SLI dual nVidia cards...AMD64 or Dual Intels?

[ReinhardHeydrich]

Hi guys

I am about to build a new gaming PC with a pair of nVidia video cards set up for SLI. I like the nForce4 chipset, but it is a single processor Athlon 64 FX, whereas the Tumwater can run dual Xeon Noconas.

Does anybody know what will be better for gaming? I'd like dual processors, but I have heard that SLI works alot better on nForce4.

Thanks

 

[BW86]

If your going to game get an amd64

If you want dual nvidia cards your going to have to wait till sli motherboard to come out

 

[gobucks]

If you want dual noconas, it MIGHT be a tad faster, simply due to using 2 CPUs, but it's gonna cost like $6000 for a system (hell, alienware's SLI Xeon system costs $6000, and it only uses a SINGLE Xeon!), as opposed to probably around $3000 for an FX-55 SLI system. The FX is simply better suited to gaming, so it will rip any comparable system to shreds. Also, if dual is really a huge issue for you, Tyan is making a dual opteron NF4 SLI mobo to be released soon.

Anyways, my recommendation is for the FX, and wait a week or 2 for the Asus NF4 SLI board, which is already on preorder in europe.

 

[mdahc]

Athlon64/Opteron. No question from a price/performance standpoint. If you really want dual processors and SLI going and are willing to spend the $, wait for the IWILL DK8ES or this Tyan Dual Opteron board (the one in the center, of course) to be released.

 

[w00t]

if u wont dual processors get this and have sli
http://my.so-net.net.tw/brandon640410/NF41/004.JPG
the middle one

but dual processors is not really good for gaming

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: w00t
but dual processors is not really good for gaming

That isn't necessarily true. It will make for a poor value and the ram is slower, but if looking to game it up but still have the workstation and server advantages duallys offer, then a Opteron is a very capable gamer. If you have any performance trouble with a particular title due to load balancing you can use a utility to assign it to run on 1 CPU.

 

[ReinhardHeydrich]

Thanks guys! Those dual Opteron boards look awesome. I hope they are available soon. Anyone know when they are available? They look like the perfect solution. If they aren't out for a while, I will be forced to get an A8N-SLI Deluxe.

 

[mdahc]

You'll probably see them within the first month or two of next year or so. No matter which way you go, definitely wait until you've seen reviews of a stable SLI driver. Hexus.net just put out a review of the A8N-SLI in which the reviewer was experiencing some pretty unstable driver-related issues.

 

[Mrvile]

Seriously, Reinhard, what will you be using this computer for? I used to dream about having a dual-CPU system, but if you're only going to be gaming and maybe burning a few CDs and DVDs, maybe listening to some music, a single FX will tear dual-CPU up pretty badly. Dual-CPU is only for graphic rendering, video editing, extreme multitasking, or large game-servers.

 

[ReinhardHeydrich]

I am going to use it for gaming 90% of the time. You think dual Opterons would be slower than a single 64 FX when gaming? I know most games aren't multi-processor aware, but I thought that one CPU could handle the OS and background stuff, and the other CPU could be entirely used for the game.

 

[gobucks]

I have to agree with Mrvile. Is there anything in particular that you need 2 CPUs for, or does it just sound cool to you? Because for gaming and general things home users use their PCs for, the dual CPU is gonna just add cost without much value. Dual Opterons might net you a slight advantage over a single CPU, but keep in mind that 1) the fastest opteron, the 250, costs the same as the FX-55, and that's just for 1 of them, 2) The opteron requires Registered RAM, which adds substantial cost and latency to the system, 3) the 250 is 200MHz slower than the FX-55, and cannot overclock much (they have locked multipliers and little FSB headroom due to registered RAM requirement), while the FX-55 can hit 2.8GHz. So, it's likely that you could get better performance out of a single FX-55, especially when overclocked and running low latency ram, than you could with dual Opterons (or Xeons for that matter). Save your money, get a socket 939 CPU, go with a good nForce4, good memory (hell, you could probably go ahead and get 2GB of low-latency memory, considering all the cash you saved), and good video card, or cards if you prefer, although it might make more sense to just buy one now and get another one when they are cheap.

Oh, yeah, one other tidbit of info - socket 939 will be compatible with the dual core CPUs released next year, so if you really like the multi-processor idea, you can pop a dual core FX into your system in a year or so.

 

[gobucks]

BTW, I don't want to sound like too much of a downer, but have you ever thought of saving some money and just buying a cheap, upgradeable PC, rather than shelling out more cash than I did on my new car? If you were, say, to go out and buy:

3000+ (socket 939) - $150
NF4 Ultra - $150
1GB Crucial Ballistix - $250
decent SATA HD - $100
6600GT - $180
etc.

