chris watkins wrote:
> Hi. I am looking at purchasing a new computer, and I am trying to decide
> between AMD Athlon XP and Intel Pentium 4. I've been hearing about
> "stability problems" with the Athlon processors. Can anyone give objective
> opinions on the pros and cons of AthlonXP versus Pentium 4.
>
> I'm using the new computer for small business purpose...
>
> Thanks
> Chris
>
>
It's not the CPU, it's the motherboard and chipset that determines
whether the system will run stably without random crashes. There are
3rd party chipsets for Intel and AMD that truly suck no matter what
CPU is on them, and there are others that are superior to even name-
brand items.
CPU's themselves available today are stable. They just are... if you
run them at their rated speed on a reliable board, they just work.
There IS no stability problem inherent in the CPU's themselves, but
people blame them if there's problems. It's like saying "My Honda
has a Kenwood stereo and conks out all the time, but my Ford has an
Alpine and runs great, so don't buy Kenwood." PC's are complex and
have lots of parts that interact. The chipset really *is* the PC
as such, the CPU is the most reliable (these days) part of the whole
system. Intel and AMD simply cannot afford to let CPU's out the door
that simply die, and they don't do it. So don't think of it as which
CPU is "stable", what you want is a combination of system board with
the CPU you want which is known to provide a reliable, integrated
system as a totality.
I haven't had a single hiccup out of my Epox board with NForce2
(NVidia) chipset for an Athlon XP, in fact I've ended up with Epox
3 times in a row without actually favouring that brand when I went
shopping - they just offered the best boards at the best price with
the features I wanted and good reviews at the time.
There are some chipsets by VIA for Intel CPU's to avoid, esp. from
2 - 4 years ago, then again their latest Athlon sets are supposed
to be pretty good. I would research the system you want and post
back asking if people's experiences with those parts are good.
In the main, Intel CPU's with Intel chipsets are reliable systems,
as are Athlons with NForce series chipsets. But even the most reliable
system will give you grief if you try to run it out of spec... don't
attempt to overclock if you want a system that you can count on,
leave that to the tech's who know what they're doing. Plus, if you
try to run a CPU or board out-of-spec (eg. overclocking), you generally
void the warranty, and that won't help you if reliability is your key
point. There are boards that are intended for overclockers, and they
can play fast and loose, what you want is a good, conservative board
for office systems that won't be getting hot-rodded.
HTH<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
>> Stay informed about: question about stability of AMD XP processors 
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