best value for a dual-core solution

[mitchie]

Hi gang.

I'm looking at upgrading from a P4 2.66 GHz to a dual-core solution and am trying to get a feel for whether I should go with AMD or Intel. I do lots of gaming, and I understand that dual-core offers no gaming benefits at this time. However, I do lots of CGI, and a dual core chip would definately give me a speed boost when rendering my 3D content. I'm not looking for the fastest CPU on the block; I just want the most processing power my money can buy.

Which chipset would you guys recommend? Thanks for reading.

 

[stevty2889]

Definatly go AMD, with an NF4 chipset. I have an X2 and a pentium-d, and even at stock speeds there is no comparison, the X2 is superior. Overclocking only increases the X2's advanatage. My overclocked X2 on the stock heatsink runs at about the same temp as my Pentium-D 830 at stock speeds on water cooling..

 

[Leper Messiah]

3800+ X2.
/thread.

 

[mitchie]

Thanks for the info guys. The X2 3800+ looks to be the absolute most I could afford.


A couple more questions:

Which NF4 mobo do you recommend? I'm not an overclocker, but I do want the option of doing nVIdia SLI at some point. Is this standard with all NF4 mobos?

What kind of DDR would I need? Any chance I could use the stuff I have in my P4 rig now? I think it's DDR333.

I have this case/PSU by Antec. Would 350W be enough juice to feed an AMD dual-core?

 

[Markfw]

Don't EVEN think Pentium-D, they are slow, hot and suck power like crazy.

X2 3800+ and OC it, even on stock cooling won;t be a problem, and maybe not even any vcore change. A 350 watt antec is not enough for anything but one slow video card. My 380 Antec does fine with a 9600pro, and thats about all it can handle.

 

[Bobthelost]

You can reuse the RAM in your new build if it's AMD.

350W would be low, you'd want a 400W+ for that sort of system (without SLI, with SLI i'd want 450W for comfortblanket effect), more if you plan on overclocking.

SLI is not standard with NF4, but you can tell which ones do have it as there is a giant SLI in the title. As for which mobo to go for, have a browse on the motherboard forum FAQ, good guide to which to go for there.

 

[mitchie]

Bobthelost,

Thanks for the response. Can I get any ATX 450W power supply or is there a specific kind for AMD chipsets? I want to be able to preserve my Antec case if possible

 

[Markfw]

ANY Good quality PSU will work fine, Antec, Seasonic, PC Power and cooling.

 

[mitchie]

Will I be handicapping an X2 if use DDR1 vs DDR2? What's the fastest RAM X2 supports?

 

[Markfw]

You can;t use DDR2 with an X2, they are not compatable with the on-board memory controller, and no motherboards support it for that reason, any you wouldn;t want to, they have much higher latency.

 

[gplracer]

Look at the new review here at anandtech about overclocking an x2. Faster ram is better but the performance difference is real small. Personally I like the DFI Ultra board and the G. Skill DDR500 ram. For a power supply I am planning on getting an OCZ powerstream 520 watt ps. That power supply is great and has been used in some of the reviews here at anandtech. Granted there are cheaper solutions out there. I just know these parts will work well together.

 

[Betwon]

65nm 920(2.8G/L2 4M) is only about 246$, and it will come soon. 65nm is cool, and more easy to overclock.
X2 3800+ is about 315$, which can not outperform 920 20%. If without OC, X2 3800+ only outperform 90nm PD820 about 6-9%.

So CPU(price less than 250$) is a real value resolution.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: Betwon
65nm 920(2.8G/L2 4M) is only about 246$, and it will come soon. 65nm is cool, and more easy to overclock.
X2 3800+ is about 315$, which can not outperform 920 20%. If without OC, X2 3800+ only outperform 90nm PD820 about 6-9%.

So CPU(price less than 250$) is a real value resolution.

Would stop quoting prices from some Inquirer article ? and how to you know the OC ?

Boys, I think we may have a new troll here.

