Dual Opteron Overclocking

[Tyberius]

I do have raid zero w/raptors in my current machine. I get to build this opteron system, play with it, and send it back if i dont like it. And as far as limiting variables, I'll be using identical hardware profiles, with the exception of course in procs, mobo, and ram. But I'm using the same vid card, opticals, harddrives, and cooling system. Just replacing the core components. If your looking for my current hardware profile, just look at my signature. I plan on running a long series of synthetic and real world benchmarks, along with actually playing my favorite games on it.

 

[DaveB]

again, i want a DUAL OPTERON abit board, i couldnt care less about the athlon64, my barton is spanking even a fx-51 right now in everything but memory bandwidth, because the fx/opteron have 128bit memory controllers. The a64 doesnt. So id be no better off

From your own sig, your contention that your XP2500 is "spanking even an FX-51" simply isn't true. I've got a mildly OC'ed A64 (2.225 GHz) with a lesser video card (9800 Pro) clocked less than yours (432/371) and my 3DMark2001 score is 22,205. With your 9800XT clocked the way you have, I'd be close to 24,000 I would think. So, you're not spanking anything at the moment. The price difference between an Athlon 64 3200+ set and either a FX or dual Opteron setup a whole lot.

I abandoned my XP2500+ experiments a while back because all the Intel i865PE setups I was fooling with performed better. But the Athlon 64 goes neck and neck with the 3.5 GHz/Abit IS7 setup I sold to get the new setup. Plus it's nice and quiet with a Zalman 7000A-Cu heatsink. It runs relatively cool only getting to 49C running Prime95. Plus, since I don't need some pricey cooling setup, it might even be cheaper.

 

[Tyberius]

I was talking about sandra cpu test, and i pointed out that the bandwidth on the opteron were much better, which is why im upgrading anyway. bandwidth means alot in gaming which is why you score higher, but according to sandra, my cpu test scores higher than an opteron 2.2., my apologies i should have been more specific as to what my barton was spanking

 

[DaveB]

No problem. But individual SiSoft Sandra tests are not really measures of performance. You need a benchmark that invokes all factors in a real-world usage. I got nuthin' against Bartons though since I enjoyed playing with a couple in Abit and Asus NF2 boards.

 

[zachj]

Synthetic benchmarks really aren't something to go by. Yes, they'll give you a theoretical estimation of system performance, but real world usage might not be even close to what a benchmark indicates. I get a score of like 11,000 in 3DMark 2000, but my system is still quite fast (though Dell P4s are kicking its a** even loaded up with spyware and viruses . . .) and I can play my favorite games without many issues (except my hard drive, which is not fast enough, it seems, as I keep getting hiccups in games when it goes to access something . . . I end up crashing my car, and that angers me).

What is the difference in RAM, besides using registered? Is it the same speed?

And I honestly think that Intels perform better in Windows. It might be an illusion, but I've seen a 2.53 without hyperthreading scream through the installation in like 20 minutes or so (and this is a Dell) and my system takes no less than twice as long. I don't know what it is. Gaming and usage -wise, I think AMD competes well, but if all you do is play solitaire and use Word, I think you'd think Intel was better . . .

Maybe I'm talking funny, though . . .

Z

 

[DaveB]

Yeah, the P4 800 MHz HT CPUs are faster than Bartons. But the Athlon 64 is right there with the Intels. Very fast, very quiet, very nice.

 

[Tyberius]

same speed ram just about, its mushkin pc3200 ecc reg cas 2. but remember im only going for 800 fsb, so that'll be adequate, my amd is beyond that so i need 3500. I dont know about the install thing, mine only takes about 12 minutes.

 

[Tyberius]

dave, i would go with the a64, but i have p4-memory bandwidth envy

 

[zachj]

RAID0 array of Raptors might have *something* to do with your 12 minute install I want one!

It's strange that Intels are faster in general Windows use than AMDs . . . Anybody got an explanation?

As for the overclocking the Opteron, I guess there's not much else to say until we hear back from you. When do you get it? Let us know what you know when you know.

