AMD or Intel for DUAL CORE technology?

[Dimos]

Originally posted by: n7
Dimos, i hate to be rude, but you need to research your "facts" before stating them as such.

For example, running 4 dimms in an A64 means you have to run @ 2T instead of 1T, but it does work at DDR400 on all newer A64s (Venice & up)
Just because my motherboard auto selects DDR333 @ 2T for my RAM doesn't mean that it is correct.

It's also not correct in yours.

So you are saying also that your motherboard auto selects DDR333 2T. That is a fact for you. That is a fact for me also. What I am saying, as a verdict, is try before you buy. I had not, and now I am in the process to persuade some people on the shop I bought the AMD X2, that I want a machine that can run the software I want right out of the box.

Because you see, it is difficult for some people to accept that if an application runs fine on one core, but not when the two are enabled, there is a problem with the implementation of the two cores thing. Because things HAVE TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH THE PAST. THAT IS THE PC AS WE KNOW IT. IF IT IS NOT MAYBE I WOULD BETTER START LOOKING FOR AN APPLE? And I do not care who is playing catch up with whom. AMD with Intel or Microsoft with AMD/Intel or I do not know what. I just want a PC that works, and for now, AMD folks sold me a CPU that is not working, not Microsoft. And I do not like the fact that THEY DID NOT WARNED ME.

 

[Markfw]

Dimos. The other problem, is that everything I have tried, and every game and software that has been run on systems correctly setup (by people I can trust, like Duvie and myself) have no problems running anything. If you do have a problem, I suggest you post your installation procedure in detail, and what problems you are having. So far almost every single person has in fact solved their problem by correcting thier install. There are the one or two odd people that can;t seem to get it right, but the same problem is not a problem on other similar systems for people that have correctly installed their software.

 

[Dimos]

Ok, once more. I DO NOT WANT TO TRY TO MAKE THE COMPUTER WORK. I WANT IT JUST TO WORK AS IT COMES. Is that so bad? Do not tell me about install things, I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro, and then I installed all the packaged drivers for Nvidia nforce, as they were suggested during the installation, and the thing killed my install and I had to reinstall!

 

[Duvie]

Yep...I mean we dont want to get rude and say you are an incompetent user (like 70-80% of ppl), but if ppl are not having problem with similar X2 setups and using same apps then the only other tangible variable is the dude looking at you in the mirror.....face facts..If it was an AMD hardware issue then all of us would have very similar results, which has not been happening and still isn't happening.....

More likely a bios issue on some boards, but other notable variables have been shown to be...

1) MS software
2) game engines themselves...

 

[Acanthus]

The X2/Opteron is faster across the board, there is no reason to get an Intel dual core today unless you are on a budget.

 

[imported_KuJaX]

Any recommended motherboards? pci express and SLI is not needed.

 

[Griswold]

Originally posted by: Dimos


It is a fault of AMD, they are pulling out a CPU that does not work with the current version of Windows XP and they do not take responsibility. It is their obligation to release a compatible processor, not an obligation of Microsoft to be compatible with whatever CPU AMD release in the future??!!!???! If they do not want their CPU to work with Microsoft, they should not support it at all!
It has to be that simple: You buy the parts to build/upgrade your pc, as used. Then you go and buy Windows XP and an electronic game. You go home, you put things together and things just work.
With the AMD X2 they will work only if you have an internet connection and alot of patience to look around, to find out that it is because of the CPU, and then on www.amd.com there is not a single letter frontpage to say what to do. Even if you search their site for "dualcore problems", the word "problems" will not be listed :laugh:. Their CPU driver does nothing. So, do you really accept the fact that it is customer's responsibility for the AMD X2 to work, to play some of the most known games, to surf the internet? Before the fix, even scrolling down firefox stuttered.
The same apply to Pentium D if it has the same problems, but I do not have one to know. I just warn future buyers to "try before buy". Not to say anything about Microsoft, that require from us to make a phone call to them to get the fix.

User Error: Please replace User and press any key...

Seriously, Serious Sam 2 runs on my X2 like a charm, without even the hotfix. And all the other games I play sometimes never gave me any problem. How dare you saying AMD's hardware is at fault when clearly any problem can and has occured on P-D's as well and can usually be solved by proper installation of "drivers" and/or hotfixes?

Windows XP is a horrible hackjob as far as SMP is concerned. I suggest that MS sorts out their crippled taskscheduler before we start crying about a situation that has been around ever since people started using multi-CPU systems that support powersave states with windows.

 

[Griswold]

Originally posted by: KuJaX
Any recommended motherboards? pci express and SLI is not needed.

In a business environment you probably dont want fancy gadgets and overclockability but rock solid reliability. Tyan Tomcat K8E could be what you're looking for.

