AMD recommendations, anyone?

[alexg]

Hi all,

 

I'm always an AMD fan, and it's been quite a while since I last get a new workstation and now there's AMD Opteron, Athlon64, and Sempron.

Anyone can help me to point out which one is better?

 

General use will be acad, photoshop, and max

 

Thx guys

 

Regards

AlexG

[Elliot]

Alex,

 

Late last year I was set to build a dual Xeon 3.6ghz machine. At the very last minute I couldn't get the components, specially the CPU's. I became dissapointed and the very last minute I switched and built a Dual Opteron 250 with 4gb of Ram.

 

The machine is fast but always had the doubt if the Xeon could have been better. For Christmass present I ended up building the XEON. Once I tweaked everything the AMD seems to be faster. However, on the benchmarking the Xeon is faster. At the end my conclusion is that they are about the same. I like more the AMD.

 

The AMD was perhaps 5 to 10% less expensive. I like the AMD but I recommend the Xeon. Why.....? Simple...... AMD support like motherboard and chipset is always playing catch up with the Intel support. For example Xeons have had PCI Express for a good 1.5 years.... Last week they finally came up with a motherboard that will support AMD's and PCI Express. At these moment there are only TWO motherboards for the AMD's and PCI Express. Tyan 2895 and the IWILL.

 

In order for AMD to work good you have to write a code line on the boot.ini that will activate the NUMA-PAE software utility allowing a better use of the RAM memory. The problem is that code line makes the computer not truly compatible with software designed for Intels. One example is the Capture Editor 4.1.3 by Nikon. That is the software needed by the Nikon Digital Cameras. If you load that software there is a inmediate crash of the machine. It is 100% fast inmediate crash and the screen goes blue. Through some loopholes I have made it work but then the machine is really not working at full speed reverting the machine to an average computer.

 

If you are trying to save 5 - 10% go AMD, if you want a 100% compatibility go with Xeon. By the way, Nikon blames AMD and AMD blames Nikon. One of those deals..... On the other hand, I think there is problems with the Nikon's... Yesterday I purchased for my daughter a Canon 20D and there is no problem with software and no problem with backfocus.

 

Go AMD and if you using a digital camera go Canon.... He he he You save money on both the camera and the computer.... The backfocus problem on Nikons is super docummented. The compatibility problem with AMD is all over the internet. Do a google search on "Nikon Capture Editor and AMD Opterons" you will read some interesting things people say.

 

All my visualization programs and my engineering software runs good on both machine. I think SolidWorks performs better on the AMD.

 

Take a look at this techno geek forum on the Tyan Motherboard.....

 

http://www.abxzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79190&page=1&pp=1

 

Take a look at the AMD forum you will see some of the problems the computer enthusiasts have found.

 

 

Good Luck

ELliot

[AJLynn]

Alex-

 

The choice is going to depend a lot on your budget. Basically, Sempron is the budget AMD (not unlike Celeron, but faster than Celeron Athlon64 is a good consumer-level performer, cheaper than the Pentium4 and just as good. Opteron is a high-budget, professional-grade chip. There are a lot of good products to choose from, and I wouldn't shy away from AMD - they're a vey good price/performace option, the Opterons test as well as the Xeons and the Athlon 64s test as well and the P4s, and they have 64 bit support, which will be important in a year or two.

 

Unless you have a huge budget, go with Athlon64. Sempron does not have the 64-bit support, and isn't all that much cheaper than Athlon 64. Go with a Socket 939 if you can, both Opteron and A64 come in 939 versions (but remember to check - A64 also comes in Socket 754).

 

The PCI Express issue - actually, not a problem, and if you're into that kind of thing, a quick scan of Newegg.com shows that Asus and MSI have a few options each, with your choice of Via, SiS and nVidia chipsets, and with or without SLI support. PCI-E hasn't really got the point where it's significantly better than AGP, and SLI is really for gamers, but it's out there, and Asus and MSI products are both excellent.

