fissy Posted January 8, 2004 Report Share Posted January 8, 2004 i really hope they compile doom3 for 64bit linux after you've bought that little lot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
static Posted January 8, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2004 (edited) lol OUCH Touche. I'm sure they will considering it's where stuff's headed and the game isn't out yet (but the cpu's and OS's are) Also - the AMD site brags about the opteron having the ability to use 32 bit stuff so you can "migrate at your own pace" Edited January 8, 2004 by static Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted January 8, 2004 Report Share Posted January 8, 2004 I read that somewhere too (that opteron could run 32bit code), but not on amd's site so it's quite possibly true :) (instead of AMD trying to brag) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitz Posted January 9, 2004 Report Share Posted January 9, 2004 (edited) All three run both 64bit and 32bit code. Opteron is the multiprocessor version but be careful. The 100 series is not multiprocessor capable. Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX are single processor. The Athlon 64 FX is optimized for gamers. Make sure that you only buy memory modules approved by the motherboard manufacturer. Even then you may have to tweek the voltage to get it to be stable. http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/Produc...18_9331,00.html The Athlon 64 FX is comperable to the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (a re-labled Xeon processor). http://www.tomshardware.com/ Scroll down the page. Glitz. Edited January 9, 2004 by Glitz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonMage Posted January 9, 2004 Report Share Posted January 9, 2004 Athlon FX is basically an Opteron in a different socket format (754? I forgot). It is capable of dual channel memory support while Athlon 64 is only single channel (you have to remember that the memory controller is embedded into the cpu instead of putting it in the motherboard like current athlon XPs or P4s). If you check Anandtech's cpu reviews.. you can see that Athlon 64 3400+ (which should be out now) have 99% of Athlon FX's performance for about 60% of the price, but it is not capable of SMP without a bit of hacking.. so that's out of your consideration :) Anyway, dual opteron is it.. if you have the budget for it.. If you do buy that, send us pictures.. so we can drool and be green with envy :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glitz Posted January 10, 2004 Report Share Posted January 10, 2004 The Athlon 64 FX and Opterons are both socket940 chips. The Athlon 64 is a socket754 chip. If you really want to buy an AMD system then you might want to check AMD's site for recommended motherboards. Select the chip you are interested in, then select "system component information", and finally (on the right) select "recommended motherboards". AMD also recommends to check the motherboard manufacturer's site to determine what memory has been tested to work with the board. This is very important. Glitz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest G3ck0G33k Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Depends what the system is for, if there's numeric computation which involves Fortran on your list then I'd suggest Xeon's. Are you thinking AMD32 or AMD64?? "if there's numeric computation which involves Fortran on your list then I'd suggest Xeon's." This is interesting. Do you have any backup for that suggestion? Any links to some benchmarks? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 The AMD64 is infinitly a better choice for a generalist machine!! AMD have really got a massive advantage here but only with Linux.... If you think about it only 10% of things actually benefit from being faster or recompiled or running 64 bit code. However these 10% are all important.... Think about it.... recompiling cdrecord isn't going to make your cdrecorder record any faster. It might slightly reduce overhead but it also introduces instability becuase the extra extensions aren't tested. Recompiling K3B will have so close to ZERO effect its not worth the effort becuase all K3B is is a graphical interface to the recording process. Here's my list of what to compile 1) gcc 2) kernel 3) CPU intensive coding/decoding tasks (LAME, libdvdcss etc etc.) 4) XFREE, Qt, Kdelibs, window/desktop managers 4) Stuff your unlikely to do like games, Star Office .... However this illustrates the genius of AMD64 over Itanium....for the average user. Unless you habitually recompile everything from source then the difference is you can mix and match... You might urpmi an AMD64 RPM which has some deps but these deps are still only available in 32bit.... For the AMD64 it doesn't matter....for the Itanium you need to find the source for all the deps and run config....then find the deps of deps and... Its truly a big difference in linux becuase of the modular nature of linux. Its not really that important in Windows, presuming you one day have an OS.... becuase the apps are monlithic and therefore you end up with either a fully itanium product or non at all. Personally Im going for a 2 way Opteron and mobo but Ill just be buying a single processor for now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mtweidmann Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 The AMD64 is infinitly a better choice for a generalist machine!!AMD have really got a massive advantage here but only with Linux.... There is a 64bit version of WindowsXP, and its even free of charge. Draw back is that its a pre-lease version and its only a 360 day trial. Still not bad value for MS. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/d...ads/upgrade.asp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gowator Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Didn't know that....(not that I care cos I dont use Win anyway) But it is still a bigger advantage with linux becuase of its modular nature and the ease of recompiling yourself if you want. Like Ok so I get 64bit XP but that comes with what? (just playing here) 64bit notepad ?? I bet the media player, the only conceivable benefit isn't :D This is really an illustration of why linux is much stronger.... Even if you can't find a 64bit RPM or Deb you can still find a source RPM or Deb and create one. Or if using gentoo or slack ... This is a massive boost for linux in general..... 64bit XP is a party with all the drinks and food but no guests.... 64bit linux is a bring your own booze party but with a variety of guest to make everyone have a great party :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Espice Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 If you wanna go Dual AMD, you'll need two Opteron 24x CPUs, also I would suggest a mainboard like the Tyan SK2885 that allows you to have up to four RAM sticks for each CPU. I did some Dual Opteron benching (infact I still have that computer standing right next to me but I'm gonna return it) and found out, that two RAM sticks for CPU 0 and none for CPU 1 (meaning it has to access the memory via crossbar) is slightly slower than two RAM sticks for each CPU. However, only applications running on CPU 1 are slower (for example Seti@Home: 3 minutes slower an CPU 1 than on CPU 0) in case only CPU 0 has direct access to system memory. If you can afford it, buy four DDR400 memory modules, otherwise make sure to buy two and have CPU 0 handle them both. Giving each CPU one RAM module is way slower. Also you need to make sure you have the proper PSU, most Dual Opteron mainboards need an ESP power supply which is not only more expensive than a regular ATX12V power supply but also (in general) very noisy. These are server PSUs meaning that noise doesn't matter - reliability and a long life cycle does however. I found the ESP power supply I got for that Dual Opteron system way too noisy for normal use, it sounds kinda like one of those small vacuum cleaners. I will also be doing some additional Linux benchmarks for my article (finished all the Windows benchmarks and don't really have time to do the Linux benching right now due to three exams at university next week) after 2/15 so I might be able to give you some information regarding the performance compared to a single 144 and single 246 Opteron running Mandrake Linux 9.2 AMD64. And one more thing: The Opteron and Athlon64-FX are both Socket 940, the Athlon64 is Socket 754. However, the Athlon64-FX will be moving to Socket 939 this year which is totally incompatible to S940. AMD is trying to keep the Opteron out of desktop computers (hence the price) and only for servers. One needs registered DDR-SDRAM for any Socket 940 mainboard & Opteron/Athlon64-FX computer, the Socket 939 will allow the Athlon64-FX to use the cheaper and slightly faster non-Registered DDR-SDRAM. This also means that if you buy a Socket 940 mainboard, you will never be able to use anything but 24x Opterons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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