Poll: The fastest platform & motherboard?

[Jimbd]

I need to buy the fastest workstation platform and motherboard by Feb. Please do not use Xeon Cpu. P3 dual and Athlon is ok. I need the fastest memory and video subsystem. I will be multitasking and using multiple monitors. Consider 512MB of RAM atleast.

1)P4 1.4 GHz + i850(Asus P4T) + RDRAM PC800

2) P3 Dual 933Mhz + new Iwill DVD266-R or CUV4X-DLS + DDR 2100 RAM

3) P3 Dual 933Mhz + VP6 or MSI 694D Pro + SDRAM PC150

4) Athlon 1 Ghz + AMD760 chipset + DDR2100 RAM

5)Athlon 1 GHz + MSI K7T Turbo + SDRAM PC133 CAS 2

Which would be the fastest? I can upgrade the Athlon 1.2 Ghz if necessary. Please addvice on platform and motherboard.

 

[AmdEmAll]

#4 But I think it needs more time to work out bugs and things. #2!? I didnt know there was a DDR board for P3's. You have any info on that?

 

[Jimbd]

Yes,

Iwill has a P3 dual mobo DVD 266-R out in late Jan. with DDR.
Here the link for DVD266

I checked the CUV4X-DLS only does SDRAM though.

Forgot to ADD:

P3 Dual + i840 + RDRAM PC800


Thanks

 

[LXi]

I'd say dual P3 with MSI 694D Pro-R, or Tbird with K7T Turbo.

Intel based dual CPU with DDR solution is not yet out, but Im expecting VIA to follow their Apollo Pro 266 with a dual version. Or wait for dual Tbird based flatform on an AMD chipset later on.

 

[Jimbd]

LXi,

IS the dual Apollo Pro 266 with DDRlikely to be better than a dual P3 i840 board with RDRAM??

 

[Mungla]

A Thunderbird system will always be faster than the P3, due to its incredible FPU. Since you have to have this built by Feb, you won't have time to wait for Dual Thunderbird platforms. I would advise a 1.2GHz Thunderbird w/266MHz FSB + DDR. The newer Thunderbirds have a theoretical max bandwidth of 2.1GHz, which is the same for the new 2100 DDR - perfect match.

 

[toph99]

if you need a lot of memory bandwidth, i'd go with a Dual PIII 933 and PC800 RDRAM on an i840 based chipset. i don't know what the performance difference would be for bandwidth insensive tasts between RDRAM and DDR ram, but i do know that PC800 RDRAM will offer 3.2Gb/s of bandwidth, and i believe PC2100 DDR offers 2.1Gb/s of bandwidth

hope this helps a little

 

[Jimbd]

Toph99

Does bandwith here mean a fast memory performance? What about the RDRAM latency??

 

[jhalada]

Jimbd,

Since you apparently have a budget for P4 1.4 GHz, I would go for these instead

1) Athlon 1.2 GHz + AMD760 + PC-2100 DDR
2) Athlon 1.2 GHz + KT133A + PC-1333 SDR
3) Athlon 1.2 GHz + KT133 + PC-133 SDR
4) P3 1 GHz

First 2 are only slowly becoming available now, but should be available by the end of the month. With recent price reductions of PC-1600 DDR at Crucial I would also consider

5) Athlon 1.2 GHz + AMD760 + PC-1600 DDR

which is available now.

 

[Jimbd]

Jahalada

Its interesting you choose the Athlons over the P3 duals. Why??

Even for multitaking is the Athlon faster? And no one picked the P4. interesting.. Hmmm...

 

[zippy]

Jimbd, what programs in specific will you be using? Do they optimize SSE or 3dNow?

This will really impact the choice.

Right now I'd say #3. It's a shame the AMD760MP hasn't come out otherwise I'd be recommending two 1.2GHz Athlon Thunderbirds, AMD760MP, PC2100 RAM (DDR2100 is not the correct term btw ).

 

[Jimbd]

zippy,

I'll be using multiple real time data based charts. Tradestation/metastock Pro (real time), Reuters, plus excel on Win NT or Win 2000. They say these software are multithreaded but i'm not 100% sure.

