Dual CPU PC

[techreactor]

I am thinking about building a Dual CPU (in fact earlier I was thinking about a Dual core AMD X2), but the prices of an Athlon64 4200+ X2 is 3 times more than the cost of an Athlon64 3200+ here.

So I thought, why not build a Dual CPU PC than an X2, but few questions :

- Is this a valid configuration, will it work with XP, improve performance.
- Are there MB's available to support Dual CPU's, if yes, which ones.
- Will it be comparable to the Athlon64 X2's processing power of the same configuration.
- Can someone explain the diff betwn socket 939 and 754(apart from the cpu pins), and how am i effected by this.

[Chewy]

the dual cpu idea will cost more than dual core
dual socket motherboards are expensive and the opterons are too
socket 940 is what amd server boards are using

if I went dual cpu dual socket it would be with 2 dual core opterons

[anonymez]

the benchmarks show that they're similar, but on almost every occasion, the dual core beats the dual cpu equivalent. this is with both amd and intel.

Is this a valid configuration, will it work with XP, improve performance.

yup

Are there MB's available to support Dual CPU's, if yes, which ones.

yes, but as chewy said, they're pricey

Will it be comparable to the Athlon64 X2's processing power of the same configuration.

yes, but still lower performance, not to mention higher power consumption/heat. also likely end up costing more

Can someone explain the diff betwn socket 939 and 754(apart from the cpu pins), and how am i effected by this.

939 has 128bit memory bus, 754 has 64. 939 runs cooler, better OCing and a little faster, maybe ~5-10%

go with a dual core

[techreactor]

thanks chewy and anony.

That brings me to another question, which motherboard supports both Athlon64 and Athlon64 X2 as I might go for the cheaper Athlon64 now and upgrade later.(am a bit tight on the budget)

Also what criteria determines this compatibility.

[Chewy]

I would definitely go for socket 939, I use asus but whatever is available to you at the best price/performance, all the recent boards/bios support X2 cpu's.
On a budget I would go for an amd64 3000 but get a good motherboard and good ram and overclock some. Later the X2's will drop in price(hopefully?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Order=REVIEWS&Page=1&N=2010200022+1070907495&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=22

tells the most popular

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Order=RATING&Page=1&N=2010200022+1070907495&Submit=ENE&Subcategory=22

tells the best rated?

[anonymez]

most 939 boards support X2 with a bios udpate-- pick a board/s that suits your needs, and google away :^)

currently all boards in my household are asus

[techreactor]

and good ram and overclock some. Later the X2's will drop in price(hopefully?)

Can you define "good ram" in terms of the specifications and also what key specs to look at in the Mobo's also. This will help me in the search.

[Chewy]

cas 2 is good ram pc3200 matched sticks with heatspreader

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147+1052107965+1052508679&Subcategory=147&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=

a good example

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450

[techreactor]

Also since I am also constantly searching while posting here. The two processors which come within my budget are :

Athlon64 3200+ socket 939

and

Pentium D 2.66 2x1MB L2/Processor 805, socket T Dual core.

Infact the Pentium one is slightly cheaper. Are you aware of any benchmarks between the two, specifically for Video encoding. Which one do you recommend amongst the two.

I am not concerned with more power usage, since I dont keep them ON 24x7.

[Chewy]

heat is the main issue with Intel

that intel is probably faster at multithreaded encoding, but the 533 bus is lame!

[anonymez]

depends on what you're encoding with. if the app is single threaded (as in gaming and most mainstream apps-- multithreaded digital video apps are a-plenty ), the 3200+ outperforms the PD in pretty much everything. if multithreaded, no question, the PD wins-- much heat and power consumption, but so damn cheap

get some good ram and plenty of it if you're going to multitask

[Chewy]

the PD wins-- much heat and power consumption, but so damn cheap

Intel had to do something to preserve market share, now will amd lower X2 prices? Probably not, the way the X2 is selling.

[techreactor]

although the Pentium D 805 has a 533 bus but looking at this benchmark, it fairly outperforms the Athlon64 3000+ in most of them and definitely in the encoding tasks (thats where my prime area of interest is).

[anonymez]

as i said, the PD will win in multithreaded apps-- as most dv apps now are :^)

as for single threaded apps, including avisynth in the equation gives a small boost