Dual Core or Pentium M?

[Tlord]

A friend of mine is about to purchase a new system. He plays games, works in windows and likes to OC a bit

He already has tccd memory and a 6800 on agp

Now he asked me what road i would go

I believe the dual cores worked on an 875P chipset so that would be an option. In the near future more apps will be made for it, so that's very positive.

But on the other hand you have the P-M, more and more people are starting to praise that cpu. It's only weakness seems to be it lacks in some synthetic benchmarks.

I have no idea what to recommend to my friend.

[saratoga]

I don't think Smithfield will work with the 875. IIRC they had to hack up the FSB a little bit and that broke compatablity with older chipsets.

For games I would get a P-M or better an A64. A smithfield is not going to stand up well in games since the per thread performance will be relatively poor compared to other high end CPUs.

Though if he does any rendering or other mutlithreaded apps on the machine, smithfield might look a lot better.

[Ref]

if you want the best of both worlds get A64X2

[masterofpuppets]

Ref, that didn't answer his question. He asked whether he should get a dual core or a Pentium M. Go back to the AMD section! I would recommend the Pentium M.

[krille]

if you want the best of both worlds get A64X2

Shhh... change your avatar first, mate.


Moreover, if he wants to kick ass in game benchies right now, get the P-M and clock it (oc'd it can easily outperform the FX55 in games, however if we oc'd the FX55 I'm not as sure). If you want to stay "future-proof" (i e not upgrade in one and a half to two years or so) you better pick the dual-core, as the future is multi-threaded. Dual-core might also be good if you're intending to have any heavy background apps running while gaming, or if you just want a smoother computing experience in general (non-single-threaded).

[Ref]

Well I said A64X2 because A64 has similar architecture to P-M. It is efficient and runs cool. And you will be able to get dual-core A64 soon. P-M in 2006 and A64 architecture was meant to be multi-cored from the beginning. => you have all the advantages except price.
IMO if he isn't an Intel fanboy he should at least consider A64X2.
Now, if he IS an Intel fanboy, it depends on what he prefers. If he wants a nice, cool running and great OCing CPU, get him a P-M. But if he runs LOTs of very CPU demanding at a time, then he should consider P-D.
But as I said, IMO with A64X2 you get best of both worlds. The only disadvantage is its price

[Tlord]

He already has a graphic card on agp, so unless there is a mobo that supports amdx2, agp and is a pretty nice overclocker, the amd is not an option.

[(sin)morpheus]

Any socket 939 AGP board will do, such as the MSI K8N neo2 platinum.

[Wiggy McShades]

pentium M would be alot better because we dont know yet if the older chipsets will or will not suport dual core. plus oc'ed a pentium M will beat an fx55 for alot less.

[(sin)morpheus]

I'm pretty sure that dual cores will work with the older chipsets. There isn't really any reason for them not to, seeing as how they work in a very similar fashion.

[AMD-me]

I see pentium M as a tinker toy, I would never make a 24/7 rig from one.

[bateslabel]

Dual core X2 by far. Its a no brainer, not even close.

[(sin)morpheus]

I see pentium M as a tinker toy, I would never make a 24/7 rig from one.

Your name kind of kills any chance of credibility that your statement had.

I think an X2 would be best, but the p-m would be the next best thing if it has to be one of those things.

[Wiggy McShades]

i could see the 875 chipset being able to use dual core because it does suport dual processors, but the 865pe im not sure about.

[jrw]

If the DFI NF3 AGP are ready in the stores tomorrow, I'll say 60-40 i favour of Dothan.

If he overclocks "a little" he'll probably feel more comfortable on the A64. The Dothan seem to need some work to run amok...

[(sin)morpheus]

865pe doesn't support dual core or cpus in any way. The 875 can't do dual core due to the hacked up fsb as someone already said. Doing dual core is a bit more complicated than doing dual cpu.

[Wiggy McShades]

dont the pentium D's non extreme editions have the regular 800mhz fsb ?

[(sin)morpheus]

Yeah, but it's something to do with the way it works, otherwise it wouldn't have been to hard too design the 925 to work with dual core.

[masterofpuppets]

Why do all these AMD fanboys have to crap up this thread!? He obviously wants an Intel CPU, not an AMD CPU. A64X2's might be great, but he didn't ask for an AMD.

[Tlord]

I told him about your oppinions, and so far he's in favor of the Dothan. But he's kinda doubting about dothan being future proof. He wants to hang on to this system for at least 1 maybe 2 years. He is also worried about Dothan not doing well in windows.

Any comments?

[masterofpuppets]

Dothan is very future proof, since Intel's next few cores are going to be based on it. And what the hell is he talking about "not doing well in windows". Look at the benchmarks, they crush almost everything in Windows-based benchmarks.

[Tlord]

I believe he was referring to the synthetic memory benches, in wich the dothan didn't perform well.

[krille]

Dothan is very future proof, since Intel's next few cores are going to be based on it. And what the hell is he talking about "not doing well in windows". Look at the benchmarks, they crush almost everything in Windows-based benchmarks.

Yes, but these are in dual-/multi-core versions, thus the Pentium D should be much closer, even though the actual cores differ more. And Intel's next architecture will be an improved and tweaked P-M with more features - not a Dothan. About present benchies I have to agree though, the P-M sure is a winner for now.

[chainbolt]

Dothan is very future proof, since Intel's next few cores are going to be based on it. And what the hell is he talking about "not doing well in windows". Look at the benchmarks, they crush almost everything in Windows-based benchmarks.

that's not correct. Intel's next dual core processor core is Presler in 2006, and that is based on the same Prescott 1M core as Smithfield.

After that, in 2007, there will be an entirely new architecture for desktop procs, not netburst anymore, but for sure not Dothan based either - obviously something similar.

[Ref]

I have A64 and Dothan. Does that count me as "AMD fanboy"? I said A64X2 because I thought it would suit him the best. It is kinda Dothan DC, but a bit better(but not in clock-for-clock comparisons).
IMHO A64X2 is more future-proof than Dothan. I'm not saying Dothan is bad option, just that A64X2 is much better IMHO. But if wants "INTEL" definetly, Dothan is better than Smithfield.
I also think that A64X2 is more future-proof than Dothan, but we will see ...


And Dothan does well in Windows, for those who don't know