Budget workstation: Dual AMD or Xeon

E

EZ-Spidey

Member

​

Joined

Jul 10, 2004

• Jan 18, 2005

• #1

I ought to put together a budget dually.

I've looked around and saw some good deals. But basically, here are the
2 setups I'm considering:

AMD Dual Athlon budget specs:

- MSI K7D Master mobo (red pcb)
- 1GB (2x512) of ECC REG PC-2100 memory
- 2x m-XP 2600 o'ced to 2.2GHz - 2.4GHz depending
- SLK-800 heatsinks with medium or high RPM Panaflos

Xeon setup

- Asus PC-DL motherboard
- 1GB (2x512) of DDR PC-3200 (or maybe faster for higher overclocks)
- 2x 2.4 533fsb low voltage Xeons (those can hit 3.6GHz!)
- Intel WD heatsinks with either some fan adjusters 80mm fans + adapters

Which would you recommand?

 

D

dicecca112

Member

​

Joined

Feb 25, 2004

Location

MA, USA

• Jan 18, 2005

• #2

the Xeon would be better IMHO. There is a thread about LV Xeons on ebay floating around. That would be the best and cheapest, about 100$ for the pair.

 

D

Dc5e

Member

​

Joined

Mar 10, 2003

Location

MA

• Jan 18, 2005

• #3

Xeons... you can probably get a pair for around $110.

 

David

Forums Super Moderator

​

Joined

Feb 20, 2001

• Jan 18, 2005

• #4

I too would recommend Xeons. The 1.6LVs will hit 2.8 to 3.2GHz as far as I am aware, and the PC-DL or its successor (NCH-DL or something) are newer boards than the aging K7D Master. Xeons are likely to be the same speed or faster, and will have more memory bandwidth.

 

OP

E

EZ-Spidey

Member

​

Joined

Jul 10, 2004

• Jan 18, 2005

• Thread Starter
• #5

Cool!

I'm currently discussing with a member from another forum. He's got those
2.4GHz Xeons and was able to hit 3.6 (18x200). He's asking $300 for them.

I'm gonna look into those 1.6 chips. Anybody knows if they'll hit 3.2 for sure?

 

DaveB

Senior Member

​

Joined

Dec 18, 2000

• Jan 18, 2005

• #6

Just make sure to get the D1 stepping, not the older C1s and you'll be OK.

 

Duke3d87

Member

​

Joined

Mar 20, 2003

• Jan 18, 2005

• #7

This might be a very unpopular suggestion, but what about waiting for dual cores? In 2006, Intel is due to release a Dual dual core Xeon with dual independent busses which if I’m not mistaken means that each processor gets its own bandwith as opposed to fighting over the shared bus. It will be able to handle 8 threads at once. I personally would go for that

 

OP

E

EZ-Spidey

Member

​

Joined

Jul 10, 2004

• Jan 18, 2005

• Thread Starter
• #8

Hey Duke3d87!

I originaly was going to put together either a Nocona or Opteron setup.

I decided to save some cash instead and go for a budget o'ced dually. I'm very
confident it will perform well for my needs. I plan to use that setup until at least
early next year and in the meantime save up for whatever potential upgrades I'll
consider then.

 

Duke3d87

Member

​

Joined

Mar 20, 2003

• Jan 18, 2005

• #9

ok. My logic was that one of the big stumbling blocks of the Xeons is the shared bus which although gets the job done, could get better. Intel was addressing this issue, but you're right, it will most likely cost a fortune. Go ahead and get the dual o'ced Xeon! I want one but cant afford it. Are you going to watercool it or use air?

EDIT: wow the noconas are really expensive!

 

OP

E

EZ-Spidey

Member

​

Joined

Jul 10, 2004

• Jan 18, 2005

• Thread Starter
• #10

I'm going air.

I had access to some 3.2GHz ES Noconas for a good price. But just the price of those
chips (even though they were offered at a good deal) was equal if not a bit more then
some LV Xeons + PC-DL mobo or m-XP chips + MPX mobo combos.

EDIT:
I just checked out those LV Xeons for sale on eBay. The seller says they
weren't stable at 3.2GHz on an NCCH-DL. I recall reading up about a site
dedicated to overclocking on the PC-DL, anybody knows it?

 

Last edited: Jan 18, 2005

T

Twin_Turbo

Member

​

Joined

Jun 11, 2004

Location

Billings, MT

• Jan 18, 2005

• #11

http://www.datamine.tk
The 1.6 LV Xeons with a PC-DL is a tough combo to beat.
Get the SL6XK (D1) Xeons they usually OC a little better than the SL6GV (C1)

 

OP

E

EZ-Spidey

Member

​

Joined

Jul 10, 2004

• Jan 20, 2005

• Thread Starter
• #12

About the mobo, some people suggested that I use the NCCH-DL
instead since its newer and has more bios options for overclocking
(something about voltage control the PC-DL doesn't have).

Aside the price difference, can I expect the same oc results with
an NCCH-DL?

 

attack

Member

​

Joined

May 23, 2002

• Jan 20, 2005

• #13

with the 1.6LV's plan on hitting 3.0, anything much higher or lower isn't too common.

The 2.4's that hit 3.6 seem like a nice deal, but is 16% speed increase worth 300% increase in price?
Also, xeons limitation arn't clock speed it's memory....so you get dimishing returns with high clock speeds for most apps

Not sure on voltage controlls on the NCCH-DL....thought it was the same as PC-DL except for 2 PCI-X slots and "offical" noconas and 200fsb support (although the pc-dl does work with noconas and 200fsb....up to 233fsb)