amd Processors

[spivvy]

being an intel man i am confused over the AMD offering

there seems to be 3 top end processors

the dual core 64
the 64
and the 64fx

i am looking to build a system based on an AM2 socket

whhat is the difference and which is the best

i assume it is between the 64fx and dual core

i still want to run 32 bit apps but want it primarily for gaming

any help appreciated

[Tonsko]

Have you got an AMD mobo at the moment? If not, then go for the Pentium Duo's - the current offerings really trounce the AMD's for raw power, and they really lend themselves to overclocking.

If you have an AMD mobo, then the FX-60/62 are the real top end chips and will cost a fortune. A mid range chip X2(dual core)4200 is a good balance between cost and power (will cost around 250-300 quid).

Don't forget, if you get an AMD system, you can't yet use DDR2 memory, something I found to my cost. lol.

[scorp]

Cant use DDR2 memory? What about the Abit AN9 (fatal1ty) motherboard?

[Tonsko]

Er..I did hear rumours that the very latest AMD boards might be compatible with DDR2. Otherwise AMD CPU's and their mobos couldn't address DDR2 fundamentally.

You're now going to come up with evidence to the contrary I guess!

Edited by Tonsko on Thursday 3rd August 14:56

[spivvy]

this am2 motherboards from asus seem to support DDR2 if i am not mistaken

Item : Asus M2N-E AM2, DDR2, PCI-E, SATA2, GBLan 7.1Snd, ATX
Brand/Model : Asus M2N-E
Chipset : NVIDIA nForce® 570 Ultra™ MCP
FSB : 2000 / 1600 MT/s
CPU Socket : AM2
Max. CPU Without Bios Update :
Max. CPU With Bios Update :
Memory Type : Dual channel memory architecture, 4 x 240-pin DIMM
Maximum Memory : 8GB
Max. Memory Speed : DDR2 800/667/533 ECC and non-ECC, un-buffered memo

loads here

www.eclipse-computers.com/products.aspx?cat=26&subcat=337&brand=8

Edited by spivvy on Thursday 3rd August 15:15

[scorp]

Tonsko said:

Er..I did hear rumours that the very latest AMD boards might be compatible with DDR2. Otherwise AMD CPU's and their mobos couldn't address DDR2 fundamentally.

You're now going to come up with evidence to the contrary I guess!

Edited by Tonsko on Thursday 3rd August 14:56

I thought i was mistaken at first, been speccing up a 64bit machine myself and the parts i was going for was the AN9 with £300 worth of DDR2 mem (Corsair TwinX - 2gb), i thought i was going to end up buying a load of expensive and incompatible ram for it for a second

[Tonsko]

AM2 - that explains it. I'm still operating on socket 939-frequency. Learnt something!

[Zad]

Tonsko said:

Have you got an AMD mobo at the moment? If not, then go for the Pentium Duo's - the current offerings really trounce the AMD's for raw power, and they really lend themselves to overclocking.

If you have an AMD mobo, then the FX-60/62 are the real top end chips and will cost a fortune. A mid range chip X2(dual core)4200 is a good balance between cost and power (will cost around 250-300 quid).

Don't forget, if you get an AMD system, you can't yet use DDR2 memory, something I found to my cost. lol.

Nice set of inaccuracies there.

Intel trouncing AMD? Hmm no.
AMDs overclock like an absolute peach.
In today's offers at Micro Direct, they had X2 4200 for £123.36.
Socket 939 AMDs don't support DDR2 memory, mainly because even the fastest overclocked X2 wasn't saturating the memory channel. Current AM2 Socket systems support DDR2 but aren't seeing any benefit from it. The main reason for the move is that DDR2 is getting cheaper.

[robdickinson]

What Zad said.

Intel core 2 duo's are currently slaughtering AMD's best offerings, but AMD have dropped price a lot to compete, wont relay get back in the top end game until next year.

Am2 is basicaly for DDR2 as stated doesnt realy give much performance increase AS YET because the chips arnt memory starved. Later on you'll get quad core chips which will need it.

[scorp]

What about latency, is DDR800 (DDR2) quicker (than the rest) in that regard?

[robdickinson]

I dont think latency has changed much. AMD's memory controler is on chip & superfast anyhow.

Intels new Core 2 duo's technicaly arnt anywhere near as fast but their smart prefetch makes up for most of its deficiencies.

[rich1231]

If you are going to build a system now, and are not tied to an existing motherboard/socket/memory combo. You will not be able to beat Intels new conroe offerings. At the moment they are jumping up and down on everything else. No point in predicting the future though.

Quad cores around Chrimbo as well..

[mattley]

Zad said:

Nice set of inaccuracies there.

Intel trouncing AMD? Hmm no.

Hmm yes actually, by quite a lot.

full article here http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/07/14/

[stuh]

mattley said:

Zad said:

Nice set of inaccuracies there.

Intel trouncing AMD? Hmm no.

Hmm yes actually, by quite a lot.

full article here http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/07/14/

Got my shiny new Duo Extreme 6800 on Friday..............f*** it's quick

As an example my previous Athlon 64 3500, took about 45 secs to apply my standard set of PS filters. New cpu, about 20 secs!!

Edited by stuh on Sunday 6th August 10:25

[robdickinson]

stuh said:

Got my shiny new Duo Extreme 6800 on Friday..............f*** it's quick

As an example my previous Athlon 64 3500, took about 45 secs to apply my standard set of PS filters. New cpu, about 20 secs!!

Photoshop is one orf those programs thats always worked better on intel than AMD, probably a bad example to use, but if its the app you use then definatly go for Intel.

New Core 2 duo's do tend to spank AMD's current chips everywhere tho.

[gannmaster]

just got a new system with an FX60 in it. Also 10000rpm disks. bl00dy quick is the technical term.

[Tonsko]

Zad said:

stuff

Thanks Mattley. I thought I was going mad.