Which would you use for your main system?

[MDE]

Would be used for gaming, surfing, and possibly some light encoding (importing stuff off my TiVo through a TV card).

Setup 1:
Athlon XP 2500+ @ 2.1GHz (unlocked, this is the max stable OC on this chip)
Abit NF7-S
2x36GB WD Raptors (RAID 0)

Setup 2:
Pentium 4 3.2GHz
ECS Intel 848 chipset board (basically single channel 865)
250GB 7200RPM Maxtor drive

Parts pool to be split between each:
2x512MB HyperX PC4000 RAM
1x 128MB, 1x256MB Crucial PC2100
BFG GeForceFX 5900XT
Audigy2 ZS Platinum
Buffalo 802.11g card

The ECS board was part of a Fry's bundle, but it will be sold off to fund an Abit IS7, and doesn't have SATA RAID, eliminating the prospect of moving the Raptors over.

Will the single channel RAM on the P4 hobble it too much or am I better off with the P4 until I can get a new PSU to run both?

EDIT: I'm keeping both systems and buying a 6800GT down the road. Just want to know which would be the best right now.

 

[bobsaget]

I'd probably take the P4 and mobo with the gig of pc4000 ram, the 250gig drive, sell the rest of that stuff and get a 6800nu...

 

[Bugalaman]

The AMD system, because Abit > ECS any day

 

[DRJ1014]

If your buying this I would get the p4. p4 runs a lot better even though i run amd. i would switch the hard drives and get the raptors with the p4.

The AMD system, because Abit > ECS any day

not true in a way. abit is better than ecs but you have to look at the hardware around the board. we know the p4 is going to run faster than the amd and it will always be stable because you dont over clock it. he/she said there going to overclock the amd and it could be at a stable point but for no reason it could become very unstable.

also people are just looking at the ghz the the processors are running on. if i had an amd 64 in here (3.0ghz) and the same p4 people would go with the p4 but the amd64 would run better.

 

[Nazo]

I agree about ECS. I've had my own share of bad experiences with them.

EDIT: Quick post.

There's no rule written anywhere that says you can't oc a bit less until it's perfectly stable.

 

[DRJ1014]

I agree about ECS. I've had my own share of bad experiences with them.

EDIT: Quick post.

There's no rule written anywhere that says you can't oc a bit less until it's perfectly stable.

i have had 3 ecs boards before i got my dfi. i didnt have any problems with them.

ecs actually makes pretty good boards. they arnt made to last long but they are made well

 

[MDE]

If your buying this I would get the p4. p4 runs a lot better even though i run amd. i would switch the hard drives and get the raptors with the p4.

not true in a way. abit is better than ecs but you have to look at the hardware around the board. we know the p4 is going to run faster than the amd and it will always be stable because you dont over clock it. he/she said there going to overclock the amd and it could be at a stable point but for no reason it could become very unstable.

also people are just looking at the ghz the the processors are running on. if i had an amd 64 in here (3.0ghz) and the same p4 people would go with the p4 but the amd64 would run better.

Already bought the stuff, and the ECS board doesn't have SATA RAID. I'm actually running the P4 right now, and the only difference I'm noticing is the absence of the Raptors.

 

[DRJ1014]

oh the ecs doesnt have raid thats right. huh...... you should get a p4 motherboard still and runn p4. its just runs a lot faster and more stable then an over clocked amd

 

[Nazo]

You know, why not spend like $10 more for the mobile athlon (or equal if you get the next number down)? Then you can oc the heck out of it...


Last ECS board I had decided to not just screw up, but, to take the memory with it. Something seriously wrong with it, and I couldn't return it since it had burn marks on it, much less get replacement memory. Serious voltage issues there... (Not the PSU, never had troubles with it before or after then.)