dual cores instead of smp

[Busty St. Clair]

so do you think you guys will change to single cpu when dual cores arrive or will you still do smp for the effect of 4 cpus?

 

[arabarabian]

Depending on how much they are I would like to stay with SMP. How about you?

 

[Busty St. Clair]

i heard that they will use to slow cores and 2 cores will probably run hot so ocing might not be an option.

 

[diehrd]

The cores wil most likly be speeds of current opteron chips..

 

[Busty St. Clair]

if the cores are the speeds of current opterons that will let of quite a bit of heat since it's basically 2 current opterons in on cpu.

 

[arabarabian]

Maybe by then there will be a breakthrough innovation that allows you to supercool you computer using a very small unit. Heck in 30 years they will probably have chips that do not put out any heat.

 

[Busty St. Clair]

or maybe they just might fix their soi technology to have the chips run cooler. the g5 90nm chips only put out 35 watts of heat if i'm not mistaken so maybe they pimped out the soi like ibm did. and amd paid ibm to help them with their chips

 

[JohnDoemakt]

That depends on the price of the MP processors and MB's. The dual 'feeling' is the reason why I love my duals, and I suspect that the difference between two and four cores arent' that big. (We can only hope) So perhaps most of us who own duals because of the 'dual-feeling' will be quite content with a dual core, and the ones that have duals today because they need the power will end up with 4-8 cores. (The Xeons will perhaps have four cores)

I only hope that "they" (AMD and Intel) won't treat dual/quad as a preminum where we will have to pay 2-4x for the SMP processors. Not all of us want the fastest processor with the most cache, but rather several cheaper. AND I WANT SPEEDSTEP ON MY DESKTOP !.

So to answer your question: When the extra price of the dual motherboard and processors is under $300 (+the price of the extra processor) I beleve the time is right.

 

[spldart]

I'm still curious. Will Windoze treat a dual core as 2 processors (requiring xp pro or 2k) or as one. If two what OS do we run if we have a dual/dual core setup? Linux restricts applications severly. Business/server editions of windoze is expensive

 

[Busty St. Clair]

i would think that windows would treat it kinda like hyperthreading. so you might be able use two cpus with dual cores.

 

[galois427]

yep, imagine have dual core dual cpu for fah.

 

[wquiles]

I will probably do what I most always do: WAIT. Wait until the equipment is becoming more common place and both dual-core CPU's and MB's for them become reasonably priced. I absolutely NEVER buy anything when it first comes out: don't like paying the premium and don't like to work out the bugs

Once stuff has been out for a little while (at least 6-12 months) then you will be able to make fair comparisons between a dual CPU vs. a dual core solution: pick the one that gives me the more bang for the buck, or best performance vs. heat, etc. - whatever is important to you.

Want a perfect example: dual-layer DVD recorders. Everyone is very excited about them exept me. I will wait at least 8-12 months before I even "consider" getting one. For me this is the perfect time to be buying a good and fast single layer 8x recorder: they are cheap and media can be found everwhere at reasonable prices. In fact, I recently hacked into the firmware in my LiteON 4x DVD recorder and it now records at 8x - and it was a free upgrade

 

[diehrd]

Actually I have herd tha Long Horn will be the O/S to have for a dual system with dual cored cpu in them,As well as any single box.I forget where I read this but it does make sense that MicroSoft and AMD would again work together to make an O/S that is optimized for a patiular processor.

As far as heat I do not think it will be an issue like some are suggesting.Look at the Mobile chips now Put 2 cores together and ya have the heat out put of a Preshot..And from personal experence with about 230 watts of heat to remove at full load I do not see cooling as an issue that is as big a problem as many see it.

At 100% load case 24c I max at 42c generating 230 watts of heat (approx)

 

[Busty St. Clair]

yeah but your removing the heat from 2 seperate processors with 2 heatsinks or waterblocks. it's even harder to remove the heat from 1 processor with the heat of 2 with only one heatsink/waterblock

 

[Nightingale]

Yeah I have noticed that my chips run alot hotter then my overclocked p4. After a gaming session the cpu that was underload will run a little over 50C (scary since I am not sure if thats regular for an opteron/amd setup). Anyhow if the dual core chips are compatible and don't cause a meltdown then I will be running quad procs. Can't wait to finish my new water blocks in shop to cool these beasts.

 

[diehrd]

yeah but your removing the heat from 2 seperate processors with 2 heatsinks or waterblocks. it's even harder to remove the heat from 1 processor with the heat of 2 with only one heatsink/waterblock

Well u have to consider the 45w Mobile technology that is in use.If the dual cored chips go that route cooling is not an issue.REMEMBER each chip on my rig pounds out about 115w of heat.Thats 230 watts to cool off and it is handlesd easily by ny watewr cooling and would be ok with the latest heatsinks on the market..

 

[Busty St. Clair]

yeah but i doubt there will be any socket a dual cores and there will most likely be hammer cores which produce their share of heat.

 

[Xtc4u]

After reading through this so far I'm going to add my bit to this. IMHO after reading news articles and technical documents and such I believe cooling a dual cored Opteron or athlon64 will not be a huge issue as you all are making it out to be. The die shrink from 130nm to 90nm that is coming up in future A64 chips is supposed to bring the heat output of the chips even lower. Wether that happens or not we will have to wait and see. If SOI is as good as AMD says it is then we should expect cooler chips.

Also consider this, for current A64 chips the Maximum Thermal Output for the entire line so far is 90 Watts. Thats Maximum, not just normal operating output. The mobile A64s put out nearly half that now. Combine these figures with the idea that a die shrink is supposed to lower heat output also and you are all set for dual cored chips with reasonable cooling.

 

[Busty St. Clair]

i wasn't trying to say it would be a problem at stock but when you oc any chip the heat just jumps and with 2 cores instead of one it might be a problem. like these 45 watt amd athlon xp mobiles. after a good oc they usually run at 115watts of heat. that's a big increase. so lets hope soi is as good as its cracked up to be

 

[liquidtrance123]

thats why i keep looking at dual opterons.
kuz by sometime next year or so, dual's will then equal quads...and well thats just plain yummy