AMD

[pcejim@dol.net]

You know, Ihave come to the conclusion that regardless of whether the problem comes from the processor, the mother boards chipset, hardware or software incompatibility, amd systems are nothing but trouble. Tell me if I am wrong, but I looked into the Intel forum last night. There are so few posts it isn't funny. That's because Intel systems work. I now have two AMD systems. Both built with quality components. All of which have been swapped out. Everybody here espouses the stability of the AMD systems while telling you all the "special" things you have to do to get them to work. My MP3 server with the KT7A Raid board isbeing replaced tonight by a BE6-2 Raid and a PIII 500 I have in my closet. My wifes system(the AOpen AK33 with a 900 TBird will be replaced by a CUSL-2C with a PIII 1 gig this weekend. Anyone want to make me an offer of these two boards and chips. I'll never do AMD again.
Jim

[Geek #1]

Ahh, yes but how long have Intel been running the Pentium model Processor? Original released in March 1993, the Pentium has had 8 years to mature. AMD on the other had have only been working on the Athlon for 2/3 years. Therefore Intel based systems are bound to be more stable. An original PII and a BX based board will go for miles.

But remember that Intel has industry backing, manufacturers line up to build Intel boards, AMD developed Athlon based chipsets with very little help from other manufacturers, apart from VIA and Gigabyte, they were on their own.

Athlon CPU's draw much more power than Pentium based PC's. Therefore Power supplies, motherboards and all other components need to be able to work fully otherwise problems will occur. Intel CPU's can use any old rubbish and still be stable. The Windows 9x/NT family was built to run on Pentium based systems, Abobe Photoshop is otimised to run better with a Pentium III CPU installed.

Apart from the odd lock-up problems (which I think I have fixed), my Athlon system is rock solid. But half to fun of building systems is getting them to run. If you want a fully tested, working system buy one off the shelf from a known reputable manufacturer.

[pcejim@dol.net]

While you are correct about the development of the AMD line vs the Intel line and however fair or unfair it may be, the only way that type of tweaking is fun is if you enjoy it. I do not. I want to put it together, turn it on, and use it. That does not seem to happen with AMD, for whatever reason. All 4 of my Intel systems(650, 2 800's, 1.4 P4 all worked flwlessly as soon as I put them together. Two PIII's use BE6 @ Raid, 1 CUSL 2-C, and My P4 is P4t, all with SB Live etc. Just get in the car and drive.

[Darren Wilson]

Thats I done with my T-Birds. Put them together , turned them on & install the OS, no tweaking needed to get them to run stably, (well none that I wouldn't have also done to an Intel system). This is a big comment coming from me, as if you look at my very early posts regarding AMD systems, you will see why.

[miketasker]

The only reason people buy Intel is because they think they are fully tested and guaranteed to work with everything, but this is not always the case. I have been running AMD’s for years and I am proud to say that I own an AMD Athalon. I didn’t have any trouble putting it together and it runs a lot faster than the equivalent Intel P4’s we have at work.

Vote for AMD, Intel are fighting a loosing battle now anyway, soon people will be preferring Cyrix’s to Intel.

[mahdi]

Originally posted by Mike the Techie:
<STRONG>Vote for AMD, Intel are fighting a loosing battle now anyway, soon people will be preferring Cyrix’s to Intel.</STRONG>

Hehe, I DO prefer Cyrix over Intel <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
I am prowd to say I have never OWNED an Intel processor (I use them at work, but I have no choice in that matter) and have been very satisfied with AMD products over the last 5 years. The only problem I have had with an AMD is the VIA/SBLive! dilema, but AMD can not be blamed for that one...

GO AMD!

[Twisted_Mister]

Originally posted by James Kitts:
<STRONG>You know, Ihave come to the conclusion that regardless of whether the problem comes from the processor, the mother boards chipset, hardware or software incompatibility, amd systems are nothing but trouble. Tell me if I am wrong, but I looked into the Intel forum last night. There are so few posts it isn't funny. That's because Intel systems work. I now have two AMD systems. Both built with quality components. All of which have been swapped out. Everybody here espouses the stability of the AMD systems while telling you all the "special" things you have to do to get them to work. My MP3 server with the KT7A Raid board isbeing replaced tonight by a BE6-2 Raid and a PIII 500 I have in my closet. My wifes system(the AOpen AK33 with a 900 TBird will be replaced by a CUSL-2C with a PIII 1 gig this weekend. Anyone want to make me an offer of these two boards and chips. I'll never do AMD again.
Jim</STRONG>


I'll buy them - what do you want for the whole lot? I bet I can get it working with little to no effort. If you don't want to "make" them work, buy them preassembled. Email me if you really want to sell the stuff!

