Hi fellow SMPers,
I have patiently waited since I last built my own personal computer, which was 3 years ago. It has served me well as the first system I built from scratch and now I am determined to move to the next level and build an OC'ed dualie, prefferably one that is well future proofed. My dual XP 1800+'s on my Tyan s2460 has lasted me quite long due to great reliability from Tyan, and the fact that CPU speeds have grown at a trickle pace the past 3 years, making my dual CPU applications still beat the crap out of many single cpus today. I am now concerned about future proofing since multi-cores, and low power chips are accelerating innovation again.
So, I need some advice on what to go with for my next build. It is going to be soon (like in the next couple months). I know I could wait for so many things, like Yonah next year etc etc, but I am done waiting and need to build the best rig I can now.
My first choice was dual xeons, the price/performance is there, the overclockability is definitely there and Xeons chew through frames in video rendering. But, on the other hand, I would like something with PCI-express, 64-bit support, and could handle the new dual-core upgrades. Plus, it seems I can do better bang-for-buck wise with newer parts.
So, I recently thought, I'll just get a dual core X2 3800 and OC it. I like this idea a lot, seems to make sense, but I have this problem, I am crazy you see. The more CPUs the merrier. I do a lot of multitasking, usually in the form of video rendering or running some brute-force random program I wrote (like a random sonnet generator). I dream of having 4 or even 8 CPUs. But buying a quad server is well out of my price range. And I still want to be able to add value by overclocking.
Then, my mind flew to building a cluster by networking a bunch of say, abblebreds together is a custom frame the size of a refrigerator, and heating my house with it while running linux and folding space time itself. Then some grips of sanity brought me back to building a system I can fit into a normal case.
Then today, I saw the second rig in DaveB's profile, the dual opteron rig nicely overclocked. I was thinking how cool dual dual core opterons would be, but $800+ a cpu is too much. I want to stay under 600 for mobo and cpus. Then I had this ah-ha moment where I realized if I could build a dual single-core opteron rig overclocked, I would get performance close to an X2 Athlon, but down the road (say, 2-3 years) I could maybe upgrade to cheaper dual core opterons. It seems the upgrade path to dual core is a lot smoother for AMD than intel at the moment, and I rather stay with AMD over Intel.
From my current system I know going dual Opterons requires a bit more money for: power costs, registered ram, and cooling solution. But I'm willing to pay the cost for a dually rig that is potentially quad down the road.
So, my first question is, am I too crazy? Would you build a different rig now and for what reasons?
Secondly, I am looking for resources on Opteron overclocking. I haven't found much but maybe I just don't know where to look. I know overclocking but don't know how to actually do the overclocking. Are certain 200 series opterons better at OC'ing than others? Are the multipliers locked, what is the best board for this, etc.
DaveB, if you could offer and info on ow you OC'ed your rig, even if it's just links to old posts, that would be a big help.
A couple notes: I plan on air cooling but am liking coolers that blow heat out the back of the case instead of into the motherboard. That may be tricky as both CPUs are close together on most mobos.
My primary application will be my main PC, rendering video, playing games, etc.
TIA,
tkotitan
Cliff's Notes:
o Need advice on what dual overclocked comp to build at reasonable price.
o Want good future proofing (like PCI express, multi-core support)
o The more CPUs, as in cores, the merrier.
o I am liking the idea of dual opterons, but need info.
o I am crazy.
I have patiently waited since I last built my own personal computer, which was 3 years ago. It has served me well as the first system I built from scratch and now I am determined to move to the next level and build an OC'ed dualie, prefferably one that is well future proofed. My dual XP 1800+'s on my Tyan s2460 has lasted me quite long due to great reliability from Tyan, and the fact that CPU speeds have grown at a trickle pace the past 3 years, making my dual CPU applications still beat the crap out of many single cpus today. I am now concerned about future proofing since multi-cores, and low power chips are accelerating innovation again.
So, I need some advice on what to go with for my next build. It is going to be soon (like in the next couple months). I know I could wait for so many things, like Yonah next year etc etc, but I am done waiting and need to build the best rig I can now.
My first choice was dual xeons, the price/performance is there, the overclockability is definitely there and Xeons chew through frames in video rendering. But, on the other hand, I would like something with PCI-express, 64-bit support, and could handle the new dual-core upgrades. Plus, it seems I can do better bang-for-buck wise with newer parts.
So, I recently thought, I'll just get a dual core X2 3800 and OC it. I like this idea a lot, seems to make sense, but I have this problem, I am crazy you see. The more CPUs the merrier. I do a lot of multitasking, usually in the form of video rendering or running some brute-force random program I wrote (like a random sonnet generator). I dream of having 4 or even 8 CPUs. But buying a quad server is well out of my price range. And I still want to be able to add value by overclocking.
Then, my mind flew to building a cluster by networking a bunch of say, abblebreds together is a custom frame the size of a refrigerator, and heating my house with it while running linux and folding space time itself. Then some grips of sanity brought me back to building a system I can fit into a normal case.
Then today, I saw the second rig in DaveB's profile, the dual opteron rig nicely overclocked. I was thinking how cool dual dual core opterons would be, but $800+ a cpu is too much. I want to stay under 600 for mobo and cpus. Then I had this ah-ha moment where I realized if I could build a dual single-core opteron rig overclocked, I would get performance close to an X2 Athlon, but down the road (say, 2-3 years) I could maybe upgrade to cheaper dual core opterons. It seems the upgrade path to dual core is a lot smoother for AMD than intel at the moment, and I rather stay with AMD over Intel.
From my current system I know going dual Opterons requires a bit more money for: power costs, registered ram, and cooling solution. But I'm willing to pay the cost for a dually rig that is potentially quad down the road.
So, my first question is, am I too crazy? Would you build a different rig now and for what reasons?
Secondly, I am looking for resources on Opteron overclocking. I haven't found much but maybe I just don't know where to look. I know overclocking but don't know how to actually do the overclocking. Are certain 200 series opterons better at OC'ing than others? Are the multipliers locked, what is the best board for this, etc.
DaveB, if you could offer and info on ow you OC'ed your rig, even if it's just links to old posts, that would be a big help.
A couple notes: I plan on air cooling but am liking coolers that blow heat out the back of the case instead of into the motherboard. That may be tricky as both CPUs are close together on most mobos.
My primary application will be my main PC, rendering video, playing games, etc.
TIA,
tkotitan
Cliff's Notes:
o Need advice on what dual overclocked comp to build at reasonable price.
o Want good future proofing (like PCI express, multi-core support)
o The more CPUs, as in cores, the merrier.
o I am liking the idea of dual opterons, but need info.
o I am crazy.
