Dual athlon MP's

[SHUJeff]

Since I posted my last question about the dual P3's vs the single P4, I have basically received one answer DUAL ATHLONS!!! Being as I know Jack Squat about AMD chips, could someone suggest which model I should go for. Here's a refresh on what i'll be doing: 3ds, downloading porn, photoshop, downloading porn, director, sound forge, porn, and basic wordprocessing and internet stuff until I can build another comp for the simple stuff like that. So, would something conservative like 1500's be the best bet (no, not just cause they're cheaper), or should I build a monster with dual 1800's ? (Yes, that would be very sweeeeeeeeet)

danka shoen
~Jeff

 

[skyking]

What are you using now? is it holding you up on the stuff you are doing? I have seen the tyan 2460 and (1) 1500 chip for 358$ as a combo, buy that and see how it goes. If it still holds you up for processor speed(unlikely!!), you will have saved at least 10-15$ by waiting just a few weeks on getting the second processor.

 

[SHUJeff]

What am i using now? HAHAHA ok, i guess you want a laugh. Right now my main computer is an IBM I Series Laptop...700MHz celeron w/128MB. I have no problem running any of those programs on it as long as I am not running anything else at all or "WARNING!!" 3ds takes awhile to render especially when rendering hi def jpgs, which i do quite frequently. I also have a desktop with a Cyrix MII, 256MB, soyo mobo, but I don't use it CAUSE IT SUCKS, but you probably knew that as soon as i told you it was a Cyrix. Oh yea, if you have ever heard of a Cyrix.

 

[IsOs]

Dual 1500+ will work well with what you want. You should actually be more concern about the sound card & video card if you are producing PORN for commercial distribution. Just DON'T do minors, ok. If you are only downloading the materials, then either cable modem service or DSL is mandatory.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Try it with dual 1600's - They seem to have the best "Price Point", though its only 67MHz faster than what you wanted.

 

[SHUJeff]

LOL I wouldn't be producing porn, but that was funny. And yes, i do have DSL I think it's a 768k line.

Dual 1600's sound fine to me, especially since they are about $80 cheaper (OEM) than the 1800's, and 670mhz faster than the 1500's.

Most people say that you should only buy Boxed processors, because they have the manufacturers warrantee which is always the best one. Do you agree or think that it doesn't matter between OEM and Boxed?

 

[yodayoda]

if you want to save a few bucks, you can get a pair of XPs and use them in a dual system--they work 100% with no problems at all. only real difference: MPs are factory unlocked while XPs are locked like a mother. if you want to go REALLY cheap, get a pair of Duron 1 GHz chips. they are $60, so $120 for a pair, but they have the new Morgan core which is MP compliant, are easy to unlock and OC to 1.2 GHz, and give some pretty darn good performance.

 

[SHUJeff]

Thanks for the suggestion of the Duron's but it doesn't look like i'll have to be so concearned with my extremely limited budget anymore. As soon as I told my parents that I would be attempting to build my own computer, they were more than happy. I think they were just happy with the thought of me putting what is left of my brain to some good use, other than failing courses at school. Being as Christmas is coming up it looks like i'm going to have to hit them up for boxed 1600's if not 1800's. BTW, does would 1800s be worth the extra money performance wise? Anyone...Anyone...Bueler...Bueler?

 

[DSTA]

Hm, I would not worry too much about what CPUs to put in there. As long as it's either a Morgan core Duron or a Palomino core Athlon, you'll be fine. XPs with 1400 MHz are plenty fast, i.e. a single one of them would be very close to the P4 you thought about.

IMO it's better to spend money on the quality of other parts. If you have to cut corners to afford two fast CPUs you'll not be happy:

Retail CPUs are good because of the warranty, and the stock cooler provides adequate cooling - but two of them might prove a bit noisy. So you might want to leave some $$ on the side in case you need to get better HSFs.

Also you'll want a case with good airflow and a good PSU. Not a good idea to cram this board and two Athlons in the cheapest available mini tower.

Then there is the need for registered RAM - tyan has a compatibility list (note the absence of the popular Crucials). Two sticks of 512 MByte single bank Corsairs will cost around 360 US.

Edit: this is of course assuming that you want to use the S2460 aka Tiger MP, which is the cheaper of the two currently available Athlon dual boards. Others boards from different manufacturers are just around the corner - so it might even be a good idea to wait a while (it's difficult, I know ).

 

[SHUJeff]

The S2460 Tiger is the board that I was looking at. That other Dual athlon board is just too expensive, and I would rather buy my own vid card anyway. It doesn't really seem like it matters much on which chips I get...it's going to be blazingly fast anyway even with 1400's so I guess that's just dependant on how much I feel like spending.

I'm not sure which cases are of good quality and such. Not to mention which ones will supply enough power for the board with 2 chips and all the cooling i'll need. Being as this comp will be about 10 ft from my bed i'm going to need something that is as silent as they come. I was planning on two 512 chips anyway, but what's the difference between registered and non?

 

[DSTA]

I'm not sure which cases are of good quality and such. Not to mention which ones will supply enough power for the board with 2 chips and all the cooling i'll need. Being as this comp will be about 10 ft from my bed i'm going to need something that is as silent as they come. I was planning on two 512 chips anyway, but what's the difference between registered and non?

Look around the forums here to get some idea on silent cooling and good PSUs and cases. Then there is the superb FAQ, which also explains the question about reg. vs non reg. RAM. Note that the S2460 needs reg. RAM.

Another great resource for all things dual: the forums at 2CPU. Quite a few S2460 users there.