building a new pc

[DougH]

My fingers are getting itchy to build a new pc again. I want to make the switch to 64bit and don't want to settle for the AMD 64 3200+ and its 64 bit memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The thing I'm wondering about though are the hyperthreads. The 64 FX has one hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 links are "incoherent", the 246 has one coherent link and all three of the 846's links are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts right off the block as more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be less capable than the Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. Anybody have some insight as to what the extra hyperthreads and whether or not they are coherent will do for the average destop/game machine? The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46 series are 2GHz so I don't see a whole lot of advantage there or reasoning for the extra expense. Any help would be appreciated.

DougH

 

[Ancra]

My fingers are getting itchy to build a new pc again. I want to make =
the switch to 64bit and don't want to settle for the AMD 64 3200+ and =
its 64 bit memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The =
thing I'm wondering about though are the hyperthreads. The 64 FX has =
one hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 =
links are "incoherent", the 246 has one coherent link and all three of =
the 846's links are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts =
right off the block as more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be =
less capable than the Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. =
Anybody have some insight as to what the extra hyperthreads and whether =
or not they are coherent will do for the average destop/game machine? =
The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46 series are 2GHz so I don't see a =
whole lot of advantage there or reasoning for the extra expense. Any =
help would be appreciated.

I don't think you should do this.
Considering the expense of the cpu and ECC ram, reports of early
chipset problems, I think you should wait awhile, until people knowing
exactly what they're buying and why, have leveled the way.
There's no experience of these systems yet.
I'm more tempted by the 64-bit bus version. Much, much cheaper. Cpu,
mobo. ram.

Hypertransport is not the same thing as hyperthreading, by the way.
Hypertransport is a point to point bus that connects to AGP, PCI,
southbridge and other cpus. Wild (well maybe not) guess, I haven't
checked this, the coherent link is for connecting to another cpu. The
146 is for use as single cpu. 246 is for dual systems, thus it needs 1
coherent link. 846 is for eight cpu systems. In a such, 4 cpus connect
to three other cpus, that's probably why it needs 3 'coherent' links,
other 4 connects to two other cpus.


ancra

 

[Ancra]

My fingers are getting itchy to build a new pc again. I want to make =
the switch to 64bit and don't want to settle for the AMD 64 3200+ and =
its 64 bit memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The =
thing I'm wondering about though are the hyperthreads. The 64 FX has =
one hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 =
links are "incoherent", the 246 has one coherent link and all three of =
the 846's links are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts =
right off the block as more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be =
less capable than the Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. =
Anybody have some insight as to what the extra hyperthreads and whether =
or not they are coherent will do for the average destop/game machine? =
The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46 series are 2GHz so I don't see a =
whole lot of advantage there or reasoning for the extra expense. Any =
help would be appreciated.

Oh, and I forgot...
A single Opteron has lower memorybandwidth than the AthlonFX. So there
is a difference.
In a dual Opteron setup, one Opteron has higher memorybandwidth than
the AthlonFX. Because it can use the co-cpu's memorycontroler too,
over the HT-link.

You have to check out benchmarks, to see if one Opteron makes sense as
a desktop, considering the cheaper A-64 (and cheaper ram, and mobo)..


ancra

 

[Shep©]

My fingers are getting itchy to build a new pc again. I want to make the switch to 64bit and don't want to settle for the AMD 64 3200+ and its 64 bit memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The thing I'm wondering about though are the hyperthreads. The 64 FX has one hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 links are "incoherent", the 246 has one coherent link and all three of the 846's links are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts right off the block as more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be less capable than the Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. Anybody have some insight as to what the extra hyperthreads and whether or not they are coherent will do for the average destop/game machine? The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46 series are 2GHz so I don't see a whole lot of advantage there or reasoning for the extra expense. Any help would be appreciated.

DougH

64 bit?
Ain't no O/S using it until MS release their new one and then you
really might no like that<grin>



--
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http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
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[JAD]

Ain't no O/S using it until MS release their new one and then you

really might no like that<grin>

if for one second you don't like XP for its "big brother' approach to piracy you definitely will not like the next version..

