chips on a clock-for-clock basis. For example, if you take a 1.3GHz (overclocked) Pentium 3, a 1.3GHz Athlon, and a 1.3GHz Pentium 4, the Pentium 4 will not even touch the performance of the other two except in highly specific applications. In general, the Athlon is faster than the other two both at the same clock speed and when you consider the price/performance ratio. You might get a nice Tyan TigerMP motherboard so you can have the option of adding a second processor in the future. If you must go with an Intel processor for some reason, here are some things to consider: The P4 is highly overpriced, and unless you get a very high end P4 with the new CPU socket, the system will not be upgradable. (Without some type of adapter, but those are iffy to use on high frequency processors) The P3 is going to be dead, officially, next year. Intel is phasing it out, thus, any P3 system will not be upgradable either. The price of P3 processors (1GHz and lower) is a MUCH better deal, cost-wise and performance-wise, than a P4. If you are using a P2-266, you probably replace your system more often than you upgrade it, so being able to upgrade may not be a big deal. If that is the case, I would definitely get a P3 over a P4. If you want to pay less for a faster, more upgradable platform, you should consider an AMD Athlon. The new "XP" series of Athlon is a bit expensive, but that will change soon. For now, the "Thunderbird" series of Athlon is probably a better deal. Be sure to get a quality motherboard, like an Asus brand, as well as a good power supply such as Antec, Seventeam, PC Power & Cooling, etc--no matter which platform you choose. Hope this helps > Hi, > > So, it's time to upgrade to a new machine (I'm still using an old P2-266), > and I'm trying to decide between a Pentium-3 & a Pentium-4. This machine > will run FreeBSD only, and will serve as a workstation/router/low-traffic > webserver/samba fileserver. I don't need a 2gig processor or > anything...(my p2-266 is idle most of the time anyway). > > I'm just wondering if the Pentium 4 would be a good choice or should I buy > a Pentium3? > > All input is *greatly* appreciated. > > Thanks! > > -- > thursday@sdf.lonestar.org > SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org > > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message