> Hi all,
> My sister wants me to build her a high end system based on either an Intel
P4
> 1.4Ghz or an AMD Athlon 1.3Ghz. After pricing similar components for both
> systems the costs are very comparable with the Intel system costing just a
> bit more. The last few systems I have built have been P III with no
> complaints.  What is the better system to build for general home use?
> Thanks for all opinions.
> Jay Merritt


Jay,

If  you take the Intel route with the P-IV, I would wait a little bit. I
believe that Intel is coming out with a P-IV 2GHz, but it will be a
completely new system, even the Ram will be different than what is used now
in the 1.4GHz system, and the CPU itself will be a different size, meaning
that you wouldn't be able to upgrade to the 2GHz even if you already have a
P-IV system now. Personally, I do not like AMD. Some of their processors
tend to have a problem with overheating, and I have never encountered that
with any Intel Pentium. Anyway, whichever route you take, either the Pentium
or the Athlon, if your sister wants to ever upgrade in the future, the next
step would be the P-IV 2GHz, I don't think there is anything else inbetween,
and frankly speaking, I don't think that she will see any big diffrerence in
CPU speed between a P-IV 1.4G / Athlon 1.3G, and the P-IV 2G. The speed
difference will come into play with the type of memory system that the 2GHz
system will use.
Hal T
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