Help! Can't make my mind between P4 and AMD XP

[Mugur]

Hi there,

I'd appreciate your help to choose between the 2 above.

The use of the PC is mainly GIS with 3D topographic mapping, CAD applications, Hydological models (need hours and sometimes days to process) and other 3D application. I don't use it for games but I appreciate some of the multimedia facilities.

The choice is thus difficult from the beginning. After that I'll have to decide for the motherboard, memory, video, etc etc etc.

So if anybody has some ideas for configurations, it would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Mugur

[TheDude]

I think you'll find the two to be fairly similar in performance when using DDR memory, with the Pentium 4 taking a slight lead in some streaming and office type applications, while the Athlon will lead slightly in most gaming and high-end workstation situations. The Athlon is significantly less expensive, though.
I have noticed that the Athlon seems to perform significantly better as a folding machine, (crunching proteins for Stanford U.) which leads me to believe it may be your best choice for the applications you will be using.

[JBELL]

the floating point integer inside AMD XP will better suit you for your CAD needs...


and yes much better on folding if you were to join our team.

if you need help deciding on what gear to use and have a price cap - let us know we can help you pick out a system to build.

[Mugur]

what if the P4 is an 2.4 or 2.53 and the RAM is RIMM

so the question becomes more difficult,right?

actually I'm getting nuts trying to figure out if to spend "a bit" more for P4 + RIMM or... what?

[Mugur]

I have continued with my sheeeet on the Xtreme Folding forum. Sorry!