• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

buying a new smp box (need some expert advice)

F

FuriousGeorge

Junior Member
im gonna splurge because 1) computers are really my only healthy hobby and 2) because i use my computer for enough cpu intensive tasks that i feel i would see a significant performance to overall price benefeit (which is ubjective anyway i guess)

i use my pc to do some audio/video encoding/decoding, some video game playing, and there is always something going on in the background. whether i am using linux or windows i got the cpu-intensive eye candy turned up to the point it doesnt interefere with productivity (love alpha-shading hate windows "twirling" into minimized mode), and there are always file transfers and music playing going on. i wouldnt say i need a workstation but i am definately a "power user". plus i use gentoo linux so i spend a lot of time compiling from the source tree (i'm so cool!🙂

ive narrowed it down to the xeon vs the mp. until today i was under the impression that when you compared intels pr lable to amd's the athlons would be the overly optomistic chips. in other words i thought when comparing a xeon 2.2 to an mp 2200+ the former would stomp the latter. dont get me wrong, i am a huge amd fan, i currently run an xp 1600. then i saw benchmarks in an article on this site that showed that the mp was pr for pr stomping the xeon at a fraction (2/3) of the cost. now i want the mp 2800, but im torn.

pros: price, performance, my favorite brand

cons: no sata or pci-x support, probably ever, no agp 8x support, no options for chipset, basically a dead platform

i've heard that modern GPUs do most processing in the memory on board so there is only a small gain for 8x over 4x (but doom 3 is comming out)!

then i think about all the hype(rthreading) associated with the intel chips like 512 cache and the 533 fsb speeds and i think to myself that the xeon's cant really be slower than the mps and i havent found any benchmarks comparing the xeon 2.6 ghz (or so) to the 2800+ mp (which also has 512 cache but a 266 fsb)

i could always get a serial ata controller card or a scsi card and small hd just for my OSs

in the end i know that as soon as i but a board nvidia will release a chipset for the mp's which has everything i desire but that might be a chance i have to take. maybe i should just wait for some drivers and M$ Win XP 64 and get an opteron...

any input is appreciated
 
Welcome to the forums !

I would say based on your input (even though you have not stated a budget) that a couple of lower end Opterons on a board with PCI-X and AGP would fit your bill. The only motherboard I know of that has that is the Tyan that is about $436 (not cheap) at newegg. The cpu's are $212, $327 or $411 each (don;t think you'd want to go over that) and go from there. This is what I am considering for my next build.
 
As long you didn't give a budget i would agree with the Opteron suggestion, though you may be dealing with overkill.
 
You could also get a dual-capable Opteron board, and only get 1 processor right now. That would leave you open to pay for the 2nd at a later date and lessen the blow.

I really wouldn't reccomend the AMD MP chips, for the reason you mentioned - dead end road. At least Opterons aren't going anywhere for a while.
 
my budget is about 2500 bucks but that will have to include:
a (large) crt monitor
1gb ram
~30gb scsi 3 drive for os and prob games
~150 gb sata for mp3's video's etc
6 channel speakers
hdtv tuner/recorder
ati graphics card
sound blaster audigy pro
new mouse and keyboard

thanks for the benchmarks mloot im gonna pour over those

you guys are a bad influence i was almost set on the athlon mp now im gonna go look at opteron prices but i dont hink i can budget that
 
OK, Here is everything you listed as best as I can tell WITH Dual Opteron 244's, 19 inch crt, etc..... for $2425 Here at newegg

Edit, I shared the wish list, but it comes up empty when I test it. If you want the LONG details, I could PM you or fill the page here. Let me know.
 
mark, i appreciate the time you put in on my behalf, but after looking at the benchmarks mloot poted for me, i feel like only the 244,246,and 248 super pricey opterons are really performing at a level worth investing (relative to their 32bit counterparts) in and i cant afford that investment.

my latest idea is to jerry-rig an athlon xp.. i've been reading up on it, but i would only do it if i could use a faster chip than the 2800 currently available for the MPS. im beginning to think that is not possible do to the 333mhz fsb.
 
but then again, even if i could do that would the benefeits be nullified by the fact they wd be running at the MP's max buss speed of 266 anyway?
 
i would say it comes down to choosing between dual opteron or dual P4's with HT
the idea of a x86-64 capable chip and ecc support in the opteron would make me give the nod to it
 
Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
i would say it comes down to choosing between dual opteron or dual P4's with HT
the idea of a x86-64 capable chip and ecc support in the opteron would make me give the nod to it
Click to expand...
There is no such thing as a dual P4......

