Burnt athlon switching to xeon

[earion]

i guys... i have ak7d 2x athlon mp 2000+ setup and one of the proc fried yesterday.. long story....
anyway i'm seriously thinking about switching to xeons. The heat is a big big problem since i live in florida and don't want to have to buy a fridge to stick my computer in... I've also heard that xeons are more performant due to ht technology. What do you think ? Is it a wise decision ? Is it worth the money ? Should i go for an opteron instead ?

.. so many questions... so little money

 

[vsalt2]

Since I have a dual xeon setup, I of course recommend it

They oc like crazy if you get the right core. I goofed and got the older core that maxed out at 3.2ghz and my particular pair only goes to 3.0

My advice, if you want good good chips, go with M0 retails and spend the extra $50

Sorry for all the smilies, I'm just happy today!

 

[cV]

Well there's got the nocona core which is...let's see...prescott? Go for the prestonia if you can. Or...

you could switch to a dual opteron setup, which is equally as cool running and performs better.

How badly damaged is your dual athlon setup? People underestimate how cool-running they really are.

 

[earion]

well... what happened was that :
i had bought a kinwin artic cooler and used their wb for the secondary cpu... the thing burnt after a few hours. I smelled smoke and tried to run the cpu alone in the primary socket and the computer wouldn't boot up and smoke came out from the cpu... so my dually is now a single proc setup. Working well, with my good old thermaltake 7+. I'm gonna keep it that way as a server or something. I don't want to get another 2000+... they get way too hot.
Now one thing i'd like to know is whether this issue has been fixed in the newer amd proc like opteron. From what i've read the xeons northwood are a good choice for hardcore multi-taskers (i rarely have less than 15 programs opened hehehe) is that true ?
I've also heard that amd's architecture is far better than the xeons which are a complete mess... so i'm still very undecided.....

 

[mjw21a]

Just get a replacement MP chip + a decent heat sink. It has to be cheaper than replacing your mobo + RAM + CPU's

 

[earion]

yeah but that's the problem, i don't want an MP anymore. Moreover 2000 is not enough, i'd like to go with more than that. My mp gets way too hot for florida and it litteraly heats up my whole room. And if i'm gonna spend money, i'd rather spend a couple of extra hundred bucks and have a whole new setup that i can rely on for work. And honestly my mps haven't been performing that well, at least way under my excpectations from a duallie setup. My concern right now is heat and performance...

 

[Duke3d87]

well the nocona core will give you performance (to a certain degree) but its puts out around 40 more watts of heat then the MP. Maybe you should watercool your AthlonMP? I like HT and how it makes the processor look like 4 CPUs thus boosting efficiency

 

[mjw21a]

What sort of work are you doing with your system. Unless the apps are multithreaded then you just won't a performance increase at all.

Personally I'd take a look at the Opteron 246. Xeons tend to output more heat than Opterons. A good rule of thumb here is more L2 & L3 cache = more heat.

Xeons rely on their cache to make up for their slow shared system bus. The Operon doesn't need much cache as it's HT links are more than up to the taks of supplying enough data to the processor.

As with all CPU's I'd recommend using better than the stock heatsink. The Thermalright XP-90 would be nice paired with a 120CFM Sunon fan, or if you wan't lower cost with low noise go with the Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu. Each of these heat sinks will suit both Opterons and Xeons..... I simply don't trust stock heat sinks as they suck! I'd recommend going with one of these options regardless of which platform you choose to go for.

 

[MLMIB]

er, the intel stock hsf's are quiet good...

 

[earion]

well Duke3d87 I did watercool my mps and i don't want to anymore... too much money spent and too much hassle for not much of a difference. I need a stable computer for work (3d animation, visual effects stuff and graphic design) and can' t afford nor want to have to spend my week ends tweaking my wc rig


mjw21a you think opterons would be more worth it ? are they more heat efficient ? i just have difficulties trusting amd now... (go check out this video : http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20010917/heatvideo-05.html ) What do you guys think ?

 

[mjw21a]

Not if you like to overclock they're not. Hell, the heat sink that comes with an FX-55 will let get a decent oc, but getting something like an XP-90 or XP-120 will still cool it much better and allow higher oc's

 

[mjw21a]

well Duke3d87 I did watercool my mps and i don't want to anymore... too much money spent and too much hassle for not much of a difference. I need a stable computer for work (3d animation, visual effects stuff and graphic design) and can' t afford nor want to have to spend my week ends tweaking my wc rig


mjw21a you think opterons would be more worth it ? are they more heat efficient ? i just have difficulties trusting amd now... (go check out this video : http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/20010917/heatvideo-05.html ) What do you guys think ?

Christ. Do you know how old that article is? I can remember reading it 2-3 years ago!

All CPU's whether Intel or AMD have had a thermal diode to allow it to shutdown when the CPU gets to hot since the Pelemino core. The Throroughbred and Barton cores also had this. Intel has had it since the late Pentium 3's. Not an issue with either Intel or AMD any more.

The current generation of AMD processors currently runs just that little bit cooler than Intels with the same amount of L2 cache simply because of their implementation of Silicon On Insulator (SOI) technology.

When you take into account the additional cache on Xeons then they do in fact run a fair bit hotter.

On the downside, AMD processors do not feature thermal throttling. If the CPU get too hot, your system just restarts. With Intel, the clockspeed is throttled back a bit until it cools down.

 

[Duke3d87]

On the contrary, the AMDs do have a thermal throttling. It was implemented in the K8 architecture except for the Operton. Intel has its own type of SOI technology, but they wont use it…its been said that IBM doesn’t want money for Intel to use SOI, but access to patents which Intel refuses to give….

 

[mjw21a]

On the contrary, the AMDs do have a thermal throttling. It was implemented in the K8 architecture except for the Operton. Intel has its own type of SOI technology, but they wont use it…its been said that IBM doesn’t want money for Intel to use SOI, but access to patents which Intel refuses to give….

Now thats quite amusing. Now if Intel would just see the light and give IBM access to their tech....... Share and share alike.....

I thought Intel were just making extensive use of strained silicon tech? I believe Intel is up to the second gen strained silicon tech whilst AMD is yet to use it....

 

[Audioaficionado]

You can just L5 mod an XP into an MP to replace your burnt MP. Less than $100.

Or you can get a good bang for the buck dual Xeon setup for <$500 if you shop hard and use your old hardware for the rest. I'd get an Asus PC-DL and some LV Xeons or even prestionias if you can get a great deal on a pair. For a couple of hundred more you can get the Asus NCCH-DL and a pair of 2.8 Noconas and get 64bit/66MHz PCI-X slots and the ability to run 64bit windows and linux.

 

[earion]

is 64 bit worth it yet ? Does it really make a difference ?

 

[Audioaficionado]

For an extra $200 or so, I think it's cheap futureproof insurance.

 

[MLMIB]

audio, those xeons oc'd at all?

 

[cV]

I'm in Arizona and running an Athlon dually at 2380MHz. With A/C off, temps are bearable. I'm not WCd, just using Zalman CNPS7000Cus.....

You'd be better off getting another 2000+. They don't run that hot. 1667MHz, same as about a 2.2GHz P4. With relatively normal heatsinks like the SLK800A they're fine.

And it's not like 2000+ CPUa cost 200 bucks either.

 

[earion]

yeah after reading a few reviews i think i might go for a northwood 3.0C. The prescotts don't seem very performant yet, any recommandations you guys might have to add ? thx for all the help btw