AMD vs. Intel (best motherboards for video) at DVinfo.net

Alex Dunn · February 20th, 2003, 09:03 AM

When building your own system there are many things to think about. The primary concern is the platform from which to build. Things have changed in the past year. Front-end System Bus (FSB) speeds are up to 533 Mhz and Dual-Processors are the norm. I'd like to know what some of you pros out there think about a couple of issues:

1. FSB is available between 100 and 533 MHz, does FSB effect video editing or more importantly MPEG encoding?

2. AMD was supposedly designed for graphics, is it really better for video than Intel?

3. Apples to oranges, would you be better off with a REALLY fast single Pentium4, or a moderate PAIR of Athlons?

4. How much DDR RAM is too much? I'm looking at a board that will utilize 3GB DDR, but I doubt I'll ever need more than 1GB. Opinions?

Zac Stein · February 20th, 2003, 09:18 AM

I'll chime in, since i am a PC user.

It all depends on your needs. At this point i would no longer go for the dual Athlon MP solution anymore. Reason being, that chipset is getting really old now.

Also don't believe that stuff about this one being built for this and that, that is all marketing hype.

The truth, the AMD proccessor will do more per a clock cycle than a p4, so at lower MHZ it is getting more done. So they do even each other out, as the p4's have really ramped up their speeds now and 'are' faster at the top end than AMD, but still not by much.

I would at this point of time choose the p4 platform as a lot of the code for editing applications has been optimised for an intel chip.
Just about to be released is the intel brookdale chipset which offers a 200mhz quad pumped bus, so 800mhz and double channel memory support.

Which means when you populate your board with even amounts of ram, say 2gb which i would suggest, it access both on a seperate bus, giving you a damn nice speed increase.

Intel is also about to enable its hyper threading technology on all its processor range, not just the p4 3gz+, but that would be a nice ship to have. With the correct setting up, under winxp you would have a lightening rod of a computer.

anyways, i am sure i missed alot.

But i would not invest in a SMP AMD system at this moment in time.

Zac

Mike Rehmus · February 20th, 2003, 09:39 AM

You probably realize this but I'd make certain whatever I chose was on the list of approved hardware for the editing system. Or you may have to wear test pilot's gogles when you run the system.

Keith Luken · February 20th, 2003, 12:50 PM

If you look at www.tomshardware.com he just benchmarked 65 differetn CPUs. Some of his tests are done rendering video to give you some insight. Intl and AMD are close, Intel is begining to pull out in front on video, but remember thy are some what more expensive. I have gone back to Intel last year with my 2.2Ghz. I am wating for May witht he new 800MHz FSB P4 and will got to a 3GHz Hyper Threaded P4 800Mhz FSB. I find that 1GB of RAM is workable, I have never exceeded the 1GB, but have seen it cross over the 512MB threshold more an dmore lately as I keep several apps open at once, VV4, Photoshop, GoLive, Live Motion, etc. If you are going to go Intel now then either get the Granite BAy E7500 based board as they offer Dual DDR channels or go with a RAMBUS board to get the fastest memory bandwidth.

Imran Zaidi · February 20th, 2003, 07:27 PM

I second the suggestion to check with the TomsHardware.com site. I used to be a computer tech some time back, and even back then this site was always a trusted ally, unswayed by advertisers or mainstream thought.

The site always seems to have the true skinny on all the latest and greatest (and not so greatest) hardware.

February 20th, 2003, 09:03 AM	#1
Alex Dunn Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 202	AMD vs. Intel (best motherboards for video) When building your own system there are many things to think about. The primary concern is the platform from which to build. Things have changed in the past year. Front-end System Bus (FSB) speeds are up to 533 Mhz and Dual-Processors are the norm. I'd like to know what some of you pros out there think about a couple of issues: 1. FSB is available between 100 and 533 MHz, does FSB effect video editing or more importantly MPEG encoding? 2. AMD was supposedly designed for graphics, is it really better for video than Intel? 3. Apples to oranges, would you be better off with a REALLY fast single Pentium4, or a moderate PAIR of Athlons? 4. How much DDR RAM is too much? I'm looking at a board that will utilize 3GB DDR, but I doubt I'll ever need more than 1GB. Opinions?

February 20th, 2003, 09:39 AM	#3
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	You probably realize this but I'd make certain whatever I chose was on the list of approved hardware for the editing system. Or you may have to wear test pilot's gogles when you run the system. __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

February 20th, 2003, 09:18 AM	#2
Zac Stein Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 730	I'll chime in, since i am a PC user. It all depends on your needs. At this point i would no longer go for the dual Athlon MP solution anymore. Reason being, that chipset is getting really old now. Also don't believe that stuff about this one being built for this and that, that is all marketing hype. The truth, the AMD proccessor will do more per a clock cycle than a p4, so at lower MHZ it is getting more done. So they do even each other out, as the p4's have really ramped up their speeds now and 'are' faster at the top end than AMD, but still not by much. I would at this point of time choose the p4 platform as a lot of the code for editing applications has been optimised for an intel chip. Just about to be released is the intel brookdale chipset which offers a 200mhz quad pumped bus, so 800mhz and double channel memory support. Which means when you populate your board with even amounts of ram, say 2gb which i would suggest, it access both on a seperate bus, giving you a damn nice speed increase. Intel is also about to enable its hyper threading technology on all its processor range, not just the p4 3gz+, but that would be a nice ship to have. With the correct setting up, under winxp you would have a lightening rod of a computer. anyways, i am sure i missed alot. But i would not invest in a SMP AMD system at this moment in time. Zac

February 20th, 2003, 12:50 PM	#4
Keith Luken Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 200	If you look at www.tomshardware.com he just benchmarked 65 differetn CPUs. Some of his tests are done rendering video to give you some insight. Intl and AMD are close, Intel is begining to pull out in front on video, but remember thy are some what more expensive. I have gone back to Intel last year with my 2.2Ghz. I am wating for May witht he new 800MHz FSB P4 and will got to a 3GHz Hyper Threaded P4 800Mhz FSB. I find that 1GB of RAM is workable, I have never exceeded the 1GB, but have seen it cross over the 512MB threshold more an dmore lately as I keep several apps open at once, VV4, Photoshop, GoLive, Live Motion, etc. If you are going to go Intel now then either get the Granite BAy E7500 based board as they offer Dual DDR channels or go with a RAMBUS board to get the fastest memory bandwidth.

February 20th, 2003, 07:27 PM	#5
Imran Zaidi Trustee Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,315	I second the suggestion to check with the TomsHardware.com site. I used to be a computer tech some time back, and even back then this site was always a trusted ally, unswayed by advertisers or mainstream thought. The site always seems to have the true skinny on all the latest and greatest (and not so greatest) hardware.