Dual Opterons or Single FX for Gaming System?

[Fritz1970]

I'm evaluating motherboards for a new system, one that I hope will last about 3 years. I've generally used DFI's AMD boards, but have recently discovered the world of dual-Opteron boards.

Would a dual-Opteron (multi-core) board with 2 PCIex16 slots set up for SLI work well as a gaming platform? My thought is to buy one Opteron, a GeForce 7950 and the board, run that until it's clear I need more GPU and/or CPU power, and then buy another 7950 or Opteron. Can the boards run with only 1 CPU? Will they work well as gaming platforms? I'm a very amateur 'enthusiast,' and don't have the time or skills to overclock or watercool my systems, so it seemed to me that this might be a viable upgrade path for a powerful system.

I'm aware that dual 7950's might not do much good other than allow me to run a 30" monitor at high res and that the Opteron boards require more expensive registered memory, but I'm willing to wait and see if some benefit emerges in a year or two. I'm also willing to spend a little more now so that I have an easy upgrade path for the next couple years.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Fritz

 

[avi85]

PM Duvie, he has one

 

[Fritz1970]

Thanks! I'll check with Duvie.

Fritz

 

[Duvie]

Fritz enable in your profile the ability to receiv PMs...

here is my response to your PM

I dont game with my dual opteron setup...as it stands games dont take much advantage of 2 cores let alone 4...dont waste your money on dual dual core opterons....save for a 4mb cache conroe and the 2 best vid cards you can afford....


I personally game with my xbox 360....


My system works well for the folding I do, plus the CAD and encoding apps that can take advantage currently of ALL 4 cores...