mobo for 5k dual opteron 248

steambeast · 11-29-04, 09:13 PM

Looking at dual opteron 248's for a gaming rig. Looking to spend about 5k. Idea's for motherboards?

Spec_Ops2087 · 11-29-04, 09:29 PM

I am sure you have probably read this alot but a dual rig is not mean't for gaming. I also know you are probably saying "I didn't ask for that kind of response you idiot Spec_Ops" however hear me out.

I got a dualie a little while back and it was TOP OF THE LINE for its times. gf4 ti4600 1GB RAM, RAID, and Athlon MP 2000+s. I thought it was going to be great, I got a powerful system for multimedia and power for games. Truth is, for gaming it pretty much does suck. You must use slower memory for it so it is even slower then a single Athlon 2000+ running. Of course I am not sure how opteron's run gaming wise however you may want to reconsider for a new 3Ghz p4 and OC it, that will yeild a perfect gaming rig but a dualie is a terriable gamer really.

Spec

steambeast · 11-29-04, 09:37 PM

I've actually been reading and dual opteron 248's have been blowing out most other systems in the gaming field. I am also going to be using it for rendering maya/max, although modeling done on other computer. Plus illustrator, photoshop, etc. I'm an animator so I kinda want an all encompassing thing. Plus, the 64 bit action. Can't say I quite use it right now, but it's nice to have the ability to access it later.

Spec_Ops2087 · 11-29-04, 09:43 PM

I've never actually seen the gaming performance of them but would love to! As to answer your initial question, I have a MSI board for my duals and I have only had one problem that a simple BIOS flash fixed...otherwise stable as can be motherboard that can be OCed. How much? I am not sure, I always went for stabibility (sp) over speed.

Spec

disk11 · 11-29-04, 09:47 PM

I'd go Iwill as they have several options:

ZMAX:SFF shuttle like case, but not much expansion of course.

DK8X: AMD 81xx chipset with the AGP bridge.

DK8N: NF4 chipset, a lot like the DK8X.

DK8ES: NF4 SLI board, don't think its out yet.

steambeast · 11-29-04, 09:51 PM

also, curious if there are any boards that have pci-e

Spec_Ops2087 · 11-29-04, 10:16 PM

sofar to my knowledge none do. I would guess because PCI-E isn't server oriented more gaming oriented. You find PCI-X's (66mhz or 133mhz PCI versions) on servers not PCI-E. As said before, a dualie is a server not a hardcore gaming rig

Spec

Mustanley · 11-30-04, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by disk11

I'd go Iwill as they have several options:

ZMAX:SFF shuttle like case, but not much expansion of course.

DK8X: AMD 81xx chipset with the AGP bridge.

DK8N: NF4 chipset, a lot like the DK8X.

DK8ES: NF4 SLI board, don't think its out yet.

The DK8N uses the NF3 250 chipset. I'm looking at this for a pair of Opteron 246s. Anyone know anything about this board? It's twice as much as the cheaper dualie Opteron boards, I guess due to the NF3 chipset. Is the NF3 chipset worth it over the AMD and VIA dualie chipsets?

disk11 · 11-30-04, 03:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mustanley

The DK8N uses the NF3 250 chipset. I'm looking at this for a pair of Opteron 246s. Anyone know anything about this board? It's twice as much as the cheaper dualie Opteron boards, I guess due to the NF3 chipset. Is the NF3 chipset worth it over the AMD and VIA dualie chipsets?

Basically it has PCI-X slots that no Via board has. Here's a review for ya: http://www.burningissues.net/hard/DK8N_review/

CJ145 · 12-02-04, 06:08 PM

K8W
Tyan's new mobo. Should be out soon. SLI so you can run 2 of the new nvidia gfx cards.

Also IWILL is comming out with a new one. SLI also
DK8ES

Redshift · 12-03-04, 05:47 AM

Dual 248's will be no faster than a single FX-51 and might actually be slower in some cases due to the overhead associated with DP systems (the fact that you have to use registered/buffered memory also makes a differece but the FX-51 also had that requirement). Unless the game supports SMP, you aren't going to see any gains from the second processor (unless you like to run tons of stuff, like WinAMP, etc in the background). Some games do support SMP: I was reading somewhere that Tribes Vengeance does. Such games are a small minority, though support should improve as dual core processors become mainstream. If your main thing is gaming: save the money you'd be spending on the DP motherboard and second CPU and get a FX-55, an NF4 SLI board and two GF6800 Ultras. Then get a Prometia MACH2 GT (they are making them again) or a Vapochill XE with some good overclocking RAM and push it past 3.1 GHz (at which point it will slaughter all but the most extreme P4 OCs).

All of that being said, you plan to use other apps for which a DP system is well suited. If you're set on SMP, hold out for the Tyan 2895 (pictured above), as that will allow you to use SLI with two full 16x PCI-E slots (as opposed to 16x/2x on the Iwill DK8ES) and give you more upgrade options in the future. I'd also probably wait for the 90nm Troy core with SSE3 and other improvements, esp. since you will be using apps that can take advantage of it.

