Dualie AMD or just a fast P4

[GGabus]

Getting ready to build a new machine, currently using a Abit Th-7II/r with a overclocked P4/1.6a. My main priority is a good DivX (Vdub) encoding speed, considering a tyan AMD dualie w/ 2.6 CPUs or a P4/800fsb overclocked 2.4c, would a Tyan based system to faster? anybody with this board (Tyan S2460) have anything good or bad to say about it?

TIA

 

[HokieESM]

Do you do anything while encoding? The dualie would be nice for that purpose. You would also need to check your encoder to see if is multi-threaded (supports multiple processors)... if not, the P4 is definitely the way to go.

Someone with more experience might want to comment... but with the benchmarks I've seen, the P4 is MUCH faster at media encoding... so you might want to dig up some benchmarks for the XP2600+ and the 2.4c and see how they compare.

If you want some dualie information, you might want to try2cpu.com.

Good luck!

 

[Intelman07]

Personally I would go with the P4. The P4 you plan to get has hyperthreading so its remotely like a dual processor system anyways. P4's do seem to look like they are faster in encoding.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

What do you mean with 2.6 Cpus for the Athlon setup?

Anyway, if your encoding program supports it, then go with the Athlon setup because that will be a whole lot faster. If you play lots of games or do things other than encoding, then the P4 is a better choice because it is better all around but obviously even with hyper threading, it won 't beat 2 cpus, but it'll still be plenty fast.

What else do you plan to do with the system?

 

[EdipisReks]

the P4 is a monster when it comes to encoding. i would choose the P4.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: EdipisReks
the P4 is a monster when it comes to encoding. i would choose the P4.

Same here but you also have to remember that if a program is designed to run on multiple processors simultanesously, then its very likely they will outperform the single cpu.

 

[OverVolt]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga

Originally posted by: EdipisReks
the P4 is a monster when it comes to encoding. i would choose the P4.

Same here but you also have to remember that if a program is designed to run on multiple processors simultanesously, then its very likely they will outperform the single cpu.

Not many of them are though

I would go with the P4, with hyperthreading, you can probably surf the net while encoding without it affecting the encoding.

 

[bgeh]

i'll get the duallie AMD
the fast p4 has HT but HT isn't exactly 2 procs in terms in performance in cpu intensive apps

 

[mastertech01]

If you plan on loading the system heavily the P4 may be your better bet. I have 4 dual Athlon machines and for general usage they are great, but under heavy loads they get VERY hot. Unless you know you can control heat within the case very well you may want to steer clear. I wouldnt overclock the P4 high either as they arent very heat tolerant at high overclock from my past experience under heavy load. Where a typical Athlon may run normally at 50C a P4 tends to have lots of problems near that temp and over.

This is just my personal experience and may not reflect for everyone. I live in a hot climate area as well.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Dualie.

 

[pay]

P4, Its alot more stable. I just recently switched to Intel and its so quiet and not to mention fast. Plus dual CPUs arent beneficial in alot of things. The new "C" version P4s are alot more bang for the buck, with an 800 Mhz FSB and HT, I see no reason so go AMD anymore.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: pay
P4, Its alot more stable. I just recently switched to Intel and its so quiet and not to mention fast. Plus dual CPUs arent beneficial in alot of things. The new "C" version P4s are alot more bang for the buck, with an 800 Mhz FSB and HT, I see no reason so go AMD anymore.

Once again, the stability myth. They are both just as stable as the supporting hardware, I hate hearing that BS. If AMD was "unstable", no one would buy them. Check out www.2cpu.com, you should almost always take duals over a single. HyperThreading really doesn't improve performance that much, anyway.

 

[GGabus]

Thanks for all the input. I have always been an Intel guy, just found the idea of a dualie somewhat interesting and pretty cheap to build. Don't really have much need for multi-tasking just the best FPS I can build for a given amount of money.

 

[sharkeeper]

Thanks for all the input. I have always been an Intel guy, just found the idea of a dualie somewhat interesting and pretty cheap to build. Don't really have much need for multi-tasking just the best FPS I can build for a given amount of money.

With HT you can pretend you have a dual CPU system!

-DAK-

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

I just recently switched to Intel and its so quiet

Aren't all processors quiet?

 

[SexyK]

GamePC comparison of MP 2200+ to a variety of P4's

Even a single old 2.8GHz P4 on a 533MHz bus beat the dual 2200+'s in media encoding. The P4 is a no brainer for your case, in my opinion.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

S2460's can't use over 1800+ or 1900+'s (don't remember which).

I have a dual duron 1.3 system with this board and it's great, but I do lots of multitasking, so that's why it's good for me. If you just want to do ONE thing at a time, and do that ONE thing really fast, then the p4 would be better. If you want to do that one thing *pretty* fast, and still have a usable system (well, as long as you disks and memory aren't taking too much of a beating ), then go with dual amd.

P4, Its alot more stable.

BS. It's crap drivers, a crap OS, or both. I've always had windows be crazily unstable on via/amd boards, yet on the same boards, NetBSD or linux ran like a champ.

 

[Viper GTS]

For anyone who's been under a rock for the last year and a half, the 760MP chipset is rock-solid - The only system I've owned that was in the same league was a BX based P3. That says a lot.

You can use CPU's faster than 1800's, but you'll have to manually unlock them. Also keep in mind that officially the chipset unly supports PC2100 & 266 FSB CPU's - Rather slow by today's standards.

If you want a lot of cheap power for applications capable of using it, dualie AMD's are great. For ordinary desktop use, and gaming, however, the P4 is better.

