Re: [vox-tech] Building a computer

[Bill Broadley <MAPSbill@math.ucdavis.edu>]

> Umm..  that's where it gets fuzzy.  PCI bus is still at 33MHz.  Memory is
> at 66, 100, & 133MHz.  Front side buses are at 100 (for the P3, I think),
> 266 (133 actually but DDR'd, meaning double data rate), and 400MHz (P4,
> but that doesn't mean it actually runs faster than a lower speed Athlon
> Thunderbird).

Just to be clear:
p3's use a 100 or 133 Mhz that transfers 8 bytes per cycle.
p4's use a 100 Mhz bus that transfers 32 bytes per cycle.
athlons use a 100 or 133 Mhz bus that transfers 8 or 16 bytes per cycle.

Overall though usually the leading edge athlon is faster then the
leading edge p4 despite the p4 advantage in both clockspeed and FSB.

AMD has a substantial advantage in price performance:
	SIS 735 motherboard = $65
	>= 1000 Mhz athlon/duron = $100-$150
	512 MB ram = $50-80

For a dual cpu add $150 ish for the motherboard, and of course another
cpu.

My favorite killer 3d card at the moment is the geforce 2 Ti for $115
or so, small, cool, fast, well supported, linux compatible, even supports
the new video standard for xfree86-4, so things like dvd playback work
well.  Of course tribes2, wolf3d, and quake arena benefit as well...

--
Bill