E Opterons out.

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REMF

Member
Dec 6, 2002
141
0
0
Originally posted by: ribbon13
I can't wait!!!

I want some Abit WN-2S+ and Dual 242 Rev E action!!

i figure 2x 246's (rev E) should be a nice start, they should be cheap enough now that 3 speed grades above now exist.
 

ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
9,343
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Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Did you listen to him at all?

You need Registered Memory. THat is unregistered/unbuffered memory. It wont work.

-Kevin


I run a dual opteron with 8 sticks of CMX512RE-3200LL. I know all about what Opteron's require... Perhaps you should read the post above mine... carefully.
 

Gamingphreek

Lifer
Mar 31, 2003
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Perhaps you should have been more specific. 3200LL (Low Latency), you did not have the full number (ie the CMX512RE)

-Kevin
 

ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
9,343
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No, I WAS referring to CMX512-3200XLPRO when I said 3200XL. The Abit WN-2S+ will allow you to use plain DDR instead of registered with Opterons. That's why I said that. :p
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
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81
Looks like AMD starts leaking like crazy at ~2.6 like Intel ~3.4. I noticed this myself in "old" 90nm process. After 2600 Mhz the heat and voltage required jump considerably.

Course I don't believe AMD's numbers. They said 3200 90nm Uses 67W and xbit showed it using 32W load. :::Sigh::: who knows. Maybe we'll just have to see when they come to desktop. It's pretty easy to tell how much heat is being produced by loses when you start overclocking and if good air can handle it or not.
 

Gamingphreek

Lifer
Mar 31, 2003
11,679
0
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Originally posted by: ribbon13
No, I WAS referring to CMX512-3200XLPRO when I said 3200XL. The Abit WN-2S+ will allow you to use plain DDR instead of registered with Opterons. That's why I said that. :p

No you misunderstood it. You still need Registered memory. However BUFFERED memory is not required. 2 different things :)

-Kevin
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Originally posted by: ribbon13
No, I WAS referring to CMX512-3200XLPRO when I said 3200XL. The Abit WN-2S+ will allow you to use plain DDR instead of registered with Opterons. That's why I said that. :p

No you misunderstood it. You still need Registered memory. However BUFFERED memory is not required. 2 different things :)

-Kevin


no thier not, Registered means it put's but a request in its register as a buffer hence buffered. And no you don't need registered mem for this mobo.
 

Gamingphreek

Lifer
Mar 31, 2003
11,679
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However:

Link

Abit i guess thinks there is a difference between the two.

Also why would the boards make it any different... doesn't this have to do with the Memory Controller?

-Kevin
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
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Originally posted by: Zebo
Looks like AMD starts leaking like crazy at ~2.6 like Intel ~3.4. I noticed this myself in "old" 90nm process. After 2600 Mhz the heat and voltage required jump considerably.

Course I don't believe AMD's numbers. They said 3200 90nm Uses 67W and xbit showed it using 32W load. :::Sigh::: who knows. Maybe we'll just have to see when they come to desktop. It's pretty easy to tell how much heat is being produced by loses when you start overclocking and if good air can handle it or not.

AMD uses the maximum power consumption whereas Intel uses "typical" don't they? Which means, the maximum possible... like if EVERY single transistor was on... the Opteron x52 would use 92 watts.
 

clarkey01

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2004
3,419
1
0
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
How come the new Opteron is getting is ass kicked most of the time by the new Xeon?

I didn't think the extra cache and the faster bus could make such a difference.

I guess more than 2 CPU's might make a difference, though.

Cause Intel finally gave the Xeon what it needs... memory bandwidth.

Look for a full set on benchmarks and you'll see.

Xeon is just a prescott with more cache,the latest Opteron is pretty much identical to an FX 55 (Opteron has more HT links)

 

clarkey01

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2004
3,419
1
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Ed says and he's right that 3 Ghz wont run too cool and will chew up more volts etc, but at 2.4 Ghz, AMD is fairly on par with Intel's 3.8 Ghz and the added cache on the 6 series wont do too much.

Its not like If AMD don?t make 3 Ghz the company will break, unlike when Intel couldn?t or rather didn?t go for 4 Ghz it was seen more as a failure as they needed the extra frequency to keep competitive. The 3 Ghz which we?r all after is just a showboating event which huge pay offs in performance

Before Prescott owners points the finger at AMD for having the same problem, please recognise that they have surpassed Intel?s top desktop offering while have a far more cooler running and efficient chip. The 3 ghz milestone we?re all after is just the icing on the cake, 600 Mhz more on the Atrhlon will just make the 3.8 Ghz P4 look like a Celeron (assuming AMD release a 3 Ghz part under the 4600+ name).

With time between now and when AMD?s dual core desktop appear, its plenty of time to tweak the core, SS,SOI, to achieve better thermals and wattage etc.
 

REMF

Member
Dec 6, 2002
141
0
0
Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
However:

Link

Abit i guess thinks there is a difference between the two.

Also why would the boards make it any different... doesn't this have to do with the Memory Controller?

-Kevin

there is a good probable explanation given in the "official W8Ns+ thread" at 2cpu.com in the motherboard section of the forums.
 

