I'm in the market for a new Mac and a new PC.. help

[Forevercoolin]

I'm in the market for a new Mac and a new PC.. I'm a little confused about which type of PC to get P4 or 64bit AMD.. I was leaning towards the AMD until I found this article on Barefeats http://www.barefeats.com/g5op.html .. I have a Dual zeon 3ghz at work and although Winblows XP sucks it does what I need well. The problem is I keep reading on some of the other threads here that people are going to run out and get an Alienware AMD 64 bit because apple is so far behind and they still haven't upgraded and PCees are some much cheaper and blah blah blah...
So here are my questions:
1.Is an AMD 64 bit better or is it better to stick with the P4 right now.
2.Where do you find these Dual processor PCees AMD or P4 that are
cheaper than a comparable G5.

ps.I know this is a Mac rumor site but I'm a Mac user so I don't frequent PC forums.

 

[Mantat]

PC arent cheaper all the time. IT depend of what you are going to do with them. New macs come with iLife, OSX, etc.. all preinstalled while on the PC market, you have to pay for windows and other multimedia authoring stuff. If you are going to use the iLife suite, this is an important factor.

Dual PC arent cheaper than dual macs. They are about the same price depending of the other components you are puting in.

I think the most important question is: why do you need the computer for? Games? Work (which apps)? Video editing, etc... Do you have the licences on mac or PC or are you going to buy them afterward?

Most people these days buy computer WAY over their actual needs. Think about your real need. Not what the seller at the store (and all computer manufacturer) tells you. They want you to buy the most expensive computer you can buy while in fact most people would be perfectly served with an eMac.

So tell us what you need this computer for and we will be more able to help you!

 

[Forevercoolin]

I use my Mac for After Effects, final Cut pro, Photoshop,....etc.. Mostly motion graphics and some web design.

The PC i'll be using for 3D apps Cinema 4d and 3D Max..

But my question is which processor is the fastest or better on the PC side of things P4 xeon or AMD 64 bit. This article http://www.barefeats.com/g5op.html makes me think the P4 is still more powerfull than the AMD 64.

 

[atari1356]

I use my Mac for After Effects, final Cut pro, Photoshop,....etc.. Mostly motion graphics and some web design.

The PC i'll be using for 3D apps Cinema 4d and 3D Max..

But my question is which processor is the fastest or better on the PC side of things P4 xeon or AMD 64 bit. This article http://www.barefeats.com/g5op.html makes me think the P4 is still more powerfull than the AMD 64.

You might try asking on this PC user forum, they're usually pretty friendly and could probably give you a better idea than some of us Mac geeks.

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/index.php?s=

 

[MorganX]

I use my Mac for After Effects, final Cut pro, Photoshop,....etc.. Mostly motion graphics and some web design.

The PC i'll be using for 3D apps Cinema 4d and 3D Max..

But my question is which processor is the fastest or better on the PC side of things P4 xeon or AMD 64 bit. This article http://www.barefeats.com/g5op.html makes me think the P4 is still more powerfull than the AMD 64.

For 3D work go with the fastest P4 with the most memory you can afford. P4EE is your best bet, with the 3.4Ghz Prescott next. For all around computig including gaming, go with an Athlon 64, the best you can afford. That is until Prescott's go to the 775 socket with PCI Express and the Alderwood chipset.

jmO

 

[wPod]

a question regarding the AMD 64 chips. . . as apple had a slight delay in designing software specificly towards 64 bit chips does windows have the same problem? i know you can get unix easily to run on a 64 bit chip, but are there programs and such for windows that actually take advantage of it? or does it just divide and emulate two 32 bit chips?

 

[Forevercoolin]

AMD 64 bit chips work natively on windows xp 32 bit much like the G5's work on OSX 32 bit but i don't think much 3rd party software exists for either. But if you look at the test on this link http://www.barefeats.com/g5op.html the G5 does really well against an AMD 64 runing on Winblows XP 64. I'd love to see what a G5 will do on OS X 64 bit.

 

[vrc]

Although most benchmarks give the P4EE the nod over the AMD64, it won't for long. Most of those tests are done with 32bit OS-s and as you know XP 64bit is already in beta. Maximum PC said " if it's frame rates you want, the AMD is for you". The prescott won't do yu much good until they rev up the GHz. The additional pipelines actually slow it down for now. There are small white box builders out there (like myself) who can build dual AMD systems, but they are not cheaper than a G5. Also any Mac will have much better resale value over a PC. To answer your question, for my money, but the AMD. 64 bit is the future, even Intel nows admits it, but intel is behind AMD in that area. Although I'm sure it's because of the sofware you already own that makes you want a PC, the people that I know that have studios, prefer Macs.

 

[Forevercoolin]

Although most benchmarks give the P4EE the nod over the AMD64, it won't for long. Most of those tests are done with 32bit OS-s and as you know XP 64bit is already in beta. Maximum PC said " if it's frame rates you want, the AMD is for you". The prescott won't do yu much good until they rev up the GHz. The additional pipelines actually slow it down for now. There are small white box builders out there (like myself) who can build dual AMD systems, but they are not cheaper than a G5. Also any Mac will have much better resale value over a PC. To answer your question, for my money, but the AMD. 64 bit is the future, even Intel nows admits it, but intel is behind AMD in that area. Although I'm sure it's because of the sofware you already own that makes you want a PC, the people that I know that have studios, prefer Macs.

I absolutely prefer Macs the only problem is I need the fastest machines possible and for 3D the PC beats the Mac by a pretty good margin right now. Although the Mac kicks PC but when it comes to After Effects which is my main money maker. At work I have a dual 3Ghz zeon PC and a G5 2Ghz I’ve done many bench test of my own.... I concluded that the PC is best for 3D apps and the Mac is best for everything else. I have also concluded that PCees are much more expensive.

 

[Snowblind]

Beware of the alien.....

Hey Dude,

I would do my homework before putting cash down on an Alienware. I have read many posts where users are having problems and getting bad service from AW. Check it out and you will see.

About the dual processor AMD's, they are expensive. Price out a dual Opeteron system ( that you will more than likely have to build yourself anyway), and price a Dual 1.8 G5. I'm an AMD guy myself and I was shocked at the price of trying to create a Dual processor PC with all the features of the G5. Go for 64 bit. I don't know what you want to do with your PC, but pop a Athlon64 3400+ on a MSI board and you will be running pretty good, especially with a ATI 9600 pro or even 9800 Xt.

About the G5. I would put the extra money on at least a dual 1.8. The single 1.6 doesn't look at all like a good deal. I guess if you had to, it would be ALL that bad, but me being an AMD guy I always look for the most power for the best deal - G5 dual 1.8. Check out the refurbished G5 on the Apple webstore or Smalldog.com and you can get some really great deals.