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Anybody planning on building a Dually AMD Gaming rig?

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
Just thought I'd run this one up the flagpole. The flag, she is a'flyin'. Do the same with your comments/suggestions! (Uh oh, I left that a little too open-ended...but I'll leave it!)
 
I already have one... works great 🙂

Tyan board is rock solid stable, MSI 8831 Geforce2 GTS Pro vid card , 1 GB PC2100 SDRAM ECC Registered, Hercules Game Theatre sound card.. I get some audio droputs on some avis and MPEGs.. probably sound card driver issues with SMP.
Win2K Pro SP2..

 
Wow, nice rig! Thanks for the reply. Do you have the Thunder or the Tiger? Could I trouble you to post some benchies? Specifically SANDRA CPU (Alu/Fpu) and the memory bmarks? I"m curious as to 3DM2001 as well. Thanks very much.
 


<< I already have one... works great 🙂 Tyan board is rock solid stable, MSI 8831 Geforce2 GTS Pro vid card , 1 GB PC2100 SDRAM ECC Registered, Hercules Game Theatre sound card.. I get some audio droputs on some avis and MPEGs.. probably sound card driver issues with SMP. Win2K Pro SP2.. >>



i did not experience those problems when i had GTXP. i dropped that sound card due to stupid black cable for TBSC. no problems here.
 
Jhereg, how long does it take to encode divx (using codec 4, or 3.11) at a given resolution, bitrate and length of movie

uh, i would've private msged this, but someone doesn't have that feature enabled...

edit: and what procs are u using?
 
Thanks 🙂 I have the Thunder K7 S2462 with the latest BIOS.
I did the default 3DMark and got 3885 I do have the vid card tweaked a bit Core 220 Memory 250 ( sinks on the memory make all the difference)

I'll see about the Sandra stuff later
 


<< Jhereg, how long does it take to encode divx (using codec 4, or 3.11) at a given resolution, bitrate and length of movie

uh, i would've private msged this, but someone doesn't have that feature enabled...

edit: and what procs are u using? >>



Nortexoid , sorry I'm not actually doing any encoding , I do plan do start using CoolEdit for my music collection ( tons of LPs that aren't on CD).
Basically this machine is just for play .. ;-)
I'm using 2 1.2Ghz Athlon MPs with the stock CoolerMaster HSF .. my CPUs stay at about 50c .
It's fine I don't want honking big fans on this rig since I want to do audio stuff with it .
 
[
i did not experience those problems when i had GTXP. i dropped that sound card due to stupid black cable for TBSC. no problems here.[/i] >>



Maybe its a quirk due to the AMD chpiset .. dunno 🙁
 
I still really can't see the benefit of using an SMP rig for gaming. It would be great for a multi-purpose system but very few games will benefit from dual processors (might be cool if you can host and play off the same machine?).

I'd imagine that a single processor system with a top of the line video card would be all you would need

 


<< rip a DVD and encode just for nortexoid on the AT forums who's genuinely curious to know...😛 >>


If I had a DVD drive I would ..alas no DVD 🙁
 


<< I still really can't see the benefit of using an SMP rig for gaming. It would be great for a multi-purpose system but very few games will benefit from dual processors (might be cool if you can host and play off the same machine?).

I'd imagine that a single processor system with a top of the line video card would be all you would need >>



Absolutely correct, the only thing that will take advantage will be quake 3 ( which I don't intend on playing) .
My rig I use for everything , I don't plan on upgrading that much for a few years
 
If your going to go dual please do something constructive with it than post benchies and bragging rights. As for building an dually Amd rig, Naw my dually Xeon machine fits my needs. Jhereg if your planning to do some serious audio production, then you have to take a serious look into the Apple camp. The pci latency is enought to make the Winbox a no go in audio production.

Rain
 
No, MP doesn't really interest me as I'd rather buy faster MHz single processor than two slower processors. My next upgrade (6-12 months) will be a single Palomino + a DDR mobo.
 
What BFG said.

It's not there are load and loads of SMP capable games our there, in fact only Q3 and games using its engine are, and they don't show that much of an improvement once you reach decent performance.
 
I'm working on building a dually gaming rig right now. People will argue the benifits and disadvantages but I've decided it's the route I want to go mainly for stability.

Everybody complains about Q3 being the only SMP compatable game out there but fail to realise that there are more SMP optimised games on the horizon with Dronez being the first coming to mind. With dually rigs getting real cheap these days more and more (talented) developers will go the extra mile to optimise their games for SMP.
 
Hi all,
Very nice responses, gentlemen! Do you realize that this thread is 18 posts long and everyone's been so polite and intelligent! Wow! A trendsetting thread, especially based on the current trend of flambasting! LOL! I do appreciate everyone's thoughts and opinions.

As RagingGuardian said (interestingly enough, we're both from The Bronx, NYC...I just live in Texas now...no snow, ever!) the price of a Dually AMD rig is now within reach of most folks. Especially enthusiasts who don't mind spending a little extra scratch on a superior rig. I'm well aware that maybe 1% of current games are SMP-capable. But that's current games; I'm looking towards the future as well.

I have been kind of mentally trying to weigh Positives vs. Negatives of a single 1.5 Pally MP (I've read that the Desktop Pallys that are coming are MP chips) vs. a Dual-1.5 Pally. Come January I'll have the money to do either. Not like I'm gonna be rich (I wish) but the diff is only about $250, if that. I've already got the memory (512mb of Micron PC2100, collecting dust in my closet) and the videocard (GF3) for a nice rig. I guess I'll see how prices pan out over the next quarter. Thanks again. 🙂
 
I was about to post that (above), what games actually support SMP?...barely none....does not matter if the OS supports it...
 

I was about to make that point. Quake 3 is AFAIK the only "recent" game that actually supports SMP. DP (dual proc) systems are mostly there for the number-crunching apps that can actually support SMP. There's really not much point to having a DP system if all you run is games. 99% of games just don't support SMP.

Not really surprising that, since games are supposed to run on desktop systems, not servers or workstations.

So - yes, you can show off having a 2x 1400 MHz system. However, that does not a 2800 MHz system make 🙂.

"Just" adding a 2nd CPU doesn't simply double your system's speed - the OS and the applications in questions have to make use of the 2nd CPU, or there's no point to it.

Sorry to burst this (commonly dreamt of) bubble.
 
1) Going dual JUST for games is pretty much a waste of money IMHO
2) Even in normal desktop activities, a single processor will do just fine
3) Unless you're doing some extreme photoshop stuff, what do you need the extra processor for?
 
I have no intention of doing "real" audio production. I have used DigiDesign systems in the past but these days audio specific computer systems ( not PC or Apple) have a better production value.
I was only posting the scores I have and what parts I use because I was asked to
 
Hey, thanks for posting the scores, Jhereg; I appreciate it. I'll most prolly (unless my bonus is substantially bigger) go with a single Pally 1.6GHz and a nice onboard RAID KT266A mobo. For some reason (call me stupid, I don't mind:confused😉 I have a feeling that the NForce isn't going to be all that. I have no facts or figures (obviously) to back that up...it's just a gut feeling, that's all. Thanks to all for the great responses. 🙂
 
yeah i am waiting for the new AMD mps hopefully soon that will have faster clock speeds....and possibly another vendor for the mobo other then tyan that has more overclocking features....lol...well like ANY over clocking features!
 
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