to xeon or not to xeon....

[dtoff]

i have AMD 900mhz in my server now but i build up a linux box and it turns out the MoBo won't run red hat... so i sold it and now i'm thinking about moving my AMD to the linux box and running dual xeons in the server. my server (running windows 2000 server) is an internet gateway/gaming server/file server and has my ide raid 5 in it (i do video editing so i might try using it as the capture point for my digital video but that not super important)

i am getting a ok deal on a dual xeon board but i don't know which procesors i should go for... i can get some P2 xeons 450Mhz with 1 or 2 meg cache (i have to find out if the 2 mb have the same steping code)

is there a huge differance with P2 xeons and P3 xeons??? is this still going to be as powerfull as my amd 900???

p.s. the amd 900 was fine i never taxed it.

any advice???

 

[Mingon]

The p3 xeons after 700 mhz where just p3 coppermines in the slot 2 package, personally if you must go dual P3 what about the tualatins i am not sure but they might work.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Yeah, and if you do choose to go Dual Tualies you can squeeze it into a 1U rackmount. Don't even remind me how cool they look out of a rack, by itself on a desk. But the higher speed P3 with the extra cache will do pretty well, though an Athlon MP based setup will do probably better. Its not much leeway putting dual Athlons in a cramped thing like a 1U chasis.

The extra cache will defenately help, I would seriously get the 2Meg cache though. But remember that they are stuck on the 100MHz bus, except for the higher P3's on the 133MHz bus, which are an arm, 2 legs, and a kidney ($~1500-9000/each) to get into your hands (Only the 2MB cache versions), then you have to worry about matching steppings. Remember when people disabled their L2 Cache when trying to get really high speeds overclocking? They probably suffered a ~200MHz performance decrease. And thats only with 512KB. Imagine if you had the full 2Megs of cache and its actually enabled. You will defenately notice a great performance increase than its non-xeon counterparts.

 

[Mingon]

The mobile/server tualatins have 512kb of cache, seems like a decent chip. Here is the intel xeon pIII spec sheet, looks like their is some 2mb pIII 900mhz or you go with the 700mhz and below for more than 256kb of cache. The tualatins info Here show a 1.26 ghz part with 512kb of cache. Perhaps the biggest consideration is heat, 2 of the topspec tualatins produce the same heat as one of the PIII xeons.