 

I don't know what this NUMA-PAE issue is, and neither does Google, but on my MSI/nForce3-250 the RAM (Corsair XMS) works perfectly in DDR400 with 2-3-3-6 1T timing. The good motherboards these days will have both automatic and manual memory timing options so you can make sure you're getting optimal performance.

 

Now, the digital cameras, that's a whole other issue

 

BTW, I got a new keyboard in the mail today. Logitech UltraX. For those who like laptop keyboard, I say, BUY ONE OF THESE RIGHT NOW. It is sooooo nice - almost exactly like the diNovo only wired, and it costs $22 instead of $150.

[alexg]

Thanks Elliott / AJLynn

 

I don't use Nikon anymore since I switched to Olympus last year, so that might solve the problem.

I'll take a look at the forum as you suggested

 

Thank you for your inputs

 

Regards

AlxG

[Elliot]

Hello,

 

Numa and PAE is a symetrical way of better handling the memory on an dual CPU unit. Without it my machine could only recgonize 2gb of RAM out of the 4gb. And the 2gb was being used by only one of the processors.

 

With it my machine is recgonizes the 4gb of ram and it is assigning 2gb for each processor. I understand this allows each processor to independently make use of the memory.

 

I understand that this is going to be critical on the new 64bit Windows and the dual core CPU's around the corner. I really don't know much since I just kind of follow the instructions they gave to me. All I know this thing made my AMD machine very very very very fast. I still think that contrary to the benchmarking I get, the real throughput on the 3D software and the AMD is higher than on the XEONS.

 

I agree with AJlynn, it is all matter of budget and needs. I spent about 5K on the AMD and a little more on the XEON. But these machines are very complex with a RAID system on SSCI with 15,000 rpm drives and then the SATA Raids for storage. The AMD has a Quadro FX 1100 and the Xeon have a Quadro FX3400.

 

My son has a Sonny computer Pentium 3.4 with 2gb of Ram and an average 256mb video card. We bought it at a store already made. This computer was like 1.7K and it is practically as fast as the dual machines. On certain applications I think his machine is even faster. All this is very confusing.

 

There is a lot of confusion, people are thinking that the rendering program and the computer will make up for the lack of good modeling skills. I have an old Toshiba laptop 2.0ghz with 64gb Video Ram and 1gb Ram. When I am on the road I can do on the laptop almost everything I can do with the big machines. If I model it right I can even get fast results comparable to the big units.

 

Good about the Olympus....That solve the issue of Photoshop....

 

Here are some Microsoft links about NUMA and PAE... it is beyond my comprehension rate, I just followed the "recipe book" and it works.....

 

 

See you

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dllproc/base/numa_support.asp

 

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/server/datacenter/numa_isv.mspx

 

 

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/ddtools/hh/ddtools/BootIni_17b4305e-23ac-40ea-99db-4858b29a5d66.xml.asp

[vizwhiz]

There is a lot of confusion, people are thinking that the rendering program and the computer will make up for the lack of good modeling skills.

 

dont worry about Alex's modeling and rendering skills, just check This out

 

http://www.3designarchitect.com

 

a fast-er machine will only accelerate his excellent work

 

Randy

[Elliot]

Randy,

 

Thanks for bringing to my attention that fantastic website from Alex.....! Wao.... these young kids make me feel so obsolete...... He he he he

 

I am one of those trying to get the machine to supplement my lack of skills.... He he he I have put this little mini farm here but I can't get a good image.... Like with the camera, my daughter keeps telling me that what's wrong is the part behind the viewfinder.... He he he..... And the worst part is they do not sell replacement parts for this model anymore.... You should hear the opinion of my wife....... about the same part behind the viewfinder..... He he he

 

Thanks.... I am going back to my 2D gas piping layout.... He he he

 

Thanks

Elliot

[alexg]

Gee, Randy Thanks for that, mate

 

And for all you guys, thx a lot for the info, I'm not really familiar about the hi end IT stuff, so I will need to 'meditate' on your links a little.

 

Cheers

AlxG