 

[Andres3605]

Originally posted by: Dimos
Ok, once more. I DO NOT WANT TO TRY TO MAKE THE COMPUTER WORK. I WANT IT JUST TO WORK AS IT COMES. Is that so bad? Do not tell me about install things, I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro, and then I installed all the packaged drivers for Nvidia nforce, as they were suggested during the installation, and the thing killed my install and I had to reinstall!

Dell?

 

[Zebo]

I never experiance these problems dimos refer to nor do I intall "hot fixes" or "patches" - I install slipstreamed XP w sp2, latest bios, latest drivers and that's it- in games X2 is exactly tied w/ my winchester in all benchmarks ran.. Opteron 165 beats it by a hair due to more cache. Moreover I run faster than benchmarks I see on web since they run crappy memory setups to try and make AMD look bad while I run 230-250 low latency which is supported by AMD. I'll just say beware of posters with lack of experiance - computers can be fustrating and daunting to the ignorant.

OP- what do you mean by CPU intensive? Most apps X2 does a lot better simply because intel had to tone down way Mhz in thier dual cores due to insane power and heat. Also core communication is much slower Bus speed vs. processor speed with AMD.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: Dimos

Originally posted by: n7
Dimos, i hate to be rude, but you need to research your "facts" before stating them as such.

For example, running 4 dimms in an A64 means you have to run @ 2T instead of 1T, but it does work at DDR400 on all newer A64s (Venice & up)
Just because my motherboard auto selects DDR333 @ 2T for my RAM doesn't mean that it is correct.

It's also not correct in yours.

So you are saying also that your motherboard auto selects DDR333 2T. That is a fact for you. That is a fact for me also. What I am saying, as a verdict, is try before you buy. I had not, and now I am in the process to persuade some people on the shop I bought the AMD X2, that I want a machine that can run the software I want right out of the box.

Because you see, it is difficult for some people to accept that if an application runs fine on one core, but not when the two are enabled, there is a problem with the implementation of the two cores thing. Because things HAVE TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH THE PAST. THAT IS THE PC AS WE KNOW IT. IF IT IS NOT MAYBE I WOULD BETTER START LOOKING FOR AN APPLE? And I do not care who is playing catch up with whom. AMD with Intel or Microsoft with AMD/Intel or I do not know what. I just want a PC that works, and for now, AMD folks sold me a CPU that is not working, not Microsoft. And I do not like the fact that THEY DID NOT WARNED ME.

OMG

Just because a motherboard auto selects a RAM settings doesn't make it correct!

My older (4 dimms) RAM ran over DDR400 @ 2T, & my current RAM (2 dimms) runs over DDR400 @ 1T.

You are the one who built the PC; you need to sometimes set these values correctly :roll:

It's not the hardware's fault you have no clue what you are doing.

Honestly, yes, i think you should look into buying a Dell or Mac, since you are obviously not willing to learn to run a PC :roll:

 

[imported_KuJaX]

Originally posted by: Zebo
OP- what do you mean by CPU intensive? Most apps X2 does a lot better simply because intel had to tone down way Mhz in thier dual cores due to insane power and heat. Also core communication is much slower Bus speed vs. processor speed with AMD.

What I mean is that the business system that I am referring to will be running applications which are constantly downloading new data and doing calculations and spitting it out in graphical type format.

 

[ribbon13]

Originally posted by: Dimos
Ok, once more. I DO NOT WANT TO TRY TO MAKE THE COMPUTER WORK. I WANT IT JUST TO WORK AS IT COMES. Is that so bad? Do not tell me about install things, I did a clean install of Windows XP Pro, and then I installed all the packaged drivers for Nvidia nforce, as they were suggested during the installation, and the thing killed my install and I had to reinstall!

Oh man... BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

See that thing in my sig called 'Sysprep'? Yeah, next time a driver kills your computer, boot into safe mode, uninstall it, and try rebooting. If that doesn't fix it, Sysprep your machine. Would have saved you about 45 minutes of your life.

 

[sinensis]

Question, I am thinking of picking up an X2, but I was wondering was the 4400+ worth the $100 over then 4200+ just because of the 1Mb x2 lv2 Cache vs the 512Kb x2 lv2 cache?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: sinensis
Question, I am thinking of picking up an X2, but I was wondering was the 4400+ worth the $100 over then 4200+ just because of the 1Mb x2 lv2 Cache vs the 512Kb x2 lv2 cache?

It depends on what you are running, to me the extra cache wasn't worth it, but in most cases the extra cache doesn't give enough of a boost to be worth the cost. If you are going to overclock, the 3800+ X2 usualy overclocks just as high as the 4200+ so you could save some more money that way.

 

[sinensis]

I primarily play computer games, BF2, FEAR, AoE3, NWN, etc etc. No benefit from extra cache?

 

[stevty2889]

There would be a very small benifit, mabye 1-3%, if you want more drastic improvements for games, they will only really be made by the video card. BF2 will benifit a lot more from 2gb of ram, than it ever will from cache.