AnnoyedGrunt

Senior member
Jan 31, 2004
596
25
81
One thing the overclockers article didn't discuss in detail was the difference between AMD's TDP and Intel's. When Intel says 120W TDP, they mean under "normal" use (maybe more stressful that normal, but definitely less than max power as defined by voltage X max current). AMD specs theirs with voltage X max current, so their TDP numbers seem to be higher than they would be if AMD used Intel's method.

Therefore, when overclockers is talking about 120W opterons, it is quite possible that the power would still be significantly less than a 120W prescott.

Also, for the A64 line, AMD typically used the max TDP for the fasted chip in the series, and then used that same number on all the lower chips even though they wouldn't use as much power. I think they might be chagning that a bit now, since you see differences with the CnQ numbers and the mobile "type" chips, but anyway, just an interesting tidbit.

Looking forward to these chips, but I will probably end up with a 90nm 3200+ of whatever revision is least expensive in a couple weeks.

It looks like the X800XL may finally start showing up at a reasonable price (saw the Powercolor version for $370 and newegg) and so I'll probably not be able to hold off on a new computer much longer.

-D'oh!
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: clarkey01
Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
How come the new Opteron is getting is ass kicked most of the time by the new Xeon?

I didn't think the extra cache and the faster bus could make such a difference.

I guess more than 2 CPU's might make a difference, though.

Cause Intel finally gave the Xeon what it needs... memory bandwidth.

Look for a full set on benchmarks and you'll see.

Xeon is just a prescott with more cache,the latest Opteron is pretty much identical to an FX 55 (Opteron has more HT links)

Sure... but compared to the 533 MHz FSB Xeons, there's a big difference.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,576
126
And whatever EM64T adds as well, besides 64bit I mean. Extra registers?

I think these XEON and Prescott chips with EM64T are faster than just adding extra cache.

Of course the Prescotts with the cache and EM64T are out now too.
 

clarkey01

Diamond Member
Feb 4, 2004
3,419
1
0
LTC8K6 would you elaborate on your thougts, I get the feeling your hinting that Xeons are faster then Opterons all around, and lol im not going to argue but would you add to that or back it up, hey,just for fun
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: clarkey01
LTC8K6 would you elaborate on your thougts, I get the feeling your hinting that Xeons are faster then Opterons all around, and lol im not going to argue but would you add to that or back it up, hey,just for fun

Well as mentioned, the current Xeons are Prescott based. Because of the design, performance is extremely dependant on keeping the pipeline full, which lots of memory bandwidth helps to achieve. By memory, I don't just mean system RAM... I mean L2 cache, L1 cache, and actual registers. Too slow, or too little memory will create pipeline stalls that effect CPU's with long pipelines much more than CPU's with short pipelines. So increasing the number and to some extent, the size of registers (the fastest form of memory as far as the CPU is concerned) reduces the dependency on the L1 cache, and the L2 cache, and system RAM. So it makes sense that a design that is MORE dependant on these things to perform well will benefit more by improving these things... doesn't it?
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
27,254
16,110
136
Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Also those aren't exactly Opteron friendly tests. I suspect if he did the entire benchmark sweet the Opteron would come out on top.

The Xeons are very nice chips, however, remember they consume a lot more power, which puts out a lot more heat, which makes you add more fans, which causes more noise. So there is a balance here of speed and efficiency. Also remember Intel has been scrambling to get different chips out while AMD is not releasing that many and is in no hurry.

-Kevin
Exactly ! Want a good laugh ? read the SFF PC review at Toms, where they are all 3.4 P4 or Presshots, and they are all loud and hot !

I may have to replace my 248's when they hot 3 ghz factory on air....(256's ??)

 

Amaroque

Platinum Member
Jan 2, 2005
2,178
0
0
Ed has been biased against AMD for a long time (years), in a number of his ranting's. So take what he says with a grain of salt. This may, or may not be the whole story.
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,576
126
I guess more than 2 CPU's might make a difference, though.

Since I hinted that a test with more processors would likely be won by the Opteron, I fail to see the logic in some of the replies to my posts.

I will await more reviwer's explanations of the exact reasons for the Xeon's improvements, as well as more and better reviews. The bandwidth starved argument seems like a good one though. That's why I hinted that more processors would change the results.

Since the 600 chips are out now, we can expect more comprehensive reviews of them soon as well. I hope.

 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
I guess more than 2 CPU's might make a difference, though.

Since I hinted that a test with more processors would likely be won by the Opteron, I fail to see the logic in some of the replies to my posts.

I will await more reviwer's explanations of the exact reasons for the Xeon's improvements, as well as more and better reviews. The bandwidth starved argument seems like a good one though. That's why I hinted that more processors would change the results.

Since the 600 chips are out now, we can expect more comprehensive reviews of them soon as well. I hope.

If you want more evidence of my bandwidth argument, take a P4 2.4B and compare it to a P4 2.4C with Hyper-Threading disabled. The only difference between the two will be that the 2.4C has 50% more memory bandwidth than the 2.4B.

*EDIT* Then realize that a 3.6 GHz processor will likely require even more memory bandwidth than a 2.4 since it moves data that much faster.