[Wayward Clam]

The reason there aren't any posts in the Intel forum is because A) AMD is outselling them now and B) They probably can't get on the Internet anyways. j/k on the second one. But Windrivers is populated by intelligent technical people who like to talk about their equipment. Let's see: lots of people talking about AMD, precious few talking about Intel, seems to me that the people have made their preference clear, and it's not the preference you think it is.

Fortunately, "Allah loves wondrous diversity". IDIC and all that rot. Why should anybody hate someone else for their likes and dislikes? Hey, if you want to pay 25% more for an inferior product, I'll still chat with you over lunch!

<IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[pcejim@dol.net]

First off, just let me say I am not denegrating anyone for their choice in products. I merely state that I prefer not to take the time nor apply the effort to make these work, whether the problem is with the chipset or not( I am sure it is BTW). I do not espouse one companies quality or performance over the other, I really just want ti to work. As for everyone who says theirs worked with no tweaking, apparently my definitionof no tweaking is different. Rocco(who does seem like a wonderfully experienced and knowledgable technician) has told many people, including me of all the tweaks that may be neceaary to get the Via and SBLiove to work. As I said, with Intel you just plug it in and turn it on. But not being a person to give up easily, onceI got over my frustration I tried it again. I Have both systems acting exactly alike now. If you are using them, even large data transfers over my network, video editing, etc, it works fine. But when you stop using it and let it sit, it locks up. Not as badly with the memory hole disabled, but it still does. With a screen saver set to run after one minute, it will start the screen saver and run for hours sometimes. But if no screen saver or program running both freeze up. One is 98SE, One is ME. ME is a fresh install, 98SE was just a board/CPU replacement where I left the drive intact. All tweaks listed here have been applied except for the newest KT7A raid bios. which I will do tonight. kt7a system is working fairly well with the LIVE now. Still lost though

[Wayward Clam]

Sorry, no dissing or aggressive flaming intended. I sell lotsa Intel stuff. Your points are well made. Plus, your signature rocks.

[Darren Wilson]

Points accepted James, but when I say about the tweaks to get the SB Live! & VIA boards running, I am on about I would do the same (allocate IRQ5 in BIOS to ISA/Legacy) on an AMD based board as I would on an Intel based VIA board. It isn't the CPU's, it is the Chipsets which obviously unless you are using a AMD7xx series based board the same things go for both Intel & AMD systems on VIA chipsets. The Intel chipsets were 100% stable upto & including the BX but the later i8xx series did have their problems which needed patches or even hardware changes to make them work properly (remember the original i820 chipset & Memory Controller Hub problems?).

In this line of work with so many different combinations of hardware being put together you are bound to get conflicts & configuration problems somewhere along the line, but it is not fair to blame any one manufacturer or company for the problems, as it would be virtually impossible to test EVERY single combination of hardware together, which would then drive prices up so high & probably put R&D back to the Iron Ages.

Personal views here, no offence or flames intended.

[KBPERF]

Originally posted by James Kitts:
<STRONG>I merely state that I prefer not to take the time nor apply the effort to make these work, whether the problem is with the chipset or not( I am sure it is BTW).</STRONG>
Computers dont always work the way you want them to. sometimes you have to tell it how to do something. That means you WILL have to to take the time to do it. If you expect to just turn the computer on and never troubleshoot a problem, better quit now. I own a T-bird 1ghz and have built around 25 other AMD socket A based systems and never had any problems that werent "user influenced" all were assembled, powered up fine and loaded OS. go ahead and do your intel swap, Ill take your stuff, how much?

[Matt_29]

Well lets put it this way ... more lower end systems are AMD and there for cheaper .. which that alone is prone to problems .. alot of newbies run AMD and dont understand how via works and things ...

example i own a AMD, via with a sound blaster live and tnt2 on win2k .. mines runs stable and perfect ... why cause i know what im doing .. it doesnt mean that if you have problems you dont know a thing .. but should know what to use and how to use it .. people like AMD for tweaking and doing this .. and if you look most questions pertain to that as well .. so its not that VIA and AMD are bad its doing things that items are not designed to