 

[Neurorelay]

 

[Betwon]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: Betwon
65nm 920(2.8G/L2 4M) is only about 246$, and it will come soon. 65nm is cool, and more easy to overclock.
X2 3800+ is about 315$, which can not outperform 920 20%. If without OC, X2 3800+ only outperform 90nm PD820 about 6-9%.

So CPU(price less than 250$) is a real value resolution.

Would stop quoting prices from some Inquirer article ? and how to you know the OC ?

Boys, I think we may have a new troll here.

Inquirer article show 65nm prelser can OC to 4.26G very easily.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: Betwon

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: Betwon
65nm 920(2.8G/L2 4M) is only about 246$, and it will come soon. 65nm is cool, and more easy to overclock.
X2 3800+ is about 315$, which can not outperform 920 20%. If without OC, X2 3800+ only outperform 90nm PD820 about 6-9%.

So CPU(price less than 250$) is a real value resolution.

Would stop quoting prices from some Inquirer article ? and how to you know the OC ?

Boys, I think we may have a new troll here.

Inquirer article show 65nm prelser can OC to 4.26G very easily.

Yeah, but it was at 91°C

 

[Betwon]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy

Originally posted by: Betwon

Originally posted by: Markfw900

Originally posted by: Betwon
65nm 920(2.8G/L2 4M) is only about 246$, and it will come soon. 65nm is cool, and more easy to overclock.
X2 3800+ is about 315$, which can not outperform 920 20%. If without OC, X2 3800+ only outperform 90nm PD820 about 6-9%.

So CPU(price less than 250$) is a real value resolution.

Would stop quoting prices from some Inquirer article ? and how to you know the OC ?

Boys, I think we may have a new troll here.

Inquirer article show 65nm prelser can OC to 4.26G very easily.

Yeah, but it was at 91°C

When using the supplied Intel stock fan, at 4.26GHz, It is enough good to show that 65nm presler can be overclocked much more easily.

 

[Markfw]

Until a site other than the Inquirerer shows it can OC, and you can buy them, and they aren;t a furnace, its all fanboy crap !!!!

Edit: And even if they can do 4.26 at 91C, by my calculations, they would have to run at 4.5 ghz to keep up with my 3800+@2550 running 41c. So they loose again (of course all of this is crap until a reputable web site can benchmark the two, but some people just like to spread FUD)

 

[canadageek]

I think we are forgetting a very important Dual Core....

OPTERON 165 FTW!
(relatively) cheap, and has a full 1mb cache per core<(3800+ has 512)

 

[mrkun]

Originally posted by: canadageek
I think we are forgetting a very important Dual Core....

OPTERON 165 FTW!
(relatively) cheap, and has a full 1mb cache per core<(3800+ has 512)

Agreed. //thread

 

[Betwon]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Until a site other than the Inquirerer shows it can OC, and you can buy them, and they aren;t a furnace, its all fanboy crap !!!!

Edit: And even if they can do 4.26 at 91C, by my calculations, they would have to run at 4.5 ghz to keep up with my 3800+@2550 running 41c. So they loose again (of course all of this is crap until a reputable web site can benchmark the two, but some people just like to spread FUD)

In the float point test, SPEC CPU2000 CFP rates_base:
At 32-bit,
PD820@2.8GHz had defeated Opteron@2.2GHz/L2 2M very easily.

Even at 64-bit, Opteron@2.0GHz/L2 2M can not win PD820(32-bit).

Presler@4.5ghz is much fast than AthlonX2@2.55G.

No one can let 3800+@2550 running 41c with the supplied AMD stock fan.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Betwon

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Until a site other than the Inquirerer shows it can OC, and you can buy them, and they aren;t a furnace, its all fanboy crap !!!!

Edit: And even if they can do 4.26 at 91C, by my calculations, they would have to run at 4.5 ghz to keep up with my 3800+@2550 running 41c. So they loose again (of course all of this is crap until a reputable web site can benchmark the two, but some people just like to spread FUD)

In the float point test, SPEC CPU2000 CFP rates_base:
At 32-bit,
PD820@2.8GHz had defeated Opteron@2.2GHz/L2 2M very easily.

