AM2 vs. X2 64

[Tim_M]

I've got a PC which is based on an AMD X64 4400 CPU and dual 7800GTXs. The mainboard only supports 8x PCI-E when running in SLI mode.

Would I notice much of a real world performance improvement if I upgraded to an AM2 chipset with DDR2 SDRAM and a board that supports 16x dual PCI-E cards? I know that it will give me a big jump in benchmark figures. The two most CPU intensive tasks I use it for at the moment is rendering video and compressing audio.

Tim

[Taipan]

you would surely notice a difference , but its very hard to say would it be worth it.. 8x PCI-E is plenty fast.

[Tim_M]

Thanks, I'm going to have to move some kit around to get everything capable of running Vista with all the bells and whistles turned on. I'm going to replace a couple of Compaq small form factor desktops with Mini ATX PCs with X2 chipsets, and I'll recycle my mainbaord into my nephew's PC. It will look quite cool as he has a perspex case and UV lights, and it is a DFI board and the PCI slots glow under UV. A couple of PCs are just used for Office so I'm intending to use two Athlon XP 3200s and a decent graphics card. It never ceases to amaze me how many people have powerful 64bit CPUs just to write Office documents, read email and browse the web.

I'm going to take the opportunity to install a Zalman reserator silent watercooler in my desktop.

Tim

[Taipan]

the current setup should run Vista just fine but that sounds like a good plan and I am sure your nephew wont mind

The watercooler is a good thing too, personally sometimes the noise a computer makes is driving me nuts.ö . Especially the now so popular laptops which are quite silent until you move the mouse and then it's Lift-off!

Yes power wise many guys have over-kill in that they dont use more than 5-10% max of their processor at any given time.. However if one wants to play 3D games or plays around with vid and pic editing then its always too little power.. I will be building my mate a new computer in a few weeks, and have a hard time deciding whether to get a Amd 64 X2 or a Intel Core 2 Duo. .currently leaning towards the intel, less power consumption, lower temp=less noise. But the thing that will decide will be the price/speed and Amd have a very good case in that

[Tim_M]

AMD always tend to win if you pick the right CPU, because they are easily overclockable with the right mainboard and RAM. I can get 4800 speeds out of my 4400 and as I use a huge Thermalright heatsink and a 120mm fan which is thermostatically controlled it only gets noisy if I'm playing a game. When I built the current system it cost about £1200 including 2 graphics cards. The best Dell at the time used the Intel 955E CPU, which was less powerful and would have cost more than £3K! And CPU is so less important than running a good GPU. My "old" Athlon XP 3200 with a Geforce 6800 GT is more than capable of running Doom3, BF2, COD2 etc. at 1280x1024 providing you leave AA and shadows turned off.

You should google for the Zalmann reserator, it uses a HUGE passive heatsink radiator tower which sits next to the PC so doesn't need any fans.

Tim

[Taipan]

Yep I am very well aware of which part consists the most to a say 3D game, I've been building different workstations and also just game machines for years.. (even though I am only 24 ) The problem is also in finding the right price and performance point so one doesnt have to be upgrading in six months. Vista is quite hungry for power in itself, and this places a demand on the CPU as well as the GPU.. what I would like to do is build a machine that will last my friend around two years. It seems the speed wars in processors are coming back again, it was relatively quiet on that front, the focus being on faster GPUs and more faster memory.

AMD have ruled supreme in the speed wars for a few years but the new Intel processors are faster again.. (and the core 2 quadro will be officially in shops in short time..) Also the prices are quite comparable at the moment.

(very interesting topic BTW Tim )

[Tim_M]

I suppose I've just become an AMD fan. The last Intel CPU I used was a PIII 600, which I overclocked to 800 speeds. Since then it's been Atlhon all the way. I even have an XP1700 that has epoxy resin filling the pits and silver conductive fluid bridging the relevant links on the CPU package in order to unlock the multiplier. They were suffering from a lot of commercial remarking of CPUs at the time so made it progressively more and more difficult to unlock the multipliers on CPUs. Now we have ultra high-bandwidth ram it isn't really an issue as AMD are happy to let enthusiasts run a lower multiplier and high bus speed. The advantage of doing that went out of the window with the X2 chips as the Northbridge is now on the die rather than on the motherboard.

That's dragged up a few memories. Now it is just a question of buying the fastest RAM you can get your hands on and increasing the bus speed until it locks up and then back it off 10 percent.

Tim

[claymax]

Originally Posted by Tim_M

I remember having a heated debate with someone on the UK AV forums who was asking for opinions on which speakers to buy over the Internet. It was a complete 5.1 surround sound set up costing around £1500 and he wasn't prepared to spend the time listening to different sets of speakers before parting with the cash. His argument was that it was fine with "exotic equipment" like I have but didn't matter at the cheaper end of the scale.

