AMD 64 bit processor

[dixieflatline]

So I was walking through CompUSA today and noticed what appeared to be a pretty good deal on this HP pavilion. This would come with a 17" CRT monitor and a decent HP printer free(after rebates) for $650. I have a four year old 1.3 GHz 512 Ram computer at home which suits me fine but it plays Civ 4 a bit slow and if I got this one I would be able to give my current system away. Anyway, I do have a few questions that the hardware types here might have answers for.

1) How useful will the 64 bit processor be? I checked some benchmark tests and it appears to preform well even on 32 bit applications which is a plus.
2) It comes in a mini tower which I'm not to excited about. I have upgraded several things in my current system and I'm concerned that with the mini tower that would be more of a problem. Anyone else like/dislike the mini towers?
3) My current system is a duel boot linux/windows which this would have to be as well. This system only comes with a windows recovery disk though. The HP guy I talked to on the phone said, in broken english, that it wouldn't be a problem to repartition the drive but I'm a bit concerned as I have heard horror stories from people who have tried this in the past. Anyone sucessfully repartition a drive like this before?

Thanks in advance.

[Draft Dodger]

1) not sure. I doubt you'll see much benefit. but it wont hurt
2) no question, my next PC will come in a case that's as small and quiet as possible. I'm done with the big cases that have tons of room for expansion that I end up not using anyway.
3) I don't know that I'd want to try a dual boot on something like this. is it feasible to keep your old machine for your linux stuff and use the new machine for XP
4) this uses integrated video. not so hot. BUT it does have a PCI express so you can add in a graphics card. something you will probably want to do.

[cartman]

The current 64 bit processors from AMD (and non-Itanium Intel) are still, at their heart, 32 bit processors. They just have the ability to address memory in the 64 bit range, as well as a few other enhancements over straight 32 bit chips. Most of the performance difference in benchmarks is due to clock speed differences.

The preference for case shape and size is purely a personal one. If stuff fits in the desktop case, it more than likely will fit in the mini-tower, unless it was designed on purpose to not be expansion friendly.

If you get one of the proven disk partition tools, then you shouldn't have a problem. Just do it before you install any apps, so if something does go wrong, you aren't out anything, and you just run the recovery disk to set it back to the from-the-factory state.

[Coffee Warlord]

You can do better ordering online.

MUCH better.

[Airhog]

Ive used partition magic in the past when i needed to do a dual boot machine.

If you do get a 64 bit computer, I would install the 32bit version of xp for now. the 64bit version still has many bugs to work out, and some programs will not run on it.

[jeff061]

Just look at the 64 as a good processor all around, not so much for it's 64bit aspect.

[dixieflatline]

Thanks for all the replies. Especailly DD about the video. CW I looked around at some obvious sites and couldn't seem to beat this deal with the monitor and printer. Do you have a link to some sites that I could do better at though(I'm always looking to do better).

[Coffee Warlord]

Price, no, you are gonna be hard pressed.

But a 17" CRT monitor (you sure it's CRT and not LCD?) is junk, and printers are cheap.

The video card is the big concern (and I'd always prefer a real sound card as well). You're gonna be paying for a 'real' one, which bumps up the price of that machine considerably.

[Coffee Warlord]

Dola. Oh, and they took their sweet time, but the box I got from monarchcomputing.com WAS well worth it.

[dixieflatline]

Ok this is very good info. Yes the monitor is CRT not LCD but the plan would actually be to keep the LCD that I have now and give away the CRT. I checked your link and when I go to configure system to add in the 3700+ processor with 1 gig of ram the price seems to jump. Maybe I need to cut back on other "extras" that they are offering. Thanks for the link. I really don't need great sound but a decent video card is a must.

[WrongWay]

Here I go again.....

Please for the love of God, wait untill after Christmas to buy any big ticket items.

Everything I read this year is pointing to retailers having a bad christmas season for expensive items this year. They are even expecting the seasonal holiday employment numbers to be down this year because of the heating bills.

I need both a laptop and desktop computer now. I know I will have to wait untill the $400 Gateway laptop hits the market and drives the price of my HP laptop down in the 1st QTR of next year, but I am also planning on buying a new desktop from a big retailer in January after Christmas.

Unless it is some kind of emergency hold off. Unless you can find a store out there with a price guarantee.

[Mr. Wednesday]

Originally Posted by cartman

The current 64 bit processors from AMD (and non-Itanium Intel) are still, at their heart, 32 bit processors. They just have the ability to address memory in the 64 bit range, as well as a few other enhancements over straight 32 bit chips. Most of the performance difference in benchmarks is due to clock speed differences.

With 64-bit code, there are architectural changes (most notably, doubling of the number of registers) that produce real, significant execution speed increases. The other big performance win for the chip is that the memory controller is on the same die with the CPU. The 64-bit clock speeds are still pretty similar to the high-end 32-bit Athlon XPs, if I remember right.