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Athlon vs PIII

  • 27-02-2000 5:43pm
    #1
    Hecate
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,518 ✭✭✭


    The Athlon is cheaper than its Intel cousin, wheres the catch?...I've heard it underperforms in some games.


Comments

  • #2
    amp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,446 ✭✭✭✭amp


    Yaaaaay!!! Yet another opportunity to rant on about my PC!!!!

    Apart from some minor GL probs in Quake3(due to me also owning a V3 3500, sorted with new drivers) my Athlon is vunderbar.

    Other minor drawbacks include:
    1. Fewer K7 motherboard manufacturers (not much of a problem these days)
    2. A 300 watt PSU is recommended.
    3. The K7 case has no k3wl r@d hologram like p3's have.

    Advantages.
    1. Cheaper.
    2. Faster than intel equivilant. (According to AMD it'll beat the equivilant Xeon cpu)
    3. Has both MMX and 3Dnow instruction set.
    4. Owning means sticking it to "The man"

    It's not the same story as the K6. Amd seem to have learn't a lot from that piece of cr@p. Not once have I had an incompatibitly problem. No games have refused to run.

    But then, I'm biased. Go to Toms hardware for an in depth run down:
    http://www7.tomshardware.com/cpu/99q3/990823/index.html
    Lunacy Abounds! Play GLminesweeper!


  • #3
    SantaHoe
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,488 ✭✭✭SantaHoe


    Would those games happen to be PIII enhanced?
    I think it would be more fair to compare the chips by benchmarking them with a game that was both "PIII" and "Athlon - 3D NOW!" enhanced.
    I've got an AMD K6-II and it performs very nicely in games. smile.gif
    Nyom'


  • #4
    Stephen
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,484 ✭✭✭✭Stephen


    Yet another opportunity for me to rant about how sh!te my computer is...
    *mutter*P200 MMX*grumble*slow*grumble*crap fps*moan*


  • #5
    Hecate
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,518 ✭✭✭Hecate


    same here m8, PII266, useless as far as games go, why do you think i'm looking for an Athlon? smile.gif


  • #6
    Blitzkrieger
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,660 ✭✭✭Blitzkrieger


    think it's time to upgrade - saw a P3 - 500 based computer for £999 - couldn't be arsed though, I'm emigrating around June 2001


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  • #7
    Gerry
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,456 ✭✭✭Gerry


    On paper the athlon is a better chip, but in reality the p3 gets better fps in q3 and performs better in graphics applications generally. Also you can overclock a coppermine without having to shell out £50 for an overclocking card. Also the motherboards are cheaper. Finally my major gripe with the athlon is that it is not as stable as the PIII, in my experience.


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