 

[LXi]

Jimbd:

I would say the DDR solution is better than RDRAM solution.

 

[zippy]

Dude...you're a trader? Heheh

Well, if those programs support SMP and seem like they need bandwidth I recommend #2. RDRAM is just crap- it's sad, but it has more theoretical bandwidth that PC2100 but it doesn't deliver. The dual P3 933s are nice for SMP...<drool>

I think that is your best bet.

#1 is a rip off and it hasn't really been proven as an overall processor- it's more for gaming it seems. The Athlon (Thunderbird) has a much better FPU and you need that more than gaming for trading.

#3- well, I don't know yet. It depends how well the P3 DDR chipsets do- if it is 2-3% save yourself a few bucks and go with #3.

#4 and #5 don't have SMP which will help a good deal for your SMP capable programs and multitasking.

BTW, for a video card, go for the best 2D unless you plan on gaming on this. By best 2D I mean a G400 or a G450.

 

[Jimbd]

zippy

I love your choice of the dual athlon +760MP +DDR.

I was waiting for this 760mp platform. but since it is delayed and i can't wait that long. Besides, it should take a couple of months for ironing out the bugs and that why I have this confusion.

I don't know if these software are using SSE or 3dnow? DOes anyone know?

 

[LXi]

<<I don't know if these software are using SSE or 3dnow? DOes anyone know?>>

Most likely not, since these instructions are designed to speed up 3D games.

 

[Jimbd]

Guys

Re the video card your absolutely right I'm using a G400 now with TWO 17&quot; LG Flats and its razor sharp and rock steady at 85Hz!! I may add a g200 MMS on PCI (dual or quad). I'm wondering about PCI bandwith though?

 

[LXi]

You think PCI bandwidth will actually have an effect on 2D image? I think not, again AGP is designed to transfer large textures at faster speeds which only benefit 3D games, not 2D applications.

 

[Jimbd]

Lxi,

Thanks for your input re PCI bandwith!

I am told that I should concentrate on memory subsystem and data feed speed. so I have decided against SCSI and to go for ATA 100 IDE what do you think?

 

[LXi]

Heh... I dont think your stock progs will take advantage of the SCSI speeds anyway, taking the IDE route is smart.

 

[Jimbd]

What amount of memory sounds right? 256MB or 512 or 1 gig? Guys, I'm taking your advice here seriously so don't atake a wild guess OK?? Some real money going down here and DDR is not cheap!

So what amount od RAM??

 

[TheMasterGhost]

you might try this article , it is a little old though.

 

[Jimbd]

THeMsterGhost:

Thanks. Can you please be more specific about the article what should i look for in the aritcle??

 

[Tweakin]

I would go with #3. The PIII's will be fine at anything above 733. I'd like to try the VP6, but I think IDE Raid is a joke, wish they made the board without this feature. Drop it and buy a 80Meg LVD Tekram SCSI card. You can find them on Pricewatch for $89. Add a simple 7200 or 10K Ultra2W LVD hard drive and you will be smokin.. I'm also impressed with the AMD T-Bird 1.1 Chip, and am planning on getting one and some DDR just to play around, but as for snappy response, running multiple apps and the such, you can't beat a dual PIII system IMHO. Even if the apps are not smp capable, Win2k can and will allocate seperate threads on each processor to even out the load. I've been running my dual PIII 650E's for some time now, and I have not yet seen a single cpu machine that is as quick. Once you go dual, you will never go back...

 

[Jimbd]

The article TheMAsterGhost pointed to is interesting. Its about AnandTech - The search for perfect servers. I don't know how similiar my app needs are to say Web servers but it sure does sound similiar. Anandtech team ended up with clustered 1 Ghz Athlons with IDE versus Dual PEntium Xeons + SCSI RAId. Wow!

Need some expert input here with the new 133FSB and newer RAMs.

Also important is that with Athlon I could use the chips and DDR RAM later in the 760MP later. With the P3 i'll will be obsolete soon.

Does anyone know if 760MP is compatible with current (or new 266FSB AthlonC CPU)socket/pins. Will the 760MP support DDR ram only?

Anyone?