You'd only be out a little less than $850, and you'd have a platform to upgrade on in the future, like adding memory, a dual core CPU, and a faster video card. Also, the 3000+ can overclock to FX-55 speeds, so at least in that area, you'd save around $700 for virtually no loss in performance. Personally, I'd never spend $6000+ on a PC, considering I could gut and upgrade my PC like 6 times for that price, and it would probably be faster by about the second upgrade cycle, anyways. After all, a $150 Xbox can basically do what your computer would be doing, i hardly see reason to spend 40 times that unless it's 40 times better.

 

[Mrvile]

I was just talkin to a friend about dual-core CPUs and SLI and all this stuff. Basically if you are willing to shell out some cash for a computer eventually, you should get a lower end one now (like the setup gobucks has), and by the time dual-core FXs and stuff come out next year you can go all out, buy a dual-core FX, buy two awesome PCI-e cards for SLI, and you won't be throwing away that much money (only about 300 bucks).

 

[dklingen]

Dual core is a complete waste if you are going to game "90% of the time". The OS and appications (games) do not take advantage of dual core performance at all (currently-it will be at least a year). I would even speculate that the game(s) will run noticeably slower because the dual-CPUs will be running at a lower frequency then a single Athlon64 and you will pay a fortune for that privilage.

With the latest video cards, the current hardware is WAY ahead of the software unless your goal is to play at 1600x1200 4aa/8af. In that case, you would be better off to pursue SLI.

 

[dklingen]

In case you skipped over it, the link http://Hexus.net/ is worth looking at if you are interested in SLI. Nice find mdahc!

 

[gobucks]

I agree with dklingen, but I do think that software will start to be written to take much better advantage of dual core, and I think that Intel's hyperthreading has gotten a lot of that work underway before dual core hits. I think that by the time dual CPUs can be used effectively by most software, dual core will be pretty established, which means it would be the perfect upgrade for you, if, say, you had a 3000+ or 3200+ that's getting a bit long in the tooth.

 

[TheStigma]

I agree with the majority here. Dual-CPU is a complete waste of money for a gaming rig. unless you have a habit of having several CPU-intensive tasks running in the background while you game (can't immagine any reason for doing that), there is no benefit for gaming by using 2 CPUs. programs have to be written spesificly to take advantage of 2 CPUs, or otherwise you can only have max 1 CPU on any single process.

You will likely get a faster gaming PC overall from a single FX, (or, I recommend, a high-end normal A64, because of the price vs. difference in performance). While the second CPU in the dual system could handle the OS processes "for free" while you game, remember that OS background processes normally dont even take a single % of the availiable CPU cycles whiel idle. Thus, the A64's proven advantage in games would be a much much bigger impact on total framerate.

Hope this was helpful =)
-Stigma

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
I was just talkin to a friend about dual-core CPUs and SLI and all this stuff. Basically if you are willing to shell out some cash for a computer eventually, you should get a lower end one now (like the setup gobucks has), and by the time dual-core FXs and stuff come out next year you can go all out, buy a dual-core FX, buy two awesome PCI-e cards for SLI, and you won't be throwing away that much money (only about 300 bucks).

get the 3500right now with a nf4 board get sli when the dual core comes out u get the new dual core. and u will have enought money cause u only bought a 3500.also u could oc the 3500 to 2.5 maybe i dont know i dont oc yet ask someone good with that.

your system would be like this
nf4
3500 waiting for dual core
guessing u are going with 6800ultra put on sli

than when dual core comes out swap cpu and sell 3500.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: w00t
if u wont dual processors get this and have sli
http://my.so-net.net.tw/brandon640410/NF41/004.JPG
the middle one

but dual processors is not really good for gaming

Looks like onboard SCSI... that board will cost over $600... lol.

 

[gobucks]

I agree somewhat with w00t, but the 3500 is unecessary, if you are gonna overclock. The 3000+ can overclock just as high as the 3500+, and will actually perform better at those speeds, since it will be using faster memory. It's on sale at pricewatch for $140, or about half the price of a 3500+. Other than that, though, he's right. A low end A64 on NF4 SLI would create a great upgrade path to dual core and SLI in the future when they are economically viable as well as being much more useful (expect software to become increasingly multiheaded to take advantage of the proliferation of multicore CPUs).

 

[pxnspd]

w00t's idea of the 3500, brilliant... I'm saving up for a near enough whole new system, I'm not gonna spend a whole lot on it... but the basis is
an MSI PCIe Neo4
AMD 64 3500
and an ATI X800 XTPE.
It will run well on all current games, and will last at least a couple of years. I recomend the 3500 because it IS a lot better than the 3000, 3200 and the 3400 but is not a whole lot more expensive than them... although the model up (the 3700) is over double the price of the 3500.
So in answer to the first question I say... Don't get either, no SLi or Dual CPUs.

 

[ReinhardHeydrich]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Saving money or getting a good value is not important to me though. I just want the best PC I can get, with cost not being a factor.