ktm07 Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Hi everyone! I am in the process of selecting a new system and I need to keep it around $1500 therefore I am planning on building my (done this several times). This is the setup that I am considering: Thermaltake XASER, Armor Series Case ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe MB eVGA 256-P2-N517-AX Geforce 7800GT 256MB Video card AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester Processor CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner I will be using this for as a primary workhorse doing modeling (3DS Max) rendering (V-Ray) and Photoshop. This setup will run me just over $1400, does it seem to be an OK setup?? Thanks in advance! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazy Homeless Guy Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 if your case comes with a power supply, make sure it has a 24 pin lead. i don't know the specs on your motherboard, but I am guessing it will want one. again, it has been about a year since but it if I remember right, an SLI deluxe board is set up for 2 video cards. you can run it with one, but if you are worried about money, you might be able to shave some money off by going with a different board. research everythig i said before you take my word for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Keep everything but switch to a dual 3.4 xeon with an "ncch" asus motherboard and I think you'll end up around the same amount (go down to 3.2 xeons if needed). Now, its been a while and I know I need to catch up with technology (not quite up to date with those x2 amds), but you might wanna check it out. I'd think that Opterons are faster than Xeons at the moment, but Xeons are still faster than single CPU setup. But there again... and again... Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm07 Posted February 9, 2006 Author Share Posted February 9, 2006 The AMD x2 processor is a dual core CPU but a 939 socket as apposed to the opteron 940. Is the Xenon faster than the athelon dual core? Thanks! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 9, 2006 Share Posted February 9, 2006 Oh, I know what they are (the x2) I just don't know how fast they are relative to real dual CPU setup like the Xeons. My guess would be the Xeons are faster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommy L Posted February 10, 2006 Share Posted February 10, 2006 http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2/athlon64-x2/index.x?pg=1 all you need to know.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Each Xeon CPU is about the price of an AthlonX2, the dual-socket motherboard costs more, and the speed is similar or if anything the AthlonX2 is faster than the dual Xeon. In these tests, the AthlonX2 consistently outperforms more expensive dual Xeons in Max and mental ray rendering. And if you're feeling adventurous you can overclock the crap out of the Athlon. Why spend $400 extra for a slightly slower system? If you shop around, the extra cost of the Intel box can buy you a whole PC to use as another render node. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Yup, I guess you are right. I think renderers like vray do take better advantage of HT technology than Mental Ray, so for vray users Xeons still might be an option, but... I still prefer newer technology and AMDs anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I have a question that somehow relates to the same topic (sorry for hijacking the thread here...) Would an NF3 Ultra based mobo like the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 ULTRA-D with an AGP slot that supports the X2 CPUs perform any different than, say the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe mentioned above, as far as CPU performance (rendering)? I'm thinking about a small upgrade (mobo and X2 CPU) but idealy would like to keep my AGP quadro without loosing potential CPU juice. Any info about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Actually I'm pretty sure the NF3 boards are all Socket 754 which does not support AthlonX2 - AthlonX2 chips are Socket 939. Also the NF4 chipset and Socket 939 use a faster version of Hypertransport which should be a bit of an advantage. I have an MSI NF3-250 board (the 250 is the fast version) with an Athlon64 and a Quadro4 900 AGP as my home system, the whole thing was pretty cheap - there was a lot of Ebaying involved - and I'm very happy with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigcahunak Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Oh no. Plenty of them are 939. That one I mentioned (DFI) is and specifically says that supports the x2 http://us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=3160&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=US I'm just wondering about, well... what I said... any potential CPU power loss. BTW, I thought NF3 Ultra was faster than NF3 250. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pailhead Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Each Xeon CPU is about the price of an AthlonX2, the dual-socket motherboard costs more, and the speed is similar or if anything the AthlonX2 is faster than the dual Xeon. In these tests, the AthlonX2 consistently outperforms more expensive dual Xeons in Max and mental ray rendering. And if you're feeling adventurous you can overclock the crap out of the Athlon. Why spend $400 extra for a slightly slower system? If you shop around, the extra cost of the Intel box can buy you a whole PC to use as another render node. Don't forget the expensive ram, the expensive power supply... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm07 Posted February 11, 2006 Author Share Posted February 11, 2006 Thanks for all the input!! After reading thru all the tech reports I think the x2 is still the best route. The possible exception may be going with the opteron 170 dual core and over clocking it to 2.5 ghz. What I would really like to find is a mobo with dual 939 sockets! But so far have been unsuccessful. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJLynn Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 Oh no. Plenty of them are 939. That one I mentioned (DFI) is and specifically says that supports the x2 http://us.dfi.com.tw/Product/xx_product_spec_details_r_us.jsp?PRODUCT_ID=3160&CATEGORY_TYPE=LP&SITE=US I'm just wondering about, well... what I said... any potential CPU power loss. BTW, I thought NF3 Ultra was faster than NF3 250. Oh, I was thinking of another set of boards, you're right. The difference between that and an NF4 would come down almost entirely to AGP vs. PCIE. And, Tom, there aren't any dual-socket 939s (or at least there weren't a couple months ago...) That's the only really good reason to go with Opterons - dual-socket 940. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tecton3d Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Hi everyone! I am in the process of selecting a new system and I need to keep it around $1500 therefore I am planning on building my (done this several times). This is the setup that I am considering: Thermaltake XASER, Armor Series Case ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe MB eVGA 256-P2-N517-AX Geforce 7800GT 256MB Video card AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester Processor CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Western Digital Raptor WD740GD 74GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner I will be using this for as a primary workhorse doing modeling (3DS Max) rendering (V-Ray) and Photoshop. This setup will run me just over $1400, does it seem to be an OK setup?? Thanks in advance! Tom Thanks to the dual core Opteron price drop: cd burner: LITE-ON Black IDE CD Burner Model SOHR-5239V BK RT - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16827106997 case: CHENMING CMUI-P-601AEB-0 Black 1.0mm SECC Server Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16811125480 Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar WD800BB 80GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822144102 Vid Card: SAPPHIRE 100945L-BK Radeon 7000 64MB DDR PCI Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814102447 Motherboard: ASUS K8N-DL Dual Socket 940 NVIDIA nForce4 Professional http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813131059 Power supply: AMS PP-5503EPS EPS12V 550W Power Supply - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817101108 HSF: Scythe FCS-50 Heatlane CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16835185107 Memory (x2): CORSAIR 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) ECC Registered http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820145309 Alright ~ I got Lazy and Newegg'd everything... shop around (and e-baying) and you may be able to get for closer to $600: ----- $661 subtotal ----- $719 shipped above system w/ MSI K8T Master2-FAR7 and 20gh HD = closer to $626 subtotal cheap: Asus K8N-DL with 265 processors @ 307 each = 614 + 661 = $1275 cheapest: MSI K8T Master2-FAR7 with 20 gb hd and 265's @ 307 each = 614 + 626 = $1240 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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