Confounded contraption!

So I'm sure you were all wondering where I was this Easter weekend.
(I just know how you can't live without seeing me on a daily basis muhahaha )

Anyone who has known me for any considerable length of time will know that the idea of me taking a holiday is a myth spread around by Microsoft to draw you in to the Pocket PC
No! I wasn't on holiday - I'd tell you if I were and of course send you all a post card.

My main workstation made a small, but noticeable mushroom cloud. Panic ensued and the C:Amie Project had to go off-line until I could procure a laptop this afternoon (Sunday).
Fear not though I checked the forum from the H/PC to make sure that all was well and used the excuse to attend a photo shoot on Saturday morning put my feet up on Saturday evening, watched the new Dr. Who and did absolutly nothing

Still leaves me with the problem of the dead CPU, and a 4 day, double-barrel bank holiday weekend here for Easter.
Trouble with the Processor was that it had a short in it, when it was cold it wouldn't run, you had to hold it at the bios for 10 minutes while it warmed up (thus the heat expanded the CPU block) and it would complete the circuit and boot.
Alas the fan went and I had to replace it, and now I can't get a constant thermal level above 35c and under 40c.

Oh cruel irony, how you tempt me at every turn, throw sand in my eyes at every dusty cross roads and laugh at me from yonder.

I don't want to spend the cash and go 64-bit just yet - not until Intel produce a CPU that can actually count faster than any AMD CPU can on an abacus
Think I'll just head to eBay and stay with P4 x86.

*sigh*

Anyway, the point of the post (and there was one - other than shopping for sympathy [hint,hint]) was to tell you that I will be a little sporadic around here for a while.

Good luck with your CPU change. Have u considered a desktop Pentium-M?, if they're just as good as the laptop counterparts, i'll sure bet for one. i know they're pricey, buth its worth it nevertheless. Whatever you do, plz don't go AMD way!!!

Don't worry about being off-line for a while, our big bro's here in the forums can take things under control

What's the matter with AMD? Why don't ya'll like them?

hey buddy, I like AMD too! ... but I like Transmeta as well, and Intel too! hehe ... I like all of them!

I’m partial to AMD; I worked for them for 4 years. I have not seen anything bad about what they produce. I just wish DELL would use them. I am getting sick of building my own PC’s. My dad bought one of the 64 processors and it is fully booted before you take your finger off the on button. (Well not really, but close.)

when AMD-based pc's i've found them horrible to troubleshoot & to replace the processor.

Here goes one situation
A friend of mine got his PC melted down by a PSU failure which damaged:
Processor (Athlon XP 2600+ )
Video card (nVidia 128 mb, what a waste)

I tried an athlon XP 2800 in the old board, but i couldn't get the mobo (Ggabyte 7xx) to recognize it other than "Unknown CPU type (600Mhz)", i tried playing with the multiplier and failed, i downloaded the last BIOS update, which was supposed to fix that, but it didn't.

Then i found a ECS mainboard that "supposedly" supported the proc, but when trying it, it yielded the same "Unknown CPU" result as previous, tried the same approaches to solving that (clock settings, BIOS flash), but again unsuccessful
what keeps me wondering is that i tried 4 different processors, ones based on Thoughbred or whatever it's called, and ones of the previous gen, but either mainboard could only recognize one and have it's clock speed setting corrected
Athlon XP 2200+
Athlon XP 2400+
Athlon XP 2500+
Athlon XP 2800+
of all the above, both mainboards would only recognize the 2400+, regardless of memory brand and speed (tried with 5 different DDRs), and/or any other thing that i did. so i left the new mobo with the 2400+ proc and advised my friend against buying that cheap crap in the future.

AMD hardware may be cheap, reliable and more suited to O/C than Intel hw, but it was horrible to set up and troubleshoot (at least for me)
so...
Long life Intel!!

Sorry for your troubles, although it isn't my fault. You say you used 2 motherboards? I figure you checked compatibility with every processor you used correct? Any way the motherboards are specificity set for certain processors. And since only the 2400 worked that makes me thing the motherboard was set at 2400 to 2600 max. Were they different motherboards or the same?
Although none of the processors you mentioned were 64bit I believe so it does not make a difference in what Chris was talking about.
Chris try http://shop4.outpost.com/product/4301885?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
For a motherboard combo. Fry’s is a great place!!!
As for compatibility of the XP2600 series I’ not sure the motherboard but the review was pretty good at all of the sites I have checked. http://compreviews.about.com/cs/cpus/gr/AthlonXPM2600.htm
You are correct. The nVidia 128 mb being fried is a waste.
Did your friend have a warranty?
http://www.tomshardware.com/hardnews/20050325_054805.html
Intel is trying to catch up with AMD so they are doing something correctly.
How did the PSU go bad?
Just questions because I hate for AMD to have a bad name! I will help as much as I can.

Yes, i checked "compat" with each mobo, they were different brand and model.
I don't think the mobo was set 2400-2600 because i used a 2500 to no avail
no, he did not have warranty, expired about 3 months ago (12.12.04)

I dunno about the PSU, i believe he didn't had voltage regulator, so the sh*t fried and took half of the PC along with it.

Thanx 4 the help, but that's over already, 2 days ago it was up and running (with the 2400+

Sorry man, that sucks!!!

Oh my, I started the dreaded Intel vs AMD debate...

I haven't considered replacing the system with a M chip this time around, however I have had it suggested to me in the past, and the benchmarks seem very good. I'm just not sure I can be fussed with the hasstle. Right now I'll be happy for a P4 Northwood, get a year or two out of it and go fully 64-bit.

Don't worry though Matrix Core, I shant be going down the AMD route - sorry to disapoint the AMD fans, but from personal experience I have to side with Intel.

The reason is simple experience over any academic performance benefit - I will freely admit to any AMD devotee that right now AMD certainly have the edge. However my experience with AMD chips has been suitably problematic, starting with the original K6, K6-2, Duron, Athlon, Athlon XP I have seen my fair share of problems with all of them. Problems which I have never had off of an Intel Chip 88086, 186, 286, 386DX, 486DX, Pentium 1, Pentium Pro, Pentium MMX, Pentium II, Pentium III and of course the P4 & Xeon.

Instability, short MTBF, burn-out, poor build quality. Then there are the BIOS chipsets - NVidia do seem to have reigned in the issues with NForce, however they have all been too slow to adopt PCI-X. The last time I seriously looked at an AMD chip for a system middle of last year PCI-X was a requirement, so Intel-32 it was.
I have had more luck / reliability from Cyrix - almost up to my experience of Intel, than I have from AMD.

I have been forced to conclude along the lines of the old adage. "You get what you pay for".

Plus I would never install an AMD chip in a server in the first place - professional pride & I just love playing with Xeons 2MB min die cache for me *goes weak at the knees*

gee ... I think I've been out of this upgrading thingie for too loong ... the last AMD I used was an Athlon 1.0Ghz CPU.

I prefer not having the serial number....

I think everyone turns that off anyway don't we

Apparently a group of hackers proved that they could turn it back on remotely via the internet.

-No I don't have the book on me but I do remember it saying that.

--So, were your hands in the photo?

---Have I ever done a single post without using an emoticon?