Z

 

[Tyberius]

I actually cant tell the difference in windows, and i had my hands on an intel chip that did 3.0@800 almost a year ago. My amd system at the time was still slightly besting it in 3dmark, i believe it was a [email protected] or something. I dont know though, I've got a fast amd chip, yet i cant tell the difference between mine nor my buddies 3.6ghz intel in windows, theres really no such thing as waiting much anymore. As far as P4s NORMALLY being faster...I would say it probably has something to do with the same reason p4s will always be faster at quake3, a much higher clock frequency, i dont think windows is really built to take advantage of the efficiency of amd chips, games like floating point and a much larger amount of L1 cache, but i dont think windows really cares. I cant figure out why i cant bring myself to use an intel system for my main rig, i know that with my cooling rig, a 2.4c, and a IC7G-MAX3 I could probably have a faster machine. But i know(IMO) that in the end, the AMD is a better chip. Its more efficient, it has much more cache, and has shorter pipelines. That and most of my buddies who work for intel have me build them AMD systems anyway, but shhhhh dont tell anyone

 

[zachj]

I think you might be right. I can see why Windows would be faster with hyperthreading, since most people don't JUST play solitaire . . . they listen to music at the same time and such. But I don't know why non HT chips still best the he** out of my XP . . .

Neither is a "better" chip, in my opinion; just better at different things.

Z

 

[Tyberius]

Fine, better for what I do

 

[psyshack]

Hummmm

 

[Tyberius]

hummmm???? Theyre supposed to be coming out with 800 fsb opterons, so maybe I'll just go that route, thats all I want anyway....

 

[racpuc]

RAID0 array of Raptors might have *something* to do with your 12 minute install I want one!

It's strange that Intels are faster in general Windows use than AMDs . . . Anybody got an explanation?

As for the overclocking the Opteron, I guess there's not much else to say until we hear back from you. When do you get it? Let us know what you know when you know.

Z

Thats not true at all.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1884&p=11

amd will always with general windows usage.

A stock 3200+ can easily beat a p4 3.2 in general office and web usage because of its shorter pipline.

 

[zachj]

I understand the advantages of the AMD architecture. I was not saying that general usage meant business applications. I meant that Windows itself feels more responsive, in my personal experience, on a P4 of any type (except the Willie, which I've had the repeated displeasure of using) than on an AMD. I can't explain it, and it's by no means a fact. I was just relating my personal feelings on the subject.

Z

 

[Tyberius]

I am now very impressed with the responsiveness of my Dually MP system thats running Win Server 2k3, full SMP support for the OS, most responsive machine I've used...

 

[zachj]

That is one of the great things about MP machines. Duals of any sort run things more smoothly because multitasking is done by two CPUs instead of dividing the time of one processor for all tasks. I would attribute the speed differences in Windows on a P4 to Hyperthreading, but I've still been impressed with non-HT P4s. I don't know what it is. Perhaps my new 2400+ will change my mind

Z

 

[DaveB]

Yeah duallies are great. Here's a list of all the setups I've had over the past two years or so. I liked them all.

RioWorks PDVIA with dual PIII 700s @ 933 MHz
Asus A7M266-D with dual XP1600s @ 1575 MHz
Asus A7M266-D with dual XP1800s @ 1667 MHz
Asus A7M266-D with dual XP2200s @ 1885 MHz
MSI Pro266TD Master-RL (9105RL) with dual PIII-S 1.2 GHz ESs @ 1530 MHz
Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P with dual XP2400s @ 2000 MHz
MSI K7D Master L with dual XP2600s @ 2300 MHz

These have all been sold so right now I don't have one. I'd like to build either a Xeon 2.8 or an Opteron 242 duallie but with Christmas coming up, I dunno. Maybe when my bonus comes in at work next March.

 

[zachj]

Me wantee. I've had an Apple IIsi, a K6-2 350/450 (which would have been great if I had had it when it first came out, but this was when the Athlon was beating the PIII!), 1700+ on a 7DXR+ which was not good, and then a 1700+ on a Biostar M7NCG. I'm about to get that 2400+, though, so things should improve much. Now all I need is dual channel RAM and Raptors in RAID0!

Z