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Should I wait for dual-core AMDs?

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Duvie

Elite Member
Feb 5, 2001
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Originally posted by: flyswatter
Originally posted by: Duvie
Originally posted by: kini62
Yeah you could get an Athlon 64 now, but then you'd be in the same boat your in now as far as video encoding and multi-tasking. The system below isn't much faster at encoding than the XP2400 it replaced. It also isn't much better at multi-tasking either. I didn't want to wait. This system went back and now I'm getting a Dell XPS P4 3.6 with an ATI X850XT PE for the same money. I needed a system to what I want it to do- now, not 6 months down the road.

That said, currently the socket 939 seems to have the best upgrade path. Although Intel says there dual cores will use Socket 775, but a different chip set. Don't know if you can change or upgrade the chipset on a MB or not. It might be the same with AMD, it might be socket 939, but require a different chipset.


You must have seomthing messed up then...No way should a xp2400+ be about the samea sa 3500+ in encoding...look at any review around and that doesn't happen...Either you are using an extremely poor program, one that is not optimized fro SSE2 (which A64 has), or dont know what you are doing....


I agree this one I have isn't as fast as my p4 at 3.5ghz in encoding but it is close in some apps and I have ran a barton 3200+ and it wasn't near my 3.5ghz.....so lets keep a real world perspective here.....

I am admitting one of the more vocal ppl for still getting p4s for users wanting to do these apps and multitasking, but I cant allow you to spread false misconceptions...

It all depends what software you are using to encode. Some are optimized for Intel. I know my OC'd Athlon 64 (939) 2.6GHZ destroys my P4 3.2E on some encoding software while the 3.2E beats my A64 on others. Hyperthreading is all hype and a marketing ploy from intel.



Except he is comparing amd chips...that ius what I am talking about...the A64 should do better then the xp2400+ even in apps not SSE2 optimized...With SSE2 they could gain even more....

Please read and comprehend next time....
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
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No you should wait for Intel dual core since AMD won't make them before x-mas IMO.
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
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81
Screw dual core..

Persoanlly I'm buying a couple 242's and OC them with ABIT NF4 wn-2s+. I predict dual FX-55's level for 700 bones, cpu's and mobo. As an added bonus I get to use fast and cheap unbuffered mem.

Dual cores will NOT be overclocker friendly due to power and cooling gradients over such a small area.
 

Duvie

Elite Member
Feb 5, 2001
16,215
0
71
Originally posted by: Zebo
Screw dual core..

Persoanlly I'm buying a couple 242's and OC them with ABIT NF4 wn-2s+. I predict dual FX-55's level for 700 bones, cpu's and mobo. As an added bonus I get to use fast and cheap unbuffered mem.

Dual cores will NOT be overclocker friendly due to power and cooling gradients over such a small area.

When is that board going to be out Zeb!!!
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
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I've eamil ABIT 4x now.. still no reply.. They are seriously pissing me off.:|
 

Duvie

Elite Member
Feb 5, 2001
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Paper lauuches??? They should not even show it unless they are a week away from actually delivering to some vendors....
 

ribbon13

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2005
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I wonder if you could run a single core and a dual core on the same board? The hyperlink is the same regardless.
 

Aenslead

Golden Member
Sep 9, 2001
1,256
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2Gb of RAM is overkill. 1Gb is plenty. Try using quality modules, ones that can do DDR400 speeds at 2-2-2-6 timings. Crucial has the BalistiX series, I beleive.

Also, I insist on rather investing on a RAID setup. Mirroring + Striping, and yes you should go with a DFI w/nForce 4, or, if you really are serious and don't plan on overclocking, then a Tyan would suit you best.

cheers.
 

absinthe

Senior member
Apr 13, 2000
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Originally posted by: Aenslead
2Gb of RAM is overkill. 1Gb is plenty. Try using quality modules, ones that can do DDR400 speeds at 2-2-2-6 timings. Crucial has the BalistiX series, I beleive.

Also, I insist on rather investing on a RAID setup. Mirroring + Striping, and yes you should go with a DFI w/nForce 4, or, if you really are serious and don't plan on overclocking, then a Tyan would suit you best.
Aenslead,

So you believe 1 GB is enough? Do you think it makes a difference whether I buy one 1-GB stick or two 512s? (seems like most people buy 512s).