I remember the first pair of speakers I bought - B&W DM110is that cost £150 at the time. I spent as long choosing those as I did on my KEF 104s which cost £1800.

And for those that care my AV forums sig is below:

Arcam DV-88 | SkyHD | Squeezebox 3 | Athlon 64 X2 4400 & 2 x 7800 GTXs PC | Lumagen HDQ | Panasonic TH50-PHD8 | Meridian G68 | Audiolab 8000MX x 4 | Audiolab 8000PX x 2 | KEF 104/2 Reference Raymond Cooke SE | KEF 100C | B&W ASW750 | KEF Reference Ci2000

The Arcam DV-88 is probably the weak link but the Lumagen fixes the CUE bug and upscales it to native plasma resolution and I'm waiting to see what HD based disc player Meridian bring out.

Tim

Looking at that sig Tim.

Warning - Thread Jack.


Dual 7800 GTX's???

I'm sensing a game freak!

I got the 7900 GTX when it came out as it was time for a pc upgrade and have been happy. Thinking about going sli with another when the price adjusts.


Also have a Panasonic 42" plasma TH-PX42500U. I've had two friends by the same one after seeing mine. (Well they got the 9th Gen. 600 series which displays the hd channels faster etc and was $50 less for a final insult.) I did a lot of research and screen viewing and they were right, it really is the best plasma out there, or was a year ago when I bought it anyway.


Ok, back to the hifi discussion.

[Taipan]

Originally Posted by claymax

Warning - Thread Jack.



Dual 7800 GTX's???

I'm sensing a game freak!

I got the 7900 GTX when it came out as it was time for a pc upgrade and have been happy. Thinking about going sli with another when the price adjusts.

move that question over here AM2 vs. X2 64 we are having a nice little talk about computer hardware over there just not to hi-jack the nice music thread..

[kees]

Moved posts

[Tim_M]

I use a Panasonic commercial panel with the Lumagen scaler acting as a switchbox. The picture is slightly better than with the consumer set-up but is for hardcore enthusiasts only.

I play the odd FPS game - COD2, Doom 3, toyed with BF2 but kept getting killed by kids. Edit - not forgetting Half Life 2.

At the moment I play on a 20" LCD monitor but I'm having CAT 5 routed round from the PC to the AV stack so I can play on the plasma with full surround sound.

I have a Logitech Bluetooth Media desktop so have programmed the games to work with the Media pad (seperate numeric keypad) and mouse.

[Tim_M]

Ordered the kit today. First Intel CPU for 5 years:

E6600 Conroe Core 2
Zalman 9500AT silent temperature controlled CPU cooler - uses a 4 rather than 3 pin connector. Case fans thermostatically controlled by the BIOS too
Asus P5N32-Sli DeluxeMainboard (all chipsets passively cooled)
2Gb Geil PC6400 low latency DDR2 dual channel RAM.

Carried over from my existing PC
Coolermaster ATC110 alloy case
Liteon SHM165P6S DVD RAM drive
Mitsumi FA 404M 7in1 USB 2.0 Floppy & Media Drive
2XFX 7800GTXs running in SLI mode You either get them running four monitors or use all the power to run games (sorry graphics editing and rendering applications) at really high frame rates on large monitors - my desktop is a Viewsonic VP201b with a native resolution of 1600x1200 - HIGHLY recommended, and my plasma runs at 1366x768 through an external scaler.
3 x Western Digital 160Gb Sata II Hard drives running in Raid 0 configuration - fantastic way to feed data to the system as fast as it needs without spending a fortune on exotic drives.

My nephew gets my current CPU and mainboard, a new PSU so he can run PCI-E graphics, and a 7900GS GPU. It is a perspex transparent system with two UV cold cathodes and the mainboard slots and PSU and drive cables glow under UV.

My brother and his wife each get an upgrade to a Gb of RAM, An Athlon XP 3200 CPU, 6800 GT AGP card, 160Gb Hard drive plus the same DVD, media and floppy drive as me, and all for £1000 plus some bits I had lying around in cupboards. I'll have enough left over to make a couple of PCs to give to local charities.

When you are in an environment where there is a need for multiple PCs and you have users that require different levels of performance there is so much benefit in self-building. You get to "re-cycle" old hardware when it is starting to get tired (especially if you use pretty fast stuff at the top of the pyramid), because you buy hardware that's a couple of steps behind the leading edge, it doesn't cost a fortune - I should be able to get well over 3GHz out of the 2.4Gig Conroe and because you decide exactly what goes into the box in terms of hardware and software you don't get something that is overly bloated with dross that the manufacturer decides to load up.

The disadvantage is that when it breaks down you have to be confident in your ability to troubleshoot and repair/replace the offending component.

Tim