Dual Opteron or Athlon 64?

[SimonR]

Hi,

I'm going to replace my PC (an ageing P4 1.3 GHz) with a new system. I would like to go with a 64 bit system that I will use primarily for Photoshop, RAW conversions, video editing, web site design and some office tools (Word, Powerpoint mostly). I don't do any gaming on my PC - that's what my xBox is for - but fast, high quality 2D graphics will be important for photo/video editing.

I'm considering switching to a dual PowerMac G5, but if I get a PC-based systyem would I be better off with:

- a dual Opteron system; or
- wait for the socket 939 Athlon 64's to come out and go for one of those; or
- go for a socket 940 Athlon 64 FX 53?

I plan on putting together a powerful system with plenty of RAM, hard drives etc.

Could someone with more knowledge than me please explain the relative pro's and con's of Athlon v Opteron (and Athlon v Opteron v G5, if you're game ! ) Other than the fact that one system is multi-processor & the other isn't, I'm not too sure what the critical differences are or which way I should go.

Cheers,
Simon

 

[Vette73]

For what you are doing a Dual Opteron system would suit you best.

If you can afford it get a Opteron board with dual banks of memory, so each cpu has its own path to the ram. They cost more but tyan makes some good ones.

 

[mamisano]

IBM just started selling a new Workstation with Dual Opterons and Quadro based graphics...might want to check em out if you don't build your own

 

[SimonR]

Thanks for the replies!

Cheers,
Simon