3200+ and its 64 bit memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The thing I'm wondering about though are the
hyperthreads. The 64 FX has one hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 links are "incoherent", the 246
has one coherent link and all three of the 846's links are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts right off the block as
more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be less capable than the Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. Anybody have
some insight as to what the extra hyperthreads and whether or not they are coherent will do for the average destop/game machine?
The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46 series are 2GHz so I don't see a whole lot of advantage there or reasoning for the extra
expense. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Shep©]

Ain't no O/S using it until MS release their new one and then you


if for one second you don't like XP for its "big brother' approach to piracy you definitely will not like the next version..

I have an old Atari 1024 still running 3 synth modules with 1 meg of
RAM with less latency for sound recording than any PC ;-)
Only market forces and some dodgy dealing stopped us having
good CPUs.If they had been based on the Motorola's Architecture we
would have 8-way parallel processing by now for any O/S ;-)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[JAD]

what are you using that for....midi?

I have an old Atari 1024 still running 3 synth modules with 1 meg of
RAM with less latency for sound recording than any PC ;-)
Only market forces and some dodgy dealing stopped us having
good CPUs.If they had been based on the Motorola's Architecture we
would have 8-way parallel processing by now for any O/S ;-)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[\(\) |V| 3 G A]

it is *NOT* worth 64bit machining yet.
get a cheap mid-range pc (2500+ barton etc) and save your penies untill
windows Longhorn (XP2) comes along late 2004/early 2005. this will be the
first show 64bit MS OS. then wait another 6 months or so for the first
programs on 64bit.

also gives chipsets, cpu's, and standards to be tweaked.

tim

My fingers are getting itchy to build a new pc again. I want to make the
switch to 64bit and don't want to settle for the AMD 64 3200+ and its 64 bit
memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The thing I'm
wondering about though are the hyperthreads. The 64 FX has one
hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 links are
"incoherent", the 246 has one coherent link and all three of the 846's links
are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts right off the block as
more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be less capable than the
Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. Anybody have some insight as
to what the extra hyperthreads and whether or not they are coherent will do
for the average destop/game machine? The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46
series are 2GHz so I don't see a whole lot of advantage there or reasoning
for the extra expense. Any help would be appreciated.

DougH

 

[Shep©]

what are you using that for....midi?

Actually no.It's tied into a Fostex R8 tape deck plus outboard sound
modules :O)



--
Free Windows/PC help,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/trouble.html
It's a G not a J in gmx for email
Free songs download,
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/8/nomessiahsmusic.htm

 

[Erez Volach]

it is *NOT* worth 64bit machining yet.
get a cheap mid-range pc (2500+ barton etc) and save your penies untill
windows Longhorn (XP2) comes along late 2004/early 2005. this will be the
first show 64bit MS OS. then wait another 6 months or so for the first
programs on 64bit.

also gives chipsets, cpu's, and standards to be tweaked.

tim

My fingers are getting itchy to build a new pc again. I want to make the
switch to 64bit and don't want to settle for the AMD 64 3200+ and its 64 bit
memory controller when the FX and the Opteron have 128. The thing I'm
wondering about though are the hyperthreads. The 64 FX has one
hypertransport link and the Opterons have three. The Opteron 146 links are
"incoherent", the 246 has one coherent link and all three of the 846's links
are coherent...whatever that means. The 64 FX starts right off the block as
more expensive than the Opterons and seems to be less capable than the
Opterons. I'm leaning towards an Opteron 246. Anybody have some insight as
to what the extra hyperthreads and whether or not they are coherent will do
for the average destop/game machine? The FX is a 2.2GHz and the Opteron X46
series are 2GHz so I don't see a whole lot of advantage there or reasoning
for the extra expense. Any help would be appreciated.

DougH

Aren't there already 64bit ports of MS windows NT ? unixes ? linux64 ?

And as for apps, I definitely remember running 32 bit programs on 16bit
Win3.11, with the appropriate win32s library support (thats before and
during the proliferation of win95 which is still partially 26bit). So
actually 64bit programs can be developed and run before 64bit OS's are
widely installed.
If chipsets are not ready for the job, then it's no use, ofcourse...