Dual-Opterons for Gaming

[Archetype]

Ther's a big problem; AMD's socket 939 is officially extinct as far as I'm concerned, since they're looking to phase into anoher platform next quarter.

The problem is that i have a major machine to build for someone, and I cannot built a non-upgreadable, dead-end system. So, I'm thinking of popping in a single, mid-level dual-Op, and this way the machine can be doubled with another dually later.

1) However, I'm not sure is the dual-Ops will work in single config (seems like I heard they wouldn't).

2) Also, I can't find the future of the 940 socket; will that be around for a while, or is it being phsed out, too?

3) Last, how does a single dual-Op like the Troy 250 2.4Ghz compare with a dual-core AMD64 4200+, or some of the sort, in the gaming arena? I can't find ANY comparisons on a Win64 OS. Does the Win64 not support dual-Opterons for some reason, or has nobody gotten around to testing things out?

These are some problematic questions I have to find some answers to before I can really consider going dual-Op.

Any help or pointers would be great.

Thanks,

- Richard Skenderian
rskenderian@corptex.com

[drinking12many]

THe current socket 940 is very different, once they move all their products to DDR2 AM2 940 the sockets with current 940s are not compatible. Im not sure how much long the the older 940s will stay at 940 pin but ive heard they will move up to something like 1200 pins once they decide to go to FB-DImms. I use a DC opteron 165 oc'd to 2400mhz and it works like a champ for anything I throw at it including fear and bf2, oblivion scrolls hurts it but thats all GPU based. I have ran XP 64bit on my dual opteron but driver and app support caused me to go back to 32 bit. Hope that helps. But if you decide to get them a dual proc mb and put dual cores in it to start and leave the other one empty remember opterons use seperate memory for each socket. So if you add a chip you have to add more ram ito the other processors slots

[Shyguy]

huh? Extinct? Hardly... yes its the older "platform" but from reading some of teh stuff I have on the AM2 platform, the only difference between 939 & the new 940 pin set up, besides One Pin, is that It has a newer Memory Controller, & works using DDR2 memory, thats about it... & considering that AM2 only came out less than a week ago... I'd say its safe to say 939 is not extinct... Sure if you want to have expandability & assured Upgradeability, AM2 is the way to go, but same can be said for the Intel camp, with Conroe coming out eventually... or in a few years when a newer AMD platform comes out same can be said then... just because new platform is out, doesn't neccessarily mean the previous is dead, look at the Old 940 after 939 came out, up until they started making 939 Opty's the platform was still holding on...?

As for the Higher end X2 CPU's vs Dual core Opty's, Many of the Higher end X2's are at least specs wise the same as a comparable Dual Core opteron... so I would imagine the performance would be similar if not same... & if there was a difference, Its safe to say the Difference would be negligible, except for maybe in Benchmarks, many of which don't apply to the real world use, except for bragging rights... If you want best gaming experience, invest in the best bang for your buck in a Video card (or two or 4 if you go SLI or Crossfire), that'll yield a bigger boost in gaming than a Dual core or Multiple Dual cores will... Not too many games these days really support Dual cores, though that will change in the next year I believe...

[dcdc]

have you considered core duo? the specs are impressive. I'm not sure which is cheaper but the 6400 isn't too pricey and allows a decent OC too.

I've been a big fan of AMD for a long time now (although the Tualatin core P3s are still great CPUs), but the specs on the core duos make it the undoubted leader. I know this is at a price, but then would an opty system be much cheaper for the same performance?

Apparently the xeon line is a pretty good buy for a top end rig (although its apparently cheaper to get a mac pro!), which would allow you to go SMP, and/or there'll be the kentsfields 4 cores out at some point as an upgrade option.

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[Shyguy]

you mean Core 2 Duo's (Conroe)... Core Duo is the previous one, the new ones, Conroe, is Core 2 Duo...

[dcdc]

yeah Shyguy - sorry - meant core 2 duo! although yonah is a pretty good CPU too!

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