Not for playing games, but when I surf the web, I rather do it with the outdated 98box because it's atleast 3 times faster to load pages and so. The newer AMD64 3200+ with 512MB is fast when I play warcraft but sucks ass on the web(despite that it was formatted only 2 days ago). Basically all new computers with XP is slow on the web, atleast if you compare with my superfast 98.
I think there are other factors other than the cpu and the ram. If the hard drive is slow, the computer will be very slow even if you have 2000 GHz CPU with 2 GB ram.
Not only that, the new machine may have a misconfigured browser. The old '98 box may be using an older browser. There may be other apps besides the browser running. In other words, there are a bunch of other factors as mohdsoft said.
2000 Ghz !!! whoooo.... did you mean Mhz ?? I have 3.1 Ghz PIV (64 BIT, with 2MB L2) IBM Thinkcentre Pentium based machine with 945 Intel MB, 1 GB DDR2 533 FSB Ram and 160 GB + 80 GB Sata (10000rpm). This combination rocks for me. I can work with 50 IE windows + adobe applications running, and speed is good.
I'm still using windows 98 on my laptop. Its extremely fast and the desktop loads pretty quickly. I play the older games like command and conquer, and they run well.
I switched from 98 long time ago, I agree its fast, but its very unstable, crashes very often and sucks as far as networking part is concerned.
I have to disagree that all new computers with xp are slow on the web. When I have the privilege of using a 100mbx100mb inet connection, pages load absolutely instantaneously on my AMD4000+ (2.5GB of RAM). Keep in mind I'm running 5 displays and a handful of monitoring, graphic and coding suites at all times. I think AWD1 hit it on the nose that you might have a mis-configured browser. You said you reformatted days ago, so it's most likely not an over-sized cache or history. It could even be your router, your nic or a million other things. I would suggest tracking out the source of your problem by process of elimination. do some bandwidth tests. Check your latency by pinging your isp or local university. If everything checks out, it's your browser. You using FF, IE, Opera, something else? Try using a different browser and see if you're getting the same results. If it's help or an answer you're after, you'll get it a lot quicker if you do some footwork and ask the right questions. But I'm guessing that's not your M.O. by the rather red block next to your name If you're interested in tracking down the problem though, I'd be glad to lend a hand.
I have XP pro on one and XP home on my laptop and no problems at all with internet speed. Windows version has nothing to do with it, it is the configuration of your computer that matters.
i dont think there is a clear winne rof who is better, its kind of split 50/50 with a lot of people. Persoanally i am on the AMD side myself. I built a new computer with a 4400 x2 processor and from the reviews it outperforms all the pentium processors in the price range. Though lets say if you wanted to go duel core, intel does provide cheaper cpus than the amd range. Also amd cpus run at a lower temperature than most intel chips so they are good for silent pcs/overclocking etc
iam a gamer and a web designer/graphic artist and my personal choice is AMD because it is cheaper and it performs really good..
i thought amds were more expensive than intel now? or is that just the duel core options. I love my 4400x2, i have 4 gig of xms ram too!
But the old 98box loads EVERYTHING INSTANTLY. I reformat it three times every year and it works perfect and brilliant!!
To me hard drive speed is the biggest bottle neck that most folks overlook. buy a speedy drive for an old PC and it flys.
Here in India AMD are cheaper than pentium based processors. But my harware vendor who sells both AMB and pentium says that pentium and AMD are same as far as performance is concerned, but AMD performance meter drops with time while pentium stays steady. I've been purchasing hardware from this vendor for past 8 years, i dont think he will give me false info.