 
Originally posted by: FuriousGeorge
mark, i appreciate the time you put in on my behalf, but after looking at the benchmarks mloot poted for me, i feel like only the 244,246,and 248 super pricey opterons are really performing at a level worth investing (relative to their 32bit counterparts) in and i cant afford that investment.

my latest idea is to jerry-rig an athlon xp.. i've been reading up on it, but i would only do it if i could use a faster chip than the 2800 currently available for the MPS. im beginning to think that is not possible do to the 333mhz fsb.
Click to expand...

The system I priced WAS dual 244's at $2425 ?? Thats why I put it in there.
 
As linked above 2CPU is your friend and there are discussions about editing machine.

There are two really good boards that may fit your needs,

a) ASUS PC-DL - 2x Xeon, 8XAGP, 4 SATA, IDE100, IDE133, RAID0/1, PCI
b) Iwill DH800 - 2X Xeon, 8xAGP, 2 SATA, Dual IDE, RAID1, PCI-X & PCI

Both use the 875P chipset. On of the guys in the PC-DL official thread is running at this (with some mods, but no water cooling!):


__________________
Asus PC-DL Deluxe
P4Northwood's "ClydzDales"
2x 2.4GHZ XeonM0@3.633GHZ808FSB
1:1 Ratio
1024MB Corsair PC3200 CAS 2-2-2-5
2x IBM 18GB U160 10,000RPM
2x Seagate 80GB SATA 7200RPM 8MB
550W AntecTrue Power with POTS
ATI 9700Pro 128MB
SoundBlaster Audigy PCGamer
Click to expand...
Not that you want to overclock (MPEG-2 does not particularly like it). 🙂 But, the boards are very flexible. IWill has said they will support 800MHz when available. ASUS has not announced it, but the guys made it work.
 
marc,
forgive me for being unclear. what i mean to say was i appreciate you looking into it for me, but at the time i posted that i was leaning towards putting less into the cpu/mb and using the rest of the 2500 on better accessories/peripherals (22in flat viewsonic crt being the main one). a the time i was reading up on overclocked mobile XPs running in SMP and (as loraine brocco said in godfellas) i gotta admit it, turned me on.
funny you guys should mention 2cpu b/c i registered for that forum on the same day as this one and i have a similar (ok, identical at times) discussion over there.

Gsellis: In fact just before reading your post i posted over there:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
all it took was a few more hours of surfing and now i have a mutch better grasp on how overclocking works. i always knew it involed incrementing the bus spped, but now i can really wrap my mind around it.

one of the cons i listed for the mp was that its a dead platform. now i see this is only half true as the mobile xo is to be produced at least to a 3000+, and mpx MBs support fsb up to 200. since amd released the barton 2800 recently there is some speculation, that there may be a newer 3rd pty chipset SMP 32 bit mb comming out.

im actually kind of excited by the prospect of modding a chip. im a part time computer hobbyist (unlike a full-time i enjoy physical activity) and this is basic stuff to go with the basic coding and electronics knowledge i have. i dont get too deep into any one thing and i expect my computer to be the same way: versitile.

maybe im not as stoned as i was the first time, but i think its about a year too soon for me to go 64bit. i like bleeding edge and all but the fact is there arent even 64bit drivers for the hardware i would be buying. and the price right now is astronomical. a 32 bit xeon is still an option but it is even less apetizing now that i see i can get an smp barton athlon mb running for 450 bucks that would beat the pants off a comparable intel hookup costing 450 per cpu. (ed: i should now qualify this by saying "not overclocked)

the only thing still kinda bothering me is the lack of agp 8x support. i mean doom iii will probably supplant warcraft iii as my favorite thing about my box this comming year. i've heard it makes little to no difference as most of the work is done on the gpu itself in the mem but i want to see some benchmarks. thats what i'm gonna look into now. (long inhale)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

then i read what gellis had to say and i got turned on again

now i gotta admit im torn again

what do you guys think about 8x vs 4x agp? any big difference?

 
i just answered my own question

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040310/pcie-02.html

there is no difference at all

that leaves the only real significant (in my eyes) advantage of spending more money on the xeon is the four channel fsb. is having four channel fsb really like doubling the speed. is the ration 1:1. and if the xeon has a faster fsb and just as much cache why is the athlon mhz for mhz faster than the intel chips (i.e. the pr XX00+ are always higher than the clock speed)
 
I am looking forward to building dual Opteron OR a Socket 939, for a 64bit Linux workstation. But the real kicker for me is PCI Express support. Not necessarily for graphics, but for RAID and future upgradeability. I am sick of ye olde PCI bus!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top