11-29-04, 09:13 PM	Thread Starter #1
steambeast Registered Join Date: Nov 2004	mobo for 5k dual opteron 248 Looking at dual opteron 248's for a gaming rig. Looking to spend about 5k. Idea's for motherboards?
	QUOTE Thanks

11-29-04, 09:29 PM	#2
Spec_Ops2087 Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NJ	I am sure you have probably read this alot but a dual rig is not mean't for gaming. I also know you are probably saying "I didn't ask for that kind of response you idiot Spec_Ops" however hear me out. I got a dualie a little while back and it was TOP OF THE LINE for its times. gf4 ti4600 1GB RAM, RAID, and Athlon MP 2000+s. I thought it was going to be great, I got a powerful system for multimedia and power for games. Truth is, for gaming it pretty much does suck. You must use slower memory for it so it is even slower then a single Athlon 2000+ running. Of course I am not sure how opteron's run gaming wise however you may want to reconsider for a new 3Ghz p4 and OC it, that will yeild a perfect gaming rig but a dualie is a terriable gamer really. Spec __________________ Rutgers University School of Engineering Class of 2009 Alumni NAVY
	QUOTE Thanks

11-29-04, 09:37 PM	Thread Starter #3
steambeast Registered Join Date: Nov 2004	I've actually been reading and dual opteron 248's have been blowing out most other systems in the gaming field. I am also going to be using it for rendering maya/max, although modeling done on other computer. Plus illustrator, photoshop, etc. I'm an animator so I kinda want an all encompassing thing. Plus, the 64 bit action. Can't say I quite use it right now, but it's nice to have the ability to access it later.
	QUOTE Thanks

11-29-04, 09:43 PM	#4
Spec_Ops2087 Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NJ	I've never actually seen the gaming performance of them but would love to! As to answer your initial question, I have a MSI board for my duals and I have only had one problem that a simple BIOS flash fixed...otherwise stable as can be motherboard that can be OCed. How much? I am not sure, I always went for stabibility (sp) over speed. Spec __________________ Rutgers University School of Engineering Class of 2009 Alumni NAVY
	QUOTE Thanks

11-29-04, 09:47 PM	#5
disk11 Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Wilmington, NC	I'd go Iwill as they have several options: ZMAX:SFF shuttle like case, but not much expansion of course. DK8X: AMD 81xx chipset with the AGP bridge. DK8N: NF4 chipset, a lot like the DK8X. DK8ES: NF4 SLI board, don't think its out yet. __________________ My Heatware OCforums Metal Club member # 665 OCforums Musicians Club member # 665 HTPC (in progress): i3 540, MSI H55M-ED55, 4GB RAM, WD800JB, nMedia 1000B, Corsair 520W Main/Gaming: i7 920, Noctua U12P-SE, Asrock x58 Extreme, 6GB pc16000 Gskill Pi, XFX 5850, OCZ Vertex 3 90GB, WD 640 Black, Lite-On DVD burner, 600W OCZ modX File server: AMD e-350, Asus E35M1-M Pro, 4GB Crucial, 1TB WD Black, 2x 2TB WD Green in RAID 1, Antec 900, Seasonic 300W
	QUOTE Thanks

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11-29-04, 09:51 PM	Thread Starter #6
steambeast Registered Join Date: Nov 2004	also, curious if there are any boards that have pci-e
	QUOTE Thanks

11-29-04, 10:16 PM	#7
Spec_Ops2087 Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NJ	sofar to my knowledge none do. I would guess because PCI-E isn't server oriented more gaming oriented. You find PCI-X's (66mhz or 133mhz PCI versions) on servers not PCI-E. As said before, a dualie is a server not a hardcore gaming rig Spec __________________ Rutgers University School of Engineering Class of 2009 Alumni NAVY
	QUOTE Thanks

12-02-04, 06:08 PM	#10
CJ145 Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Seattle, WA	K8W Tyan's new mobo. Should be out soon. SLI so you can run 2 of the new nvidia gfx cards. Also IWILL is comming out with a new one. SLI also DK8ES __________________ Main Comp (Win 7): ASUS R4E; i7-3930k @ 4.9GHz; G.Skill Ripjaw Z 4x4GB @ 2133MHz; ATI 6950flash/6970 Xfire; Custom Watercooling 3x Asus VW246H eyefinity; Polk Audio Monitor 40's (L,R), CS10 (C), Klipsch KG^4 (S), Sony STR-DA1000ES; all in a custom built desk
	QUOTE Thanks

12-03-04, 05:47 AM	#11
Redshift Registered Join Date: Mar 2003	Dual 248's will be no faster than a single FX-51 and might actually be slower in some cases due to the overhead associated with DP systems (the fact that you have to use registered/buffered memory also makes a differece but the FX-51 also had that requirement). Unless the game supports SMP, you aren't going to see any gains from the second processor (unless you like to run tons of stuff, like WinAMP, etc in the background). Some games do support SMP: I was reading somewhere that Tribes Vengeance does. Such games are a small minority, though support should improve as dual core processors become mainstream. If your main thing is gaming: save the money you'd be spending on the DP motherboard and second CPU and get a FX-55, an NF4 SLI board and two GF6800 Ultras. Then get a Prometia MACH2 GT (they are making them again) or a Vapochill XE with some good overclocking RAM and push it past 3.1 GHz (at which point it will slaughter all but the most extreme P4 OCs). All of that being said, you plan to use other apps for which a DP system is well suited. If you're set on SMP, hold out for the Tyan 2895 (pictured above), as that will allow you to use SLI with two full 16x PCI-E slots (as opposed to 16x/2x on the Iwill DK8ES) and give you more upgrade options in the future. I'd also probably wait for the 90nm Troy core with SSE3 and other improvements, esp. since you will be using apps that can take advantage of it. Last edited by Redshift; 12-03-04 at 10:20 AM.
	QUOTE Thanks

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