Berkeley CSUA MOTD:Entry 17821
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2025/07/02 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
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2000/3/22-23 [Computer/HW/CPU] UID:17821 Activity:very high
3/21    I've always built Intel but now I want Athlon.  Athlons and their
        motherboards are reliable right?  What specific CPU / motherboard
        would you recommend?  Pointer to performance comparison so people
        don't bonk me on the head would also be appreciated.  Thanks.
        \_ No.  Wait 2 months.
           \_ Agreed.  At the very least, do *not* buy a MB based on AMD's
              Irongate chipset.  Get one based on VIA's KX133 (such as the
              soon-to-be-out Asus K7V)
        \_ Any reason you want to buy Athlon?  -emarkp (Intel employee)
           \_ [Ignoring the drivel below]
              The Athlon is cheaper at the higher clock frequencies.
                \_ But the cache runs at 1/3rd speed.  The next ones out will
              low performance, kinda like a rice-boy who spends 15K
                   be faster, probably full speed.  That's why I said wait 2
                   months.  Also the MBs are kinda shitty.
                   \_ Most RISC CPUs have full or 1/2 speed caches, and 1 MB
              his civic even if he used his NO2s.
                      and 2 MB caches are pretty standard, rather than exotic
                      and "revolutionary" as they are advertised for older
                      CISC crap. Also buying Athlon means you have to deal
                      with sitty PC BIOSes and IRQ's and such. Sparc and PPC
                      mb's have all the latest stuff like USB, FireWire and
                      PCI while also giving you the advantages of OpenFirmware.
                      Buying a PC is just like buying a cheap car and then
                      tricking it. Its a waste of $s since what you end up
                      with underperforms the equivalent "professional"
                      version. Further more, clock speed is not everything.
                      Both PPC and Sparc execute 2 or 4 instructions per
                      clock cycle, thus at lower speeds they are more than
                      competetive.
                                        unlike the athlon?_/
                      clock cycle, thus at lower speeds they can outperform
                      the chips from Intel and AMD. Also RISC chips like
                      PPC generate less heat and use less power, so compared
                      to x86 or Athlon, its like buying a v8 that gives you
                      the gas milege of a v4.
                      \_ note how you can't drive a formula one on public
                         streets, also i have an athlon.  just got it and
                         it has 2 usb in the back besides RISC can't
                         optimize for crap anyway.
                      \_ Uhm yeah.  I'm specifically talking about the 1/3rd
                         Athlon cache speed on the 1 giga hz chip.  Not your
                         generic, knows-nothing-about-Athlons description.
                         Anyay, what the hell good is your Sparc or PPC or
                         whatever if it doesn't run my software?
                         \_ It's to impress all his geek friends. Geeks don't
                            run apps. They just like specs.
                                \_ Its more than specs. A Lose* machine
                                   couldn't handle the kind of things I
                                   ask my systems to do. A Linux/*BSD x86
                                   box might be able to, but by the time
                                   I added a decent nic, scsi etc they
                                   aren't all that cost effective. Also
                                   x86 based systems are saddled with
                                   the crappy pc bios and all of the other
                                   problems associated with it. I recently
                                   bought a laptop with USB, FireWire, VGA
                                   out, S-Video out, dvd a 5 hour battery
                                   life and wireless 11 Mbit ethernet (that
                                   has encryption enabled). Guess what, it
                                   isn't based on a x86 (or clone) chip. In
                                   fact most x86 vendors can't even match
                                   all these features.
                                   \_ What things do you ask of it?  The box
                                      you spec'd out is nothing special.  And
                                      what's wrong with the pc bios?  You
                                      tried out a pc bios written in the last
                                      15 years?
                                      \_ Yes. I have a pc bios for my x86 box
                                         that was written circa 1996. It is
                                         in no way as easy to use as open
                                         firmware on my mac and my sun. show-devs
                                         .properties, printenv and a full forth
                                         interpreter blows the crap out of a
                                         any bioses I've every seen.
                                         \_ That's nice.  And uhm exactly how
                                            much time do you spend in the bios
                                            writing forth code?  You're coming
                                            off sounding like a geek which is
                                            normally pretty hard to do on the
                                            motd, given the audience.  We're a
                                            long way from 1996 and thank god I
                                            don't have a stupid forth
                                            interpreter in my bios.  What next?
                                            MS Basic?  Get real.
                       an Athlon. PPC is much better.
           \_ Because he doesn't know anything about processors and wants
              to buy a CISC x86 clone instead of a modern RISC processor
              like Sparc, PPC (RS6000,Power4) or Alpha. He's all about
              low performance, probably a rice-boy who spends 15K
              tricking his 12K civic so its a rice-rocket civic racer.
              If he decides to put all is money together (27K) he could
              by a real man's car with at least a v6 that would trounce
              his civic even if he used his NO2s. -- driving American v8
              and computing with Dual PPC's and Dual UltraSparc 2's.
              \_ PPC's rock!  Down with Intel!
              \_ And how many miles per gallon do you get on your American v8?
                 \_ Roughly 23.  Depends on how fast I drive same as anyone
                    else.  Never below 20.  Never above 25.  Always have AC
                    on.
                    \_ Mine give 15 to 20. But I care about performance not
                       about fuel efficiency. If I wanted power/thermal
                       efficiency in a processor I wouldn't pick x86 or
                       an Athlon. PPC is much better and faster.
                        \_ Thermal efficiency is important for laptops.  I
                           don't care if my cpu will blacken an egg so long
                           as it doesn't burn itself up.  Heat the whole
                           damn building for all I care.  Power, baby!  Gimme
                           speed!
              \_ Or spend the $27K on a Prelude from the same manuf.
                 \_ A Civic weighs a lot less once you strip it. A lot of
                    racers then swap engines for a Prelude or Acura
                    engine. It makes for a fun hobby, I guess. --dim
                    \_ RICE BOY ALERT!
                       \_ Nah. My brother is into all of that shit. --dim
                          \_ Slap him awake.  Do him a favor.
              \_ And if the apps aren't available for the OSes that run on
                 those nifty processors, what's the point?
                 \_ QUAKE3!!!@!@!!11
2025/07/02 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
7/2     

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