Hi guyz, im thinking of going Intel P4 2.4Ghz 533 with an ASUS P4B533-E and this will be a big leap for me as i have only ever run AMD systems and i have had 8 in totol. So should i jump the boat? Mainly i want to go Intel coz they have sorted heat issues with there cpus and they are much sturdie systems than AMD's.

I fail to see how Intel systems are more stable.....

I have an Asus P4B533-E, with a 2.26/533... Very stable system, excellent performance.. Only complaint lies with the memory setup: there are three ddr dimm slots, slot 1 can use any chip, up to 1GB, slots 2-3 are SHARED, so if you want to use both 2+3, you'll need to get SINGLE SIDED ddr modules, otherwise the system will not post with 3 double sided modules. Otherwise, P4B533-E is an excellent board. As I said, I've never had any bsod's. That board/processor is an excellent match.

Ah yes, about heat issues... I've heard that the stock hsf's are quite good, however I have personally replaced the stock cooler with an AVC Sunflower Cooler. http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Roundups/p4coolershootout/5.html One of the best features about the P4 is if the HSF/cooler fails, the processor will step down to prevent damage to the cpu. The link above is a comparison guide to P4 coolers.

I fail to see how people cannot read this or any other forum and conclude that Intel systems aren't more stable.


Then again not everyone gets paid to know these things...

If your AMD boxes are working well for you, I personally wouldn't switch. If you do get a P4 box, I fail to see a good reason as to why you'd want to buy a separate heatsink, as these are quite good.

I'm personally happy with both AMD and Intel boxes, and probably will continue to use systems with processors from both companies. Both are quite stable. However, if you are having stability issues that are directly related to your AMD boxes, by all means, go with a P4/i845 combo (unless you want to go all the way and go for the super RDRAM---do it if you have the money).

I dont think that AMD processors are unstable, I think that it is more of a issue with the chipset. With Intel you have drivers that are for the most part supported by M$ and with AMD you do not have the support. If you have a VIA chipset you have to install 4-1 drivers (unless you have XP).

And even with the drivers VIA chipsets have problems.


THe chipset is the foundation of the machine.

Like Building a house on a fault line.

I wonder if AMD would get more support from MS if they released chipsets more often? AMD usually releases the first chipset for the new processor and then just forgets about and lets technology slip past, instead relying on VIA or SiS to pick up the slack.

Via is truly bad with there products, and back it up with bad driver support.


Being the cheap person i am, i baught the k7s5a(sis735) when I uggraded, and has been one of the most stable systems i have used, I dont feel bad for anyone buying anything with VIA chipsets.


Best thing you can do is stay away from VIA chipsets all together.....

indeed via sucks
allways have
probably allways will

If you make sure of keeping the 4in1's up to date and also keeping your BIOs up to date, then the VIA will be stable!

How many machines you running with VIA?


Try building them for a living.


After 100 or so that have issues you begin to realize the larger picture

exactly
i once had a nice little custom pc business and via put me out of biz

We couldn't handle the tech support it was out of hand and different everytime. what a nightmare

Well, its a hard to face up, but it is true.
if you keep updating 4in 1's and BIOS, then theres no reason why they are not as stable as any other chipset. Me and a friend both have had/currently have VIA chipsets, and as long as we keep the 4in1's and BIOS up to date, we are rock solid!

Four and Twenty wrote:

Tell me, where all of these complaints from expert/inter PC users, or just your average joe, who bought the PC for surfing, e-mails etc...

i have a Tyan Thunder 2400 based on the i840 chipset there have only been 2 official bios releases for it
that is nice cause it just works

also there are no extra driver that i have to run to get it or keep it stable

with regaurds to the users that i was building machines for
the were all dumb
but the ones with the i815 chipsets had no bsods or random sound skipping where as the ones with the kt133 chips had all sorts of problems

I see, now did any of these people ever try to update their 4in1's or their BIOS?
AS the 2 solutions fix 95+% of problems.

Thats bullshit.

I am one hell of a tech, and can almost fix anything.

BUt Via based boards even with all the RIght drivers and Bios, still do not run rock solid stable.


In some cases, even in my own experience, certain systems with VIA run flawless, But out of every ten machines I have built with VIa in them,

half of them have problems.

I get PAID to fix these things, so I can tell you from my many experiences.

As long as I, or others like me, in the IT field have some control over companies purchasing practices, AMD will stay out of the Corporate world, till they get a company besides VIA to make chipsets.

Maybe NVIDIA, SIS, or ATI will accomplish that.

too true
nvidia is the first company that has made me even consider having an amd box as a toy

and via just sucks
you shouldn't have to keep downloading driver/bios if it is stable now it should be for at least 2 years (max lifespan of computer theses days)

Ditto, the last 2 boxes that used Via parts were nothing but trouble. One that supports a P3 is still about 15%-20% below what an i815 would do even on its best day, and another for an Athlon XP had a Via southbridge that was responsible for a motherboard swap (and the second one brought on a whole different set of issues). Not to mention they can't get memory controllers to work worth a $hit. Oh, and I *have* been doing this for quite a while, so yeah I do know what I am talking about AND there's validity to the rep that Via earned. AMD is doing a great job with their procs, and it's up to nVidia and SiS to keep them alive.

Well if u guys say so, im not talking on a large scale like u guys, im just talking about a few (maybe 5-10).
I know that Intel, SiS are better than the VIA chipsets, but their boards are also more expensive. For all the "Budget concious" people put there VIA seems a good alternative, even if you may sacrifice some stability.

SIS has come outta the blue and is a great contender now.

Feature Rich and Stable from what I gather

I personally am hesitant to jump on the SiS and ALI chipset bandwagon... Their history is just a bit too spotty. I am currently running an i845e board and a i440bx, never have any crashes. I have, however, built, and quickly sold, a few kt266a based systems. The stability wasn't there. I'd rather sacrifice a percentage of performance for stability any day. You may agree, you may disagree, but the conclusion that I've reached is currently, for stability, Intel makes the best chipsets.

I almost bought a SIS mB the other day.

Was trying to build the cheapest server I could.


But in the end I waited.

My friend picked up a SiS 735 based board for his new Athlon XP system, rock solid stable thus far.