Viper GTS

 

[Idontcare]

Having both, I can tell you I will never go dual cpu again unless it becomes the mainstream part of the market.

Single CPU systems (representing the majority of the market) benefit from broader compatibility testing, quicker turnaround on bios and software revisions hitting the web, and faster hardware components (ram, cpu) coming out sooner rather than later.

It's simply not worth the cost in comparison to saving the cash up front, by a single cpu system now and wait 6 months, and update the CPU/video/ram or some such in your system. Performance at time zero may be better for a duallie, but in the long run your total integrated experience for the same budget will be superior with the a single-cpu system combined with hardware refreshes.

My argument is meaningless if you are willing to spend the extra money for upgrading your duallie just as often, so I'm really talking about price versus performance.

I've gone single and dual Intel, single and dual AMD, and in both cases with the dual systems I found my investments depreciated a hell of a lot faster than the single cpu systems.

Just my opinion, but one based on experience.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Idontcare
Having both, I can tell you I will never go dual cpu again unless it becomes the mainstream part of the market.

Single CPU systems (representing the majority of the market) benefit from broader compatibility testing, quicker turnaround on bios and software revisions hitting the web, and faster hardware components (ram, cpu) coming out sooner rather than later.

It's simply not worth the cost in comparison to saving the cash up front, by a single cpu system now and wait 6 months, and update the CPU/video/ram or some such in your system. Performance at time zero may be better for a duallie, but in the long run your total integrated experience for the same budget will be superior with the a single-cpu system combined with hardware refreshes.

My argument is meaningless if you are willing to spend the extra money for upgrading your duallie just as often, so I'm really talking about price versus performance.

I've gone single and dual Intel, single and dual AMD, and in both cases with the dual systems I found my investments depreciated a hell of a lot faster than the single cpu systems.

Just my opinion, but one based on experience.

The majority of the depreciation is in the CPU's, Tyan S2460's are still selling for nearly what I paid for mine 18 months ago. The CPU's, on the other hand, have plummeted - When I originally bought the board I used two 1200 MHz TBirds. Later I upgraded with two 1800+'s - $300 for the two CPU's. When I sold the set the CPU's were worth 1/3 what I had paid for them.

Overall I was impressed at how well the system held it's value, I was able to sell it & switch to a high-end P4 motherboard, CPU, and good DDR (at the peak of it's price, too) for no money out of pocket.

Viper GTS

 

[dexvx]

Just a few pointers about the Tyan board:

Tyan S2460 requires a proprietary power supply AFAIK. Its the cheapest dual AMD board out there, and the slowest performing (due to conservative memory timings). They can be had brand new for about $100, that is without the onboard SCSI, etc. Stability wise, 760MPX has met all the Q&A that you would expect from a low-end server/workstation class chipset. It is onpar with that of an Intel low-end server/workstation class chipset. You also have to remember, they are not validated (there goes the stability) for anything above MP2100+ (or was it 2200+).

 

[jm0ris0n]

I would say dual AMD.

If you want that P4 "C" and hyperthreading remember you must run windowsXP, or else your hyperthreading performance will be in the toilet.

But for me, I'd take 2x2600+ over even a P4 3.2Ghz "c" . If you are using non-P4 optimized apps, you performance will greatly favor the Athlon. Even with P4-optimized apps, a lot out there still favors the athlon. As far as stability goes...that tyan athlon combo is gonna be more stable than and P4 + non-tyan board you put together.

Its in you court, but I've been using AMD chips since 1999, and I have never had a problem with stability that wasn't VIA related (well there was a small IDE bug on the Irongate-750 chipset, but give amd a break on that one )

 

[SexyK]

You guys need to read his post.

My main priority is a good DivX (Vdub) encoding speed,

The P4 absolutely smokes even dual XP's in media encoding. It's no contest in bang for the buck and upgradeability. Single P4C is the way to go here.

 

[mastertech01]

Originally posted by: dexvx
Just a few pointers about the Tyan board:

Tyan S2460 requires a proprietary power supply AFAIK. Its the cheapest dual AMD board out there, and the slowest performing (due to conservative memory timings). They can be had brand new for about $100, that is without the onboard SCSI, etc. Stability wise, 760MPX has met all the Q&A that you would expect from a low-end server/workstation class chipset. It is onpar with that of an Intel low-end server/workstation class chipset. You also have to remember, they are not validated (there goes the stability) for anything above MP2100+ (or was it 2200+).

You are getting your boards mixed up. The S2460 is the cheaper board which used a standard ATX PSU and is not certified for over MP1900 and has an affinity to fry its 20 pin connector over time and is not even avaliable in SCSI. The Thunder K7 S2462 is avaliable both with or without SCSI, has been replaced with MPX chipset. The very earliest S2462 boards had problems but later revisions were much improved. The SCSI version still sell for around 400.00 and will run all the way up to the latest processors and requires the proprietary PSU.

There is a large number of MPX boards by a large number of manufacturers and most use a good quality ATX12V PSU or EPS12V.

 

[Cerb]

http://www.2cpu.com/Hardware/Thunder_i860/6.html

Dual 2000+ (The K7D Master-L got 5/5 CPUs from 2cpu.com) vs. dual 2.0GHz Xeons. The dual AMD clearly beats it using DivX, and slightly beats it with TMPGEnc. Note that in several revies they compare the 2.4GHz Xeons to 2100+ MPs. On top of that, XPs and MPs are pretty cheap (you can mod XPs to work as MPs), as are the mobos. However, the P4 3GHz 800MHz is quite fast, but no apples to apples comparisons for it that I know of.
Dually vs. dually, the AMD wins for encoding. Against a single faster CPU...?