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Which processor to choose?

N

Novercalis

Senior member
Alright, im going primary Video Editing with Secondary Video Gaming.
I dont know how to OC, dont know if its easy or not so I doubt I will bother with it.
So in the end.. What kind of Prcoessor should I look for?

Something that will handle my Video Editing, Rendering, Also multitasking Photoshop/Editing
photoshop/Maya.
Im using Avid Pro.

----------------

I need something Powerful yet fast.
Give me the high end process + price please
the overall almost highend proc + price please
and the typical budget proc and its price.

I really cant throw down my budget so im open to the high price vs mid vs low price.

Oh yeah, NO INTEL! I HATE INTEL!
 
okay from the X2 series.. what are my choices?
which one is the cheapest one?
which one is the mid range?
which one is the high end?
which is the best OC'ing?

sry for the barrages of questions.

im trying to figure out how to build my rig so im starting off deciding on processor.
hence the following questions so I can figure out my top 3 choices and my budget.
 
Choices for X2:
X2 3800+ cheapeast, just came out, not widely available, 2ghz 2x512k cache
X2 4200+ 2.2ghz 2x512k cache,
X2 4400+ 2.2ghz 2x1mb cache
X2 4600+ 2.4ghz 2x512k cache very expensive
X2 4800+ 2.4ghz 2x1mb cache extremely expensive

Not sure how much of a differance the cache size will make for the apps you run, but the 4200 or 4400 should be good choices. I just got the 4200+, which I currently have running at 2.475ghz(225x11). Been running 2 instances of prime95 for about 14hours now at that speed, seems to be nice and stable, stock AMD heatsink, 1.45v, 51c max load temp.
 
whats the price difference on 3800 4400 4800 please.
also, the 4400, whats the code name?

nvm.. I just saw the prices.. OMFG... 4200 is affordable at the momment.
my new question than is:
how long will it take for the prices to drop?

also, I saw a amd proc over $1,000, FX-57... what is that?
whats the difference between that and X2?
 
Originally posted by: Novercalis
whats the price difference on 3800 4400 4800 please.
also, the 4400, whats the code name?

nvm.. I just saw the prices.. OMFG... 4200 is affordable at the momment.
my new question than is:
how long will it take for the prices to drop?

also, I saw a amd proc over $1,000, FX-57... what is that?
whats the difference between that and X2?
Click to expand...


FX is single core with an unlocked multiplier.(means great overclockng capabilities)
It is the fastest single core CPU money can buy,
I don't know when the prices will drop.
 
If you really don't want to bother with overclocking, buy the 4200 or 4400 retail box kit. Just make sure you have at least 2 gigs of ram for Avid pro.
 
You want the fastest X2 your money can buy. Because of the high rendering nature of your apps, and the fact that most of them will utilize multi-threads, the faster the better.
You will also want to spend money on a large amount of Ram...
Since you are a gamer as well, you will need an expensive video card as well.

There is NO sunshine for you...🙁
 
yeah Rams im looking at OCZ although I have always been a Crosair.
Nonetheless, wether its OCZ or Crosair, its going to be
2x1gig DDR2 pc3200 registered RAM.

Video Card I cant decide yet... waitign for the next one to pop out, and see the benchmark results. (also the price drops when it comes out)
 
You can only use registered ram on Opterons, you have to buy unregistered for A64s/X2s, though you can still use ECC if you need it.
 
Originally posted by: Novercalis
whats the price difference on 3800 4400 4800 please.
also, the 4400, whats the code name?

nvm.. I just saw the prices.. OMFG... 4200 is affordable at the momment.
my new question than is:
how long will it take for the prices to drop?

also, I saw a amd proc over $1,000, FX-57... what is that?
whats the difference between that and X2?
Click to expand...


AMD just let the new X2 3800+ out and did a series of price drops... it would say 3 months befor a "major" price drop happens... between then prices will probably trickle down a little
 
okay so none of the X2 series I could use DDR2?...
with ddr2, granted I wont see much of a difference but trying to secure myself with the next upgrade in a year or so.
im okay with unbuffered ram.
 
