On Mon 08 Apr 2013 11:21:09 NZST +1200, Derek Smithies wrote: > Amd 64 bit was a problem for some video cards about 8 years ago.
?? Not for the nvidia card one I had. > There was a time when 64 bit software was poorly supported (in > comparison to 32). I beg to differ. I had zero trouble because of using 64bit software, but I also used a distro that pioneered 64bit rather than cobbling stuff together as an afterthought. However, this explains why Intel CPUs are better than AMD CPUs how? > I suspect those days are gone now Well and truly. You want performance, you get 64bit, because in 3.5GByte of RAM your performance is just a tad lacking. 64bit is not a question, it's a given these days anyway. > AMD is way less power hungry than pentiums. This is kindof crucial > for battery life in a laptop. You know better than that Derek. There have been AMD CPUs where the overtemperature warning was critically important - tests without heatsink have them going into thermal meltdown within seconds (solder goes liquid). Much more important seems to be the number of nanometers used for fabrication, sometimes you can get a more expensive later model in the range that is made on newer wafers and has a very significant power drop. It matters for desktops if you want them to be quiet. Those pentiums you mention must all be truly historic now? For the current issue at hand (what to buy now) it should be easy to find models from both companies that are thirsty, and some that are not. One also needs to divide that by performance - e.g. Intel has some low-power mobile chips, pity they're also low-power on the computing side. Phil, if you want to do video editing or serious photo editing on a desktop you're looking for a performance machine, esp if you plan on some VMs in the background. All the RAM you can get (should be 16GB+), DDR3 costs pittens, otherwise make sure you have 4 slots and use only 2. Get some speedy disks too, not that 5400rpm green stuff (but you don't need WD server range either, the blue ones are OK), unless you pay ***tloads for an SSD its small capacity probably won't save you for video work). Calculate whether a renovation of an old box is actually cost effective for what you get now for your money. Volker -- Volker Kuhlmann http://volker.dnsalias.net/ Please do not CC list postings to me. _______________________________________________ Linux-users mailing list [email protected] http://lists.canterbury.ac.nz/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
