AMD 64

[tycho]

Does anyone know how well these run? I'm thinking about upgrading from my Athlon 1200+ with a new motherboard, ram and processor. I saw these were out and wondered how quick they are on a 32 bit operating system or if I would be wasting my money on the 64 bit version.

[plotloss]

Waste of money at the moment.

64bit XP is a massive premium as well...

Stick with a 32bit higher spec chip like the 3000+

[tycho]

There's not too much of a premium on the 64:

AMD Athlon 64 3000

£110

AMD Athlon "Barton" XP3000+ 400FSB

£93

What would the difference be? If it is quite big then I might get the 64 for £20 more.

[plotloss]

Windows XP I meant.

Its about 4 times the price for the 64bit version...

[tycho]

Ahhh,I have seen the AMD chip and the advertising blurb says that it'll run your 32 bit apps a lot quicker, so I was just wondering how much quicker.

[plotloss]

I am not sure to be honest.

I was always under the impression that 64bit chips are like multi processor set ups i.e. they will only aid speed if they have software that takes advantage of them...

[ultimasimon]

plotloss said:

Windows XP I meant. Its about 4 times the price for the 64bit version...

Yes, and only marginal performance gains. But you can downloaded the free one (evaluation). The only thing it doesn't support is SATA drives. I think the license is good for 4 months IIRC, which should be enough to evaluate it.

In view of the fact that I bought 64bit for the performance, I quickly resorted back to 32bit as its pointless having most of the toys, yet not being able to run SATA raid with my new 10k drives.

There are also issues with Orifice XP and AV, so unless its a stand alone PC, I wouldn't bother.

If you like tinkering, here is the download link. If you are using dial-up, forget it you will have to cut and paste this into your browser as Teds system don't like the formatting code.

https://microsoft.order-9.com/winxp64/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=MSTrialandEval&category%5Fname=winxp64&product%5Fid=winxp64&id=dl

>> Edited by ultimasimon on Wednesday 25th August 14:39

[stuh]

tycho said:

Does anyone know how well these run? I'm thinking about upgrading from my Athlon 1200+ with a new motherboard, ram and processor. I saw these were out and wondered how quick they are on a 32 bit operating system or if I would be wasting my money on the 64 bit version.

Go with the AMD64 - It's quicker than the older AMDXP range of processors for 32 bit apps at an equivalent clock speed, approx 25% in most applications, and costs only slightly more.

The 64 bit aspect is just an added bonus when XP64 and apps to support it come along................


UltimaSimon - How's it going? We met at the Millbrook Noble day.


>> Edited by stuh on Wednesday 25th August 15:41

[Bodo]

Windows XP for 64bit is expected to be launched early 2005, despite AMD64 CPU being on the market for one year already.
The only tried and tested operating system for 64bit computing on PCs is Linux and applications already ported to x86 64bit.

You may download Linux installation disks free on http://fedora.redhat.com/download/
or buy a package with printed manuals and 90 days support at www.suse.co.uk/uk/private/products/suse_linux/prof/
If you want to wait for Windows to support 64bit, and you need to buy new hardware now, you shouldn't worry about the extra few quid that the 64bit CPUs cost

[tycho]

stuh said:

tycho said: Does anyone know how well these run? I'm thinking about upgrading from my Athlon 1200+ with a new motherboard, ram and processor. I saw these were out and wondered how quick they are on a 32 bit operating system or if I would be wasting my money on the 64 bit version. Go with the AMD64 - It's quicker than the older AMDXP range of processors for 32 bit apps at an equivalent clock speed, approx 25% in most applications, and costs only slightly more. The 64 bit aspect is just an added bonus when XP64 and apps to support it come along................ >> Edited by stuh on Wednesday 25th August 15:41

Thought this would be the case, but didn't think it would be as much as 25%.

Thanks for the help guys, will probably go with the AMD64 3000+, Abit mobo and 1Gb RAM. Doom 3 here I come.