Originally posted by: Novercalis
okay so none of the X2 series I could use DDR2?...
with ddr2, granted I wont see much of a difference but trying to secure myself with the next upgrade in a year or so.
im okay with unbuffered ram.
Click to expand...

That is correct. DDR2 has a higher clockspeed but higher latency as well...so until the clockspeed hits ~667 MHz on it, it will actually run slower on an AMD system.
Next year, the M2 sockets will be coming out, and 667MHz DDR2 should be mainstream.
One other thing to note, the new AMD processors will actually run DDR 500 unbuffered as well...
 
Unfortunately you are chosing to jump into the A64-fray just as AMD is preparing to move onto DDR2.

I would, personally, grab two of these:
Patriot 1GB 184-Pin 2-3-2-5 PC3200 DDR SDRAM

Here's my take the CPUs:

Since I believe that the benefit of having 1MB of cache per core is negligible using video editing/encoding apps, I'd say you should get either the 4600+, the 4200+ or the 3800+ (especially considering the fact that the 4400+ and 4800+ are somewhat supply-limited).

At Zipzoomfly:

The X2 4600+ is $700

The X2 4200+ is $487

At Monarch the X2 4200+ is $487 as well but there's no tax to california (heh)

All these include free shipping.

The 3800+ is $388 at Mwave. (you can find it for like $408 at Monarch, but I'd rather pay taxes to my county than support monarch's price gouging).
 
but the 4400 is still the better choice unless i find a 4600 at 500ish w/ mir

my cost estimate so far seems:

500 for a cpu
450 for a LCD monitor
225 for 2xgig ram
unknown on video card prices
unknown on mobo prices
75 on case
50 on mouse
unknown on PSU
Unknown on HDD
possible sound card (depending on mobo)

so far: 1,300 im spending. so its seems im going into $2000 rig... as long its half the price of the G5 im okay with it.
seems I will wait a bit longer, 2 months for decent price drops
 
I'm trying to put together a machine primarily for photoshop and premiere. After reading more and more forums & threads, I've become more confused about the best processor choice. Would it be better to run dual socket opterons than one X2 (can't afford two X2's). I was planning on getting a tyan motherboard (either model s2875 or s2885). What are your thoughts on this?
 
You cannot use X2s in multi-processor systems. Opterons use socket 940, X2s use socket 939. I would only go dual socket opterons if you actually plan on upgrading later on. A Socket 939 X2 will outperform Two opterons running at the same clock speed most of the time and it will be somewhat cheaper, as well.

Let me explain this in an easier to understand way:

Socket 939:

Get an X2 now but dont expect much of an upgrade path. I'd expect maybe one or two more speed grades to be released for socket 939 X2s (so that would be 2.6 or 2.8 GHz tops, though I'd bet on 2.6).

Socket 940:

Get dual single-core opterons now and upgrade to dual dual-core later on. Dual-core CPUs are EXPENSIVE AS HELL, will probably remain expensive until Intel releases cheap dual cores to compete with dual-core Opterons. Requires registered ram, which is more expensive (but of course). The dual socket motherboard is more expensive (fancy that).

I'd personally go for socket 939 since the system will probably end up being cheaper anyway. If later on you want to upgrade you can upgrade to whatever is the high-end at the time, you wont feel that you have to use socket 940 CPUs
 
Originally posted by: michaelstatham
I'm trying to put together a machine primarily for photoshop and premiere. After reading more and more forums & threads, I've become more confused about the best processor choice. Would it be better to run dual socket opterons than one X2 (can't afford two X2's). I was planning on getting a tyan motherboard (either model s2875 or s2885). What are your thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

Get a dual socket Opteron system, but only populate one of the sockets with a single dualcore Opteron...that way you can upgrade down the track if the need requires it.
 
If he can;t afford 2 X2's forgot dual-core opteron. The 275 is $1300, and the motherboard is over $400. Then there is the EPS PSU, and the registered memory, and the huge EATX case.... Take my word for it, he needs to go X2 with that budget.
 
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