You will have to tell me more about a RAID setup. I always thought that the purpose of RAID was for data backup/security, not computing speed.

Also, why a Tyan board?

-abs

 

REMF

Member
Dec 6, 2002
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Originally posted by: Zebo
Screw dual core..

Persoanlly I'm buying a couple 242's and OC them with ABIT NF4 wn-2s+. I predict dual FX-55's level for 700 bones, cpu's and mobo. As an added bonus I get to use fast and cheap unbuffered mem.

Dual cores will NOT be overclocker friendly due to power and cooling gradients over such a small area.
apparently abit won't sell this board in europe. :( what are abit thinking of?!?!

the new rev-E Opteron 252's are due to be released any day.

what i would like to know is whether AMD will release lower speed rev-E Opterons........?

a workstation made with:

1x Abit dual CPU nForce Pro board
2x Opteron 246 (rev E)
4x 512MB PC3200 cas2
3x 400GB Maxtor10 NCQ drives (2x Raid1 + 1x hot-spare)
2x 6800GT PCI-E cards in SLI
1x 24" Dell 2405FP
1x 6600 PCI-E-1x card
2x 20" Dell 2001FP

would be a stunning machine.
 

gobucks

Golden Member
Oct 22, 2004
1,166
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there is some evidence that rev E0 is coming - the new Opteron 252, due out this week i believe, is a 90nm part with 1GHz HTT and SSE3. Considering it's running at 2.6GHz, I imagine all the socket 939 chips will be takin the same transition very soon, and it's probably worth waiting for. Hell, they might even announce the new parts along with the price cuts on the 16th, but it's more likely the price cuts will attempt to sell off excess inventory before the rev E0 parts.

As for upgradeability, I'd say that crucial Ballistix would be a wise investment - just make sure you grab 1GB sticks, since that will let you run tighter 1T timings and give you more room for upgrading. In fact, there isn't much of a price premium for them - 1GB sticks of PC4000 run $250, versus $125 for 512MB sticks. Also, if you buy a pair and apply the BLXDISCOUNT code from crucial's site, you get 4% off, bringing the total to like $475 or something.
 

miketheidiot

Lifer
Sep 3, 2004
11,060
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Originally posted by: Zebo
Dual cores will NOT be overclocker friendly due to power and cooling gradients over such a small area.

it will still be puting out much less power than a p4e, and will have a larger die-size. People are having reasonable success OCing prescots, so i don't see why amd would have a problem OCing.

 

SilverBack

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,622
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My 2 cents
I have 2 FX53 systems now... a 940 pin and a 939.
I've been watching Abit for thier new WN-2S+ motherboard

The WN-2S+ supports the latest NVidia® SLI technology on a Dual AMD OpteronTM platform, it offers a flexibility of running either a single graphics card or twin boards to enhance the 3D graphics performance.

What's nice about this board is it will also support the dual core Opterons when they come out. 4 cpu's on a motherboard. ewww Makes me shiver ;)
It also uses regular unbuffered dram. Very interesting.

This board gives a huge upgrade path over current motherboards. Possible SLI and 4 cpu's would give this board a very long life.

A picture of the board.

The one draw back for many is the lack of PCI slots, but the board has a very nice set of integrated features.

I'll be moving to this board when available with my FX 53 940 pin and an eVga 6800 Ultra PCI-E video card when it comes out. Then all I have to do is wait on the dual cores and start adding to the system.

My hopes for the system would be two dual core cpu's and another 6800 Ultra for SLI goodness by the end of the year.

 

caz67

Golden Member
Jan 4, 2004
1,369
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Dual core P4's and 955 chipset.. The new Intel's should give AMD a real run for their money..
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Ya Siverback, so long as you have a GC FX it'll work.. you could prolly pick up another cheap too.

Personally I'm going for two 242's..I'm cheap that way.:D
 

SilverBack

Golden Member
Oct 10, 1999
1,622
0
0
Originally posted by: Zebo
Ya Siverback, so long as you have a GC FX it'll work.. you could prolly pick up another cheap too.

Personally I'm going for two 242's..I'm cheap that way.:D

Ok you have me interested, I didn't think that the FX's would work in a dual system....
You have any linkage?