[ultimasimon]

O/T Hi Stuh. Been in Martin's Noble now he has 1200 on the clock, and wow what a blast I heard good things from those that took part in the Millbrook session.

tycho said:

stuh said: tycho said: Does anyone know how well these run? I'm thinking about upgrading from my Athlon 1200+ with a new motherboard, ram and processor. I saw these were out and wondered how quick they are on a 32 bit operating system or if I would be wasting my money on the 64 bit version. Go with the AMD64 - It's quicker than the older AMDXP range of processors for 32 bit apps at an equivalent clock speed, approx 25% in most applications, and costs only slightly more. The 64 bit aspect is just an added bonus when XP64 and apps to support it come along................ >> Edited by stuh on Wednesday 25th August 15:41 Thought this would be the case, but didn't think it would be as much as 25%. Thanks for the help guys, will probably go with the AMD64 3000+, Abit mobo and 1Gb RAM. Doom 3 here I come.

Don't know if you bought your system yet, but I run one of these and they're real small:



Its Athlon 64bit with:
3200 CPU
1 Gig ram,
1 10,000rpm 74gig Western Digital Raptor System drive.
1 7200rpm 300 gig storage drive
SATA Raid
DVD plus/minus re-writer
ATi 9800 All in wonder graphics with TV tuner
6 Channel sound
2 SPDIF {front and back)
Infra red built in
4 USB2
2 Firewire

All in that tiny footprint

The case is all aluminium so its quiet as it uses heat pipe technology and has quiet fans.

Its not any more expensive than a 'big box PC' and I think its a work of art

Some more pics.





I have had it about eight months now whereas normally I would have outed in 6 months ago! I love it.

edited to say I am waiting for Doom 3 to arrive any minute now, so I will let you know how it performs.


>> Edited by ultimasimon on Wednesday 25th August 20:22

[tycho]

ultimasimon said:

O/T Hi Stuh. Been in Martin's Noble now he has 1200 on the clock, and wow what a blast I heard good things from those that took part in the Millbrook session. tycho said: stuh said: tycho said: Does anyone know how well these run? I'm thinking about upgrading from my Athlon 1200+ with a new motherboard, ram and processor. I saw these were out and wondered how quick they are on a 32 bit operating system or if I would be wasting my money on the 64 bit version. Go with the AMD64 - It's quicker than the older AMDXP range of processors for 32 bit apps at an equivalent clock speed, approx 25% in most applications, and costs only slightly more. The 64 bit aspect is just an added bonus when XP64 and apps to support it come along................ >> Edited by stuh on Wednesday 25th August 15:41 Thought this would be the case, but didn't think it would be as much as 25%. Thanks for the help guys, will probably go with the AMD64 3000+, Abit mobo and 1Gb RAM. Doom 3 here I come. Don't know if you bought your system yet, but I run one of these and they're real small: Its Athlon 64bit with: 3200 CPU 1 Gig ram, 1 10,000rpm 74gig Western Digital Raptor System drive. 1 7200rpm 300 gig storage drive SATA Raid DVD plus/minus re-writer ATi 9800 All in wonder graphics with TV tuner 6 Channel sound 2 SPDIF {front and back) Infra red built in 4 USB2 2 Firewire All in that tiny footprint The case is all aluminium so its quiet as it uses heat pipe technology and has quiet fans. Its not any more expensive than a 'big box PC' and I think its a work of art Some more pics. I have had it about eight months now whereas normally I would have outed in 6 months ago! I love it. edited to say I am waiting for Doom 3 to arrive any minute now, so I will let you know how it performs. >> Edited by ultimasimon on Wednesday 25th August 20:22

That's nice, how much did that cost?

[rob_f]

Have a look at www.overclockers.co.uk mate, i think they're about £150. That's pretty good as a half decent motherboard/case will cost you at least £100. Was thinking about getting one of these myself and the Biostar Ideq (as pictured!) does seem to be the best ones at the moment. Although Aria do a case which will accept normal micro-atx motherboards which is supposed to also be very good (it's on the same site under cases). Personally i prefer the biostar solution.

Cheers,
Rob.

[ultimasimon]

tycho said:

That's nice, how much did that cost?

Its:
£154 for the bare bones base unit.

Athlon 64-bit 3000+, L2 Cache 1/2Mb. Includes fan £104.00
Athlon 64-bit 3200+, L2 Cache 1Mb. Includes fan £146.00

all plus vat but you should be able to beat these prices.

All you need to add is a hard-disk, a DVD/CDR and some ram and your there