Dual AMD or Dual Intel for audio application

[cygnus]

Hi Everybody:

Right now I'm up for upgrading my current PC from an AMD Athlon XP 2200 to either a dual AMD 64 or Dual Intel 64 processor and just wanted some of your perspective on power, speed and bang for the buck. My main audio app can use hyperthreading and I plan on running several programs at a time. Until Longhorn comes out and 64bit drivers have been written by major manufacturers, I plan on sticking to XP Pro.

The choices:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core 2.0GHz Microprocessor for $336.00

or

Intel LGA 775 Pentium D 830 3.0 GHz CPU, Dual-Core, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache, Support EM64T 64 Bit for $321.99

I'm listening to you and thanks in advance for your comments.

 

[endyen]

The two are fairly close performers.
The difference lays in heat output. The Intel system puts out a lot more heat than the A64. Not only does this make for a bad environment for you, what with the noisey fan and extra warmth in the room, but it also makes things tough for components inside the case.
Get the A64, and be cool (haha).

 

[ltcommander_data]

Both processors perform similarly in multimedia applications.

However, I would suggest you wait another 2 weeks as the 830D will be replaced with the 930D. The 930D will have double the cache making it faster than the 830D, and it will run both cooler and more energy efficient. The release of the 930D will also drop the 830D to clear inventory giving you the option of getting the 830D if you want value.

Once the 930D is released, you could compare it to the X2 3800+ for a more up to date performance comparison.

 

[cygnus]

Thanks for you input endyen, heat is truly a concern for me. On the other side, shouldn't a hyperthreaded dual CPU behave like a quad CPU PC? In this case the raw power is huge.

 

[RichPLS]

:roll: Or you could get an Opteron 165 now and enjoy the performance today of tomorrows next Intel release, with still probably less heat and better performance.

 

[theholylancer]

if you wait a bit for amd's socket AM2 or M2 or w/e they are calling it now, as it will have DDR2 (can have bigger memory moduals compared to DDR1, but shitty timings................... 4-4-4-10 Vs. 2-2-2-5..... don't matter as much though as that they will have a 1GHz speed instead of 200MHz or in my case 250) if you want one NOW then get amd as that the intel one will suck up more power and it produces more heat, and for audio encoding in a home, more heat = more noise = mad wife/gf/kids/yourself/everyone. but if you are not paying for energy bills and don't need to stick around for it to work then get intel, it acts are a great space heater


and no hyper threading will not make you raw processing power huge, because i mearly spolits w/e tasks into two logical cores instead of a real one, that means if you got a floating point intensive app and a interger intensive app open, then HT will help, while if you just have two or more floating point intensive app or interge intensive app then you will be still screwed, maybe even more so as that it will try to cram throse two things into two logical cores, and then the logical cores have to try to cram it into the single real core and then..........

and i don't think that anything but the Extreme editions have hyper threading and dual core.... someone correct me if i'm wrong

 

[endyen]

The only Intel dual cores with HT are the XE or extreme editions. The vanilla 820D, 830D and 840D do not have HT

 

[cygnus]

Thanks guys, this is exactly why I come here, knowledgeable people helping out less knowledgeable people.

As a matter of fact, i don't mind waiting a couple of weeks till something new comes out and pushes down the prices of the old stuff. It will also take me this much to continue researching and make up my mind. Anyway, today's best will be gone tomorrow and that is a fight I now nobody can win....

Holy Lancer, I think you're right, the 830 doesn't support HT.

 

[the_guru]

What kind of audio applications do you run?

 

[cygnus]

I run, Sonar 5, Guitar Rig, Reason, Sound Forge and a plethora of software synths....

 

[Admiral_Cecil]

Hello,

Get a dual core Opteron (939 pin). They are faster than AMD X2 and OC better. Cost is a little high but AMD has discontinued them and get them before they run out.

Right now everyone is getting the Opteron dual core 175 (2x 2.2 ghz) with 2 x 1mb cache. They OC from 2.7 to as high as 2.8 even.

Opterons run much faster, lower temps, and lower voltages than P4 dual cores and server cpu's.


P.S.: You may need to update your mobo to the latest bios to run the dual core correctly. It's basically the same for the AMD X2's.

 

[theholylancer]

ops missed one important part... if software do not support hard ware, the newest stuff won't help.....

so i goto hand this over to some music encoding guru..... and since there are many encoder that will work better one intel stuff i can't really say anything about it even if it breaks your ear drums....

 

[the_guru]

Ok, according to some swedish music producers the nForce4 chipsets isn't recommended for professional music production. Like the applications you are using. If you are going to pick the AMD dual core don't pick a nforce4 motherboard. I've built several music studio computers and most people have recommended Intel in music production. I don't know what the case is with dual core but if you want a serious answer you should ask in a music forum, not a computer forum. There could be several issues and computer geeks aren't that good at music production.

 

[Admiral_Cecil]

Hello,

Opterons are actually the higher quality batch of chips like the FX. The AMD 939's that do not meet the higher quality standards are sold as the 3000, 3200, 3700, and X2's, but that doesn't mean the lower priced equivalents are bad at all.

It's the same with the 6800: only a few became the ultra (high cost), a few more became the GT (mid cost), and the rest became the 6800 (lower cost and lower clock)

 

[cygnus]

so you'd recommend going for an Opteron socket 940 instead of a dual Athlon 64 socket 939? The cost is about the same but the Opteron says "For dual CPU solutions" so I take it isn't dual core or am I wrong?

 

[endyen]

The s939 opterons are getting a little rare. Amd has promised to continue production till the end of next year, but they may only be available to the workstation set.

 

[theholylancer]

not a socket 940 opertron, a socket 939 opertron.... a 940 works only with ECC ram and special 940 mobo (cost big bucks and only good for rock solid stability for servers 24/7 type services......) a 939 is a highly binned A64/X2 chip or should i say the the A64/X2 is a failed opertron that passes A64/X2 testing

 

[pmr]

Hi Everybody:

Right now I'm up for upgrading my current PC from an AMD Athlon XP 2200 to either a dual AMD 64 or Dual Intel 64 processor and just wanted some of your perspective on power, speed and bang for the buck. My main audio app can use hyperthreading and I plan on running several programs at a time. Until Longhorn comes out and 64bit drivers have been written by major manufacturers, I plan on sticking to XP Pro.

The choices:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core 2.0GHz Microprocessor for $336.00

or

Intel LGA 775 Pentium D 830 3.0 GHz CPU, Dual-Core, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache, Support EM64T 64 Bit for $321.99

I'm listening to you and thanks in advance for your comments.

Powermac G5!