Even at 64-bit, Opteron@2.0GHz/L2 2M can not win PD820(32-bit).

Presler@4.5ghz is much fast than AthlonX2@2.55G.

No one can let 3800+@2550 running 41c with the supplied AMD stock fan.

A single synthetic benchmark is hardly a comparison..especialy when you don't show any numbers yourself. I do think at around 4.4ghz, presler could be pretty competative, but my X2 4200+ at stock speeds, beats my 830D in everything, and when overclocked, the 830 only falls farther behind. My X2 runs at 51c using the stock heatsink, while overclocked, and overvolted. My 830D at stock speeds, water cooled, runs at 47c, and doesn't overclock at all. And why would you comapare the opterons running 64-bit, and not compare it to the Pentium-D running 64 bit as well, thats too big of a variable, especialy since some things have been shown to run slower in 64bit mode..and in case you weren't aware, the pentium-d does have EM64T..so unless you want to show some facts, rather than spouting on about a single synthetic benchmark that you provided no proof for, you are just gonna make yourself look foolish..

 

[Betwon]

4.26G/1.5 = 2.84G, Prelser with L2 4M is more better than PD8xx, so Prelser@4.26G is better than AthlonX2@2.8G.

With the supplied AMD stock fan, 3800+@2840 maybe smoke?

 

[Betwon]

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: Betwon

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Until a site other than the Inquirerer shows it can OC, and you can buy them, and they aren;t a furnace, its all fanboy crap !!!!

Edit: And even if they can do 4.26 at 91C, by my calculations, they would have to run at 4.5 ghz to keep up with my 3800+@2550 running 41c. So they loose again (of course all of this is crap until a reputable web site can benchmark the two, but some people just like to spread FUD)

In the float point test, SPEC CPU2000 CFP rates_base:
At 32-bit,
PD820@2.8GHz had defeated Opteron@2.2GHz/L2 2M very easily.

Even at 64-bit, Opteron@2.0GHz/L2 2M can not win PD820(32-bit).

Presler@4.5ghz is much fast than AthlonX2@2.55G.

No one can let 3800+@2550 running 41c with the supplied AMD stock fan.

A single synthetic benchmark is hardly a comparison..especialy when you don't show any numbers yourself. I do think at around 4.4ghz, presler could be pretty competative, but my X2 4200+ at stock speeds, beats my 830D in everything, and when overclocked, the 830 only falls farther behind. My X2 runs at 51c using the stock heatsink, while overclocked, and overvolted. My 830D at stock speeds, water cooled, runs at 47c, and doesn't overclock at all. And why would you comapare the opterons running 64-bit, and not compare it to the Pentium-D running 64 bit as well, thats too big of a variable, especialy since some things have been shown to run slower in 64bit mode..and in case you weren't aware, the pentium-d does have EM64T..so unless you want to show some facts, rather than spouting on about a single synthetic benchmark that you provided no proof for, you are just gonna make yourself look foolish..

To compare the performance of CPU, SPEC CPU2000 test is that better than games.

At 64-bit, the float point performance will be more powerful than 32-bit for EM64T and x86-64.

 

[Betwon]

Pentium D 820@2.8G at 32-bit 29.9
SPECfp_rate_base2000 29.9
Altos G320 (2.8 GHz Intel Pentium D 820)/4 x 1024MB ECC DDR2-667 Unbuffered SDRAM

Opteron@2000 at 64-bit only 29.4
SPECfp_rate_base2000 29.4
TYAN S2865 K8E Tomcat, AMD Opteron (TM) 170 (939-pin)@2000/ 2 cores, 1 chip, 2 cores/chip/4x512 MB, DDR400 CL2.0

Opteron@2200 at 32-bit only 28.6
SPECfp_rate_base2000 28.6
Altos G5350 (2.2GHz, Dual-Core AMD Opteron (TM) 275 , 2x1MB L2)/4 x 1024MB, DDR400 CL3 ECC