Athlon 64

[gyrus]

Whats the deal with the athlon 64, Has anyone read any reviews of it or anything? I've heard some bad things off tom's hardware and an intel biased associate of mine was quick to stick it to me. Is there more hype than power?

[Spingo]

I have one sitting right behind me atm... But I won't write about it now, since I need sleep... Stay tuned..

[robotoverflow]

Originally posted by gyrus
Whats the deal with the athlon 64, Has anyone read any reviews of it or anything? I've heard some bad things off tom's hardware and an intel biased associate of mine was quick to stick it to me. Is there more hype than power?
I would think that an Intel-biased site like Tom's is a good place to find information of that sort.

[BlueBoy]

Atomic apparently have a good solid review on their coverdisc.

I've misplaced it :(

[Spingo]

Much like Peregrine's comment above too, can you trust it.. Especially when you find out that Atomic managed to sign an agreement with AMD that they would be the only magazine to get review samples before the launch...

... and when you consider that the major door prize at the AMD launch (consisting of a full Athlon64 system) went to one of the staff at Atomic...

I personally am a little skepical...

I should finish testing this one later today, and I'll let you know how it stacks up.

[sagit]

Originally posted by BlueBoy
Atomic apparently have a good solid review on their coverdisc.

I've misplaced it :(

I have it. it is a 4mb PDF file. :D

[BlueBoy]

Originally posted by Spingo
Much like Peregrine's comment above too, can you trust it.. Especially when you find out that Atomic managed to sign an agreement with AMD that they would be the only magazine to get review samples before the launch...

... and when you consider that the major door prize at the AMD launch (consisting of a full Athlon64 system) went to one of the staff at Atomic...

I personally am a little skepical...

I should finish testing this one later today, and I'll let you know how it stacks up.

Didn't hear about that one.
Think I'll just read as many reviews as possible.
Or just let the Tom's Hardware and Atomic reviews cancel each other out and read whatevers left. :p

[robotoverflow]

In line with Spingo's comment about Atomic i'd like to add that they write pathetic reviews, so even if they didn't make a deal with AMD i'd still go elsewhere to find information about... well anything really.

What irks me about them is the fact that I can read though any issue and point out at least 5 or so glaring mistakes in their articles and reviews. They get paid to write that drivel and somehow still manage to make obvious errors. Don't get me started about their benchmarking techniques either.

Considering that the only reason you'd buy a PC magazine nowadays is for the quality reviews and articles, I don't see why anyone who has half a brain would read Atomic. It's mostly filler and from the start has been FHM for case modders and leet posers. (Except, you know, minus the chicks.)

</rant>

[BlueBoy]

I used to read PC Powerplay, but it turned to shit.
Turned out the good guys had moved to Atomic. So I followed.

[rpereira]

I agree with you there BlueBoy, PC Powerplay is shit, I read Atomic but everything in these mags you find out on the next about 1month before :/

But reading the various reviews about the Athlon 64 I have to say I am dissapointed with it, I expected much much more from it :/

Also with them releasing two different chips (Athlon 64 and Athlon FX-51) for the home market seems a bit silly to me

And next year they will be changing the pin count of the socket to 939pins so you will not have much of a upgrade path, but then again who keeps there system for a year without upgrading ?? LOL !!

The P4's seem to be still damn quick. I don't think I will be sticking with AMD in the long run ... If only Intels chips & the m/boards where cheaper <sigh>

(Have a AMD System ATM :/)

Regards

Russell

[robotoverflow]

It's annoying to see that so many PC enthusiasts out there have already discounted the Athlon64 after only seeing its performance on 32-bit benchmarks running on a 32-bit OS. If you look at any benchmark results you can plainly see that both flavours of the 64 are able to hold their own against the P4 and even the P4 extreme edition. AMD seems to have done a pretty good job, especially when you factor in the immaturity of the chipsets and the boards that the things are running on.

[robotoverflow]

Originally posted by BlueBoy
I used to read PC Powerplay, but it turned to shit.
Turned out the good guys had moved to Atomic. So I followed.

You may be an Atomic reader, but your loathing of PCPP makes me want to hate you less. :p

[BlueBoy]

Originally posted by Peregrine
You may be an Atomic reader, but your loathing of PCPP makes me want to hate you less. :p

*Starts singing 'You Got a Friend in Me'*
:p

Have you seen the price for PCPP?
You have to take out a small loan every month now!

I am a bit disappointed that all the Athlon64 tests were run on a 32-bit OS. It's 64-bit people!
Anyone know of a review that was done with the 64-bit Windows?

[gyrus]

God damn this moving house...... And this stupid 1.5Mb ADSL...

Yeah just got around to some reviews. I can't wait for 64 bit windows XP. I think everything is still pretty immature at this stage. I think I'll be holding off getting one until there is enough support for it (ie more than 1 or 2 mobos, XP 64). I'm still salicating over the prospect of getting one though.

