PC boffins! Tell me why I should got for dual processors/dual-core!

[StuPC]

I'm only following about half of what's said in this thread, but it's still making me jealous...
Sigh.

 

[lobster]

Bob_the_lost: the link below will be the last amd s939 proccessor , i hope it will be available for a few years.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2668

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Bob_the_lost: the link below will be the last amd s939 proccessor , i hope it will be available for a few years.
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2668

And it's a beauty no mistake.

Still, i run my CPU at those speeds if i want to, just it gets a bit too hot for everyday use. Not quite worth shelling out $1000 for a chip that runs a bit cooler

 

[WWWeed]

I still cant get over what a great deal the AMD64 X2 3800+ is! I've had mine since september and I have to say Its an overclocker dream! You can buy a X2 3800+ for £233 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=256882) and it can be overclocked from 2ghz to 2.4/2.5ghz easy. So you have the same power as a 4600+ thats worth £440!! (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=224363) And as far as tell, the only diffrence is the clock speed (3800+ @ 2Ghz per core and the 4600+ 2.4ghz per core), its got the same manchester core, same amount of L1 & L2 Cache (L1 has 128kb & the L2 has 512kb)

It still amazes me how cheap it is! I've got a 3800 overclocked to 2.4ghz and it stays at 51-52c max temp! Ussaly around 46-47 when idle.

And as for those dual core FX-60's I think they may be here very soon as the registers just reviewed one!

 

[lobster]

that is a good price, i paid about £125 for a amd athon 64 3200+, which screams in my opinion.

 

[editor]

Worryingly, I've been told that they'll be a four day delay because there was a 'bad batch' of Athlon Dual-Core 4200+ processors!

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

My 2 Ghz Athlon is starting to show its age (it was upgraded from an earlier box) and I'm beginning to look for a new machine.

I guess I'd be lumped in the near 'power' user category as I'm constantly working on photos/graphics files and need to have about ten zillion apps running simultaneously for my work (Word, Photoshop, Suitcase, Eudora, multiple Firefox tabs/browsers, Homesite, Outlook, Xara etc etc) in a dual monitor set up.

So: should I go for a dual processor machine? Will it make much difference and justify the extra expense?

My budget isn't limitless (£800ish just for the box).. ideas/opinions gratefully received!

I just bought one, for something less than your budget.

I don't have a good tech reason to do it - I did it because if both intel and amd are selling these as the new 'top of the line' model, then I expect that they'll soon be the new Pentium 4, and will fast become the benchmark.

This might be way off the mark, but I just don't like having to go out and buy a new computer every three years in order to run the recent software.

 

[lobster]

Originally Posted by Johnny Canuck2
This might be way off the mark, but I just don't like having to go out and buy a new computer every three years in order to run the recent software.

Fair enough, it also depends on what software you want to run.
You don't have to buy "top of the range" that will always be "in the middle" whenever the next "top of the range" comes out.

If i had lots of money it would be diffrent, i prefer to go for "middle range" because i hope to afford it and between the whole range, i personally think they is not a more than 30% diffrence from the bottom line and top of the range that warrents over 200% price diffrent. The price is for being ahead (all be it upto six months).

 

[editor]

This might be way off the mark, but I just don't like having to go out and buy a new computer every three years in order to run the recent software.

I don't like it either, but when you're making a living off your PC, then it's a necessary business expense.

 

[tom k&e]

I still cant get over what a great deal the AMD64 X2 3800+ is! I've had mine since september and I have to say Its an overclocker dream! You can buy a X2 3800+ for £233 (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=256882) and it can be overclocked from 2ghz to 2.4/2.5ghz easy. So you have the same power as a 4600+ thats worth £440!! (http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=224363) And as far as tell, the only diffrence is the clock speed (3800+ @ 2Ghz per core and the 4600+ 2.4ghz per core), its got the same manchester core, same amount of L1 & L2 Cache (L1 has 128kb & the L2 has 512kb)

It still amazes me how cheap it is! I've got a 3800 overclocked to 2.4ghz and it stays at 51-52c max temp! Ussaly around 46-47 when idle.

And as for those dual core FX-60's I think they may be here very soon as the registers just reviewed one!

What cooling are you using to achieve those speeds? I don't really need that performance mind you, but what the hell

 

[Dask]

I don't like it either, but when you're making a living off your PC, then it's a necessary business expense.

The irony of it is that we're not doing anything dramatically different from 5 yeaars ago, except that alot of software houses have become lazy when it comes to writing their code, and ever rely on faster processors and more memory to tackle the performance issues of trying to run their bloated software.

You can't type out a letter any quicker in Word 2003 compared to say Word 95.

 

[editor]

You can't type out a letter any quicker in Word 2003 compared to say Word 95.

Yes, but image file sizes from digital files have grown dramatically - especially if you're using RAW, so an awful lot more pixel processing is required.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

What cooling are you using to achieve those speeds? I don't really need that performance mind you, but what the hell

You can normally get 200-300mhz with the stock cooling, it's a pretty good heatsink the X2 ships with. You can get most of the X2 range up to 2.5-2.8Ghz with half decent aircooling (and nerves of steel ). The risk with these CPUs is more about the voltage you have to use, upping the Vcore cuts the lifespan more than the extra heat does.

 

[ivebeenhigh]

dual processors are a waste unless its something you are using programs designed for them - we only have two here, one that runs Maya and one in our Oracle Server.

The best thing I ever did was stop trying to cram everything into one box and got myself two PC's

C

 

[tom k&e]

You can normally get 200-300mhz with the stock cooling, it's a pretty good heatsink the X2 ships with.

Same as the A64 reference cooler isn't it? Certainly looked the same to my casual inspection. I've just tried 2200 with stock vcore, and it seems stable and cool. So that's already saved me £150

You can get most of the X2 range up to 2.5-2.8Ghz with half decent aircooling (and nerves of steel ). The risk with these CPUs is more about the voltage you have to use, upping the Vcore cuts the lifespan more than the extra heat does.

Such is overclocking. As long as it lasts 2 years until a buy a new machine, that's good enough.

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Same as the A64 reference cooler isn't it? Certainly looked the same to my casual inspection. I've just tried 2200 with stock vcore, and it seems stable and cool. So that's already saved me £150


Such is overclocking. As long as it lasts 2 years until a buy a new machine, that's good enough.

The higher X2s get one with heatpipes, i've got mine playing paper wieght around here...

If you want good cooling (and a lot quieter) then a Zalman 9500 is a great one, and fairly cheap. Thermaltake Big typhoon is just as good and maybe a little quieter (maybe), there are loads more but they cost more money and take more effort to set up.

 

[lobster]

the new amd am2 socket will still have single core chips for it, makes you wonder why if dualcore is becomming standard, or so i thought

 

[tom k&e]

The higher X2s get one with heatpipes, i've got mine playing paper wieght around here...

If you want good cooling (and a lot quieter) then a Zalman 9500 is a great one, and fairly cheap. Thermaltake Big typhoon is just as good and maybe a little quieter (maybe), there are loads more but they cost more money and take more effort to set up.

Yeah, let's slap a TEC on there and see if it'll go up to 3GHz

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Yeah, let's slap a TEC on there and see if it'll go up to 3GHz

Oh, it'll go that far on phase, TECs can't handle the heat load for the most part.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

I don't like it either, but when you're making a living off your PC, then it's a necessary business expense.

I wish I did.

I need a good computer in order to retain my sanity. The kids are preoccupied with pc games, and I become the object of their wrath if anything, like hardware problems, interferes with that.