RE: PIII 550 or Athlon 950?

[Nick Evans <nevans@ibeam.com>]

ECC memory is worthless in an Athlon system. No motherboard so far has fixed
the ECC/Athlon issue. Speed isn't always the #1 purchasing reason in the
server market. A P3-550 in combination with a BX motherboard is better for
stability than any Athlon and VIA combination. This might not be true in the
near future, but it is now. Despite those little things the Athlon is much
quicker than the P3, but if you're going to get one make sure you've got the
SocketA motherboard as at least there is an upgrade path.

Nick

-----Original Message-----
From: Aernoudt Bottemanne [mailto:aernoudt@bottemanne.net]
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 12:54 PM
To: cypherstuff@vrl.com.au; misc@openbsd.org
Subject: Re: PIII 550 or Athlon 950?


At 19:42 2-1-2001 +0800, cypherstar wrote:
>: On Tue, 2 Jan 2001, Derek Sivers wrote:
>:
>: > What would YOU choose?
>: > (if you don't mind taking 1 wee second to reply...)
>: >
>: > #1 - A PIII 550 server setup by a pro, for $1400
>: > #2 - An Athlon 950 server, built yourself, with expert installation
>: > #advice,
>: > for $900.
>: >


The Athlon is a very impressive CPU. The only downside to it is it's power 
usage. But in a server that is not a problem (only for laptop/desktop). 
Also think about the motherboards: Athlon motherboards (especially the 
later ones) a very fast. I run one with an MSI motherboard, and can only 
say that I very much like it !! (if the choice would have been Intel 950 
Athl;on 950 I'd still go for the Athlon)

>:
>: If it were me, I'd go for the more expensive, less powerful
>: machine... Nope, thats not sarcasm.
>
>Also remember that cpu speed is rarely the limiting factor is a
>server setup.  Communication channels, cache and memory are often the
>more important issues, as well as chipset quality.


Partially true, depends on what kind of server you are running. And for 
$500 less, you can buy a lot of high quality memory !   I would recommend 
using ECC memory, a little more expensive, but in a server highly 
recommendable.


>Of course, this works both ways.  With the spare change from the
>Athlon you may be advised to go scsi raid, or up the ram, but the
>PIII may well have the better chipset and mobo.

No way PIII has better chipsets/mobo !  Check performance 
comparisons.  815/820 chipsets perform, especially in a server, way below 
the 9old) BX chipset !!


Cheers,
Aernoudt




--

Aernoudt Bottemanne

http://www.bottemanne.net	*	Powered by OpenBSD	*
http://www.openbsd.org	*	   Secure by Default	*