[sagit]

Originally posted by BlueBoy
*Starts singing 'You Got a Friend in Me'*
:p

Have you seen the price for PCPP?
You have to take out a small loan every month now!

I am a bit disappointed that all the Athlon64 tests were run on a 32-bit OS. It's 64-bit people!
Anyone know of a review that was done with the 64-bit Windows?

couldnt they have recompiled linux for 64bit and run tests there?

[BlueBoy]

Originally posted by sagit
couldnt they have recompiled linux for 64bit and run tests there?

If they did, then it's OK by me.

[Spingo]

There is 64-bit Windos XP, but it does not work with the instruction set that AMD have used in the Athlon 64. The beta for Windows XP 64-bit edition for Athlon was released the day before the launch. Why don't you see it being used in benchmarks? Because it is a beta, and far from stable. Subsequent betas will have less bugs, more efficient code, and more stable code, meaning that results that you get now are not a true indication fo what the CPU is capable of.

Likewise for Linux. There are so very few benchmarking applications around for Linux based operating systems, so it's really difficult to compare.

And not only that, it's not right to compare a 64-bit system to a 32-bit system. It's like comparing apples with oranges.

Other reasons that you don't see a lot of 64-bit benchmarks is because there is nothing to compare them against, and the fact that even if you had a 64-bit enabled CPU, I bet that none of us would ever use a 64-bit application that is out today.

[BlueBoy]

So you're saying that all the reviews out right now are crocks of shit and can't really be trusted?

[robotoverflow]

You can trust all reviews to an extent (though not Atomic, ever), but you have to know what parts of the reviews are fact and what parts are the reviewers opinion. Although you might say to yourself "Duh, I know the difference." those opinions sort-of creep into your head without you knowing it. I'd say that any reviewers that offer their own speculation as just that, speculation, should probably be considered a credible source.

Out of the few previews i've seen so far Firingsquad's (http://firingsquad.gamers.com/) is propably the best. They may only be focused on the prospects of using the 64 for gaming but they get to the point and have left out most of the crap that the other previews have been plagued with.

[robotoverflow]

Originally posted by Spingo
And not only that, it's not right to compare a 64-bit system to a 32-bit system. It's like comparing apples with oranges.
That may be true, though the current situation is an Apples vs. Oranges one. AMD has a chip that seems capable enough to take on Intels latest offering in a 32-bit arena, though may - and most likely will - offer more impressive performance as a 64-bit platform. Say you had the same software running on 32-bit and 64-bit systems and you experienced a 50% performance gain on the 64-bit platform. Although one could argue against the benefits of a 64-bit platform in a currently 32-bit dominated industry you wouldn't be able to discount the advantage that the 64-bit compatible system would have.

[Ben Mansill]

Originally posted by Spingo
Much like Peregrine's comment above too, can you trust it.. Especially when you find out that Atomic managed to sign an agreement with AMD that they would be the only magazine to get review samples before the launch...

... and when you consider that the major door prize at the AMD launch (consisting of a full Athlon64 system) went to one of the staff at Atomic...

I personally am a little skepical...

Hi Spingo,

I honestly don't know which Australian magazine got the Athlon 64 exclusive. If it was Atomic and not your magazine - then commiserations. That's how publishing works, I assume you know that. Getting an exclusive does not mean a guaranteed positive review. I asume you also know that.

So why the attacks, lies and veiled implications of corruption directed at Atomic? I think it's great that you support your mag to the extent that you posts such fanboy guff, but really - as a professional journalist? Mate, leave this sort of tactic to the kiddies, please.

You don't actually state anything solid here, just those tantilising little '...' at the end which imply there could be something more to it all. Really, if that's the best you can do - why bother in the first place?

Now, the winner of the Athlon 64 system is absolutely not an Atomic employee, and I believe you are fully aware of that. He's a fan of the mag and didn't hide that, bless him, but the lad has no commercial affiliation with Atomic whatsoever.

Good. Glad we've clarified that.

Cheers,

Ben Mansill
Editor, Atomic

[Spingo]

Hey! I got pwned! :D Oh well, I got fed the incorrect story about the winner of the prize, so my aplogies for that one.

I know that's how publishing works, and competition is all good. Ultimately, all the mags are looking out for what is best for their readers. In the end, magazines get bragging rights, and that's about it. Any reader of any magazine should be able to make up their own minds about any of the subject matter, and we all know that all reviews are always going to be opinionated, even to a small extent.

Don't take my opinion personally. I'm actually skeptical of about 90% of the stuff that I read anywhere, and I always advise to anyone to use as many resources that they can find as well as personal experience before buying a product. I do respect your publication, but at the same time it's good to make people think instead of treating written word as gospel.

[rickbitch]

I would say that all commercial mags are more interested in the advertising bottom line than what is best for their readers. Sometimes, the two objectives are compatible.