i love my AMD based machines.. my desktop, laptop, and home server are all AMD.

as stated above you MUST have a solid motherboard. From what i have read Abit and Asus are two of the best brands. RAM is also important, thats why i buy from crucial.

and dont do what I did.. make sure you have an AMD approved power supply.. a weak or bad power supply can cause all kinds of strange and random problems.

Just wanted to say I fully agree.. AMD mops the floor vs Intel.

Cool

I'm running a 2100+ @ 2.1 GHz with generic PC2700 RAM (will only stably clock up to 160MHz, not even 166) on an Epox 8RDA+ mobo... the epox boards are really awesome boards for the price, and are right on par with abit and asus for stability and overclockability. generally a good overclocking board is a stable board. I've had this system for 5 months now, my first AMD, and I've said goodbye to my last Intel

I've heard a lot about AMD processors overheating...

Is this a REAL concern or is it simply a nuisance that doesn't lead to REAL consecuences (for the exception of those few who pushed it to the absolute limit) ?

Have any of you been "burned" by this?

Any "creative" solutions to get around this issue?

Well, I've got three large fans - one at either end and one over the processor - and lots of room inside the tower case, so I haven't had a problem, at least so far. I *did* have a problem with an Intel overheating but it's on a microATX mobo with case to match and with iffy ventilation and somehow or another a cable had drifted over the top of a fan, partly blocking it. So hard to blame that on the Intel. And I'm one of those who never turns the machine off. (The damn blinky power does it for me enough.) I prefer it that way but I will admit that if something goes *wrong* like that, it's definitely going to show with it always-on. Anyway - I forget the readings but it doesn't seem to run much hotter.

the creavite solution is don't be cheap and try to save a few bucks and throw a little fan with a tiny heatsink that only pushes 15cfm then yes your machine will overheat, as opposed to sucking it up and spending the 35 dollars for something that will push 55-70cfm then no, it won't matter if you have intel or amd, your not going to overheat then...

I have used AMD for years in both windows and now just recently in linux. The AMD processors have always preformed wonderfully. I will never buy intel again. AMD is just a better bang for your buck. Just be sure to make sure that you keep those chips cool because they do tend to run a little hotter.

I would say go with AMD

John

The temperature problem was with cores previous to the Barton (XP 2800+ & 3000+) core, I've seen the Barton running as low as 36° C (85-90° F) (40° C tops) on an ASUS A7N8X Mobo (Nforce2) and a Volcano 7000 copper heatsink (fan running at 6000 rpm), while the Palomino (XP 1500+-2700+) ran much hotter (40-50°C average, with the same heatsink-fan@7000 rpm), also the K7 (Athlon classic) and the Thunderbird ran much hotter than Palomino (actually it is said that the Thunderbird made honor to its name because it was the hottest processor at that time!). The only T-Bird I saw was a 1.2 GHz and ran (average) at the amazing 55-60° C (with a copper based heatsink)

I have 2 AMD Linux servers at home. No problems. My production environment is mostly supermicro motherboards with Intel and no problems there.

Personally, i think the socket 5 5x86 133mhz amd is garbage. Other than that, i have a amd k-7 athlon @ 500mhz, and the only problem i have is cooling. I havent installing any fans, and im using a case that i picked up at a thrift store that was desinged for those old socket 7 ATX boards. very stable.

right now i have a barton 2500+ overclocked to 3200+ with a thermalright AX-7: 44C at load in summer. i've also used this HSF with a 1600+ overclocked to 2GHz for almost a year with temps rarely getting above 40C. my 2100 tbred ran hotter for some reason -- into the 50s -- but it was always stable and ran prime for days with no problem. and finally i have an 1800+ not overclocked running with stock heatsink at 45C load.

the moral is just make sure to get the right heatsink and fan for the job. right now nothing really beats the thermalright SLK heatsinks, so if you have concerns get an SLK-800 or, if your mobo will support it, a 900. i think the overheating stories are mostly outdated, relating back to the days of people pushing Durons to the absolute limit with air cooling that doesn't match what we have today, so don't let them worry you. you just have to make sure you have appropriate cooling.