new computer

[jcbray]

Very few games are optimized to work with dual-processors, so there's no huge performance gain there, and programming won't stress your system.

If your just starting out in 3D, I suggest you go for a single cpu system, you'll save a heap of money, which you can put back into other parts of your system (more RAM perhaps?) which may serve you better overall.

[trendol]

Thanks for your response.

So in short, I should go for more ram than processors?

The other way (but it'll be a little more expensive) would be having 2xOpteron and 2x1024 RAM.

[jcbray]

Frankly, if you're new to 3d, you're not (likely) going to be pushing your system that hard. The dual-cpu would speed up your renders, but unless you're exceptionally skilled, your early work is going to be pretty fast anyways.

That's just my suggestion though - to save money on the processors, and reinvest with more RAM. I don't know how much your saving, but if you have more left over, you might like a bigger monitor, or even get two monitors. Seen as you'll keep them for later systems you buy most likely, not like other parts that are made redundant.

[trendol]

Thank you alot!

I'll concider the facts you've said deeply!

[lots]

Just a question really... Why are you going with PC2100? Why not PC2700 or PC3200? As far as I know, the latest stepping of the Opteron core supports PC3200 and the price difference isn't that huge..

[puttemansland]

Note that the opteron is built for servers. I'd recommend the Athlon FX or xp (I use 3800+^^) they are also great processors.

[trendol]

havn't thought about that lots. I'll concider that aswell (havn't checked out the price difference just yet)

opteron built for servers? good to know!

[Vertizor]

1 GB of RAM should be enough for now, use that money to bump up from the 6800LE to regular 6800 or Ultra. You'll appreciate that upgrade more I wold think.

[puttemansland]

1 GB of RAM should be enough for now, use that money to bump up from the 6800LE to regular 6800 or Ultra. You'll appreciate that upgrade more I wold think.

Agree. Although I have aq Radeon X700PRO 256MBDDR3 that works great. Not too expensive either.

[trendol]

Bunch of thanks guys!
Very appriciated. I'll downgrade it to 1gb ram and upgrade the graphic card instead.

[puttemansland]

Bunch of thanks guys!
Very appriciated. I'll downgrade it to 1gb ram and upgrade the graphic card instead.

A good idea, you know, it is easier and cheaper to just buy some more RAM later on if there is a need than to change the graphicscard 1 to 2 times a year. :D

[TheCleaner]

if you plan on a career in cg, get a dual cpu board, but just get the one cpu for now, that way your upgrade path is there.. and i see your going with the 6800LE.. it might be worth saving some money and going for a 6600GT 128mb DDR3

hmm, multitasking is definetly for the cg'r.. painting a texture in photoshop, while appliying it in your 3d app, simultaneously.. and its a known fact, P4 with its ht is great for multi tasking and encoding/compiling, but they cost, big..

check out this thread for case/psu specs

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=219935

[lots]

Note that the opteron is built for servers. I'd recommend the Athlon FX or xp (I use 3800+^^) they are also great processors.

Not entirely true. Opterons make great work station chips. And like I've said everywhere else :P The Opteron, Athlon64, and AthlonFX are all pretty much identical, and will perform at roughly the same point given identical clock speeds. That being said, it is only worth it to go for the Opteron, if you wish to get more than one CPU plus the Athlon64 and FX do not support dual processing at all. There are more options (read: Motherboards) for socket 939 chips (single cpu systems) that you may find useful as well. More choice on SLI motherboards, unbuffered memory, etc. Also, the single CPU solutions based on socket 939 will end up being cheaper due to the lower price in RAM, and the lower price for the motherboards, not to mention lower power requirements. This could translate into much faster single threaded performance when compared to a dual cpu system just because of all the money you could put into other parts of the computer ;)

Also, another nice point about going socket 939, is eventually (probably sometime in 06) we'll see dual core socket 939 chips, giving you something to up grade to, and converting your system into a dual cpu rig. Granted Socket 940 (the Opteron's socket) is getting dual core first (2H of this year), and you'd be able to have a quad processor system if you go down the dual socket route ;).

If multi tasking is your thing, and you would like to be able to actually use your computer during rendering, dual cpus are worth it.

[TheCleaner]

just a quick Q, with these dual core A64's be supported on the latest nforce4 boards on the market today?.. cus i would buy a really great 939 board, NF4, PCI-E SLI (gamer), and the cheapest cpu i could get, like a winchester 2800, that would still clock relatively decent

dual core cpu's seem great, esp if there heat output is still <90W, which means any decent cooler like an XP-90 will be fine with it.. amd's answer to HT, bang on another cpu core, walla.. but intel.. bang on another core... oh man, feasibly 4 cpu's on one chip, whaooo

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