[extropy-chat] TECH: Computer Upgrade Paths...

[Brian Atkins]

Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> I ran across the Specs/Prices for the HP Compaq Presario S6900NX recently
> and it looks like you can pick up a really nice machine based on the AMD
> Athlon 64 (I'll never buy an Intel again because they desupported the
> YC72 video camera within months of its release).  The price from Radio
> Shack or Walmart seem to bbe running in the ~$1100 range.

Places online advertise it for under $950, also circuit city. Or you can 
buy a similarly equipped whitebox for under $750. Or you can buy an 
Athlon 3200 (non-64 bit version CPU) for quite a bit less than that. Or 
if you can "get by" with slightly less computing overkill you can buy 
slower 32-bit Athlon systems for around $300 or less depending on how 
much you want to skimp on memory/hard drive/etc.

> 
> Now its only a 2GHz machine but its running a 64 bit processor/bus.

There's a reason it is labeled "3200" by AMD, because it performs 
essentially equivalently to an Intel 3.2 ghz. In fact, the whole 
gigahertz thing is so useless nowadays for judging performance that 
Intel itself recently announced it will no longer use this for marketing 
and instead will relabel all future processor models with names like 
"720" and other unrelated numbers.

> 
> It looks like most of the stuff one would want is included in the
> machine with the possible exception of a sound card.

It has one built onto the motherboard

> 
> Now, if one can find a vendor selling the Presario without the
> preinstalled Windows XP the price should be even lower (if one
> then installs Linux and perhaps WINE (to get windows compat.)).

If you buy your PC from a whitebox vendor you can get it with no OS and 
install what you like.

> 
> Is the productivity on a Pentium 4 or a G5 *really* so much higher
> than an Athlon that it justifies this kind of price differential?
> [You have to remember that I'm typing this on a dual Pentium Pro
> @ 200 MHz (~6 year old technology) and it usually meets my needs
> just fine...]
> 

No, there is not much difference. In many areas the Athlon 64 3200 
outperforms the Pentium 4, and in a few areas it is slower.

What you really should ask yourself when considering buying a PC right 
now is what is coming in 2005/6. Microsoft will be launching its next OS 
- "Longhorn" - eventually, which leaks suggest may require around 2GB of 
ram, terabyte hard drive, and newfangled dual-core CPU for best performance.

PCs at the moment are in a transition spot where anything you buy right 
now will not be upgradable to these requirements that will be here in 
less than 2 yrs. In fact, Intel just announced that essentially they are 
abandoning the Pentium 4 architecture and will concentrate on launching 
a new dual/multi-core architecture in 2005. AMD also is launching a new 
motherboard socket for their 64-bit CPUs soon, so a machine you buy 
currently may not have an upgrade path.

So if you buy now, be prepared to buy again in 2 yrs if you want to use 
"Longhorn". If it were me, I would hold off until then, or if I really 
needed something now I would buy a very cheap low end machine to 
throwaway in 2 yrs.
-- 
Brian Atkins
Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence
http://www.singinst.org/