AMD 64 FX -74 3.0 GHz

Your configuration will be good and futureproof when Barcelona is out but for now, it really makes no sense to put 2 FX-74 on it; too expensive. If you really want to start off this early with a QFX motherboard, save the FX-74 money for a couple of much tougher Barcelona quads and for about $360 altogether, throw a couple of Opteron 2210s. Even at stock speed they will kill any dual core (even the XE6800) in multithreaded apps:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E1681...

thanks, I'll look that way

If you REALLY wanted a quad FX system, you'd be best with two FX70s and overclocking them.

I'd say talk to this guy.

http://amd4x4.blogspot.com

Intel is the way to go right ?? 70 fx 74 fx not much differance is there ??

jumping jack iam going to looks like what i was going for myself.



2 -150G WD Raptor Raided 0
22" Samsung
8800Gtx
Lian cases
x-fi sound
logitech G15 keyboard
Razer cpperhead mouse

I'd say talk to this guy.

http://amd4x4.blogspot.com

I'd say stop posting blogs as fact.


Well, if he would like to hear about someone WHO SAYS THEY HAVE IT......

If not, he can just get a C2Q or a C2D or an X2 or whatever.

Don't forget the socket F Opterons can work on that board too; the lower end dual cores heve a much better price/performance than the FX-70 and a couple of them can be as low as $360 for the 2210s or $440 for two 2212s:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
And most probably, they will easily overclock to FX-70 levels.

  What?

just good?!
Anything like a FX series at this moment would be insane;The QX6700 just kills any QFX combination and barcelona will hit the market in few months. Sincerely, even if I had al the money to get the FX-74s I'd feel a lot fooled to buy them now.

:?: :!:

Howdy,

Someone here already posted a link to my blog (http://amd4x4.blogspot.com).

This system is pretty cool, and I would recommend building one if: you are planning on running XP 32 bit only. Across the board I've found that there are major driver issues with both XP 64 and Vista 64 which is really pretty disappointing. There is a pretty high penalty for trying to get 4 GB of addressable RAM.

I might also investigate using a 3rd party RAID card. I really don't think the NVidia RAID controller is worth the silicon it's printed on, I found that the best performance I got with the 150 raptors was 99 MB/s average read, recent benchmarks indicate that this is even lower under Vista 64.

I would also get the FX-70 chips and overclock to 3.0 Ghz if you really want the extra speed. The premium you are going to pay for the 74's doesn't really justify the added cost. Unless you are running folding at home or something similar you're not really going to see the difference.

Also 2 other people have reported the same issues I've had with the (dead) ethernet controller.

You should be fine with 2 GB of RAM unless you're doing serious development work and running at least two games in the background ^ ^. Make sure you get 4x512mb to take advantage of the DDR2, unless of course you are going to go 4 GB (which isn't fully addressable under XP32).

Another option that I might recommend is: wait. NVidia has really dropped the ball in the last few months. The software support for their hardware is half finished at best under Vista, their XP64 support was quite bad as well. You might also consider buying the R600 which is slated to launch soon instead of the 8800 GTX.

My hope is that AMD/ATI is planning to release a 4x4 motherboard along with the R600. I think that we'll find that the software support for the hardware is much better.

Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have any questions (listed on my blog profile)

I'd say talk to this guy.

http://amd4x4.blogspot.com

I'd say stop posting blogs as fact.

Hey Jack,

Every hardware site out there got a box on November 30th, pre-built, to run their set of benchmarks on. Why re-invent the wheel? I don't need to run the same set of benchmarks Tom's, OCP or hot hardware ran. There are plenty of articles written on the 70, 72, and 74 - including all the specs and costs.

My intention was not to write another long article about the FX platform filled with charts and graphs - it's been done already. Instead it's purpose is more to document my experience of building this machine so that others might benefit from the experience in the future.

Furthermore, none of the information presented in the blog is patently "false" and there are some "facts" available in the various posts, as well as some "editorial information".

Stare at the numbers all you want, but they don't tell the whole story when there are four processors in your machine, Intel or AMD. This is doubly true now that we have operating systems "smart" enough to use them all.

Thanks for the bump Baron.

I'd say talk to this guy.

http://amd4x4.blogspot.com

I'd say stop posting blogs as fact.

Hey Jack,

Every hardware site out there got a box on November 30th, pre-built, to run their set of benchmarks on. Why re-invent the wheel? I don't need to run the same set of benchmarks Tom's, OCP or hot hardware ran. There are plenty of articles written on the 70, 72, and 74 - including all the specs and costs.

My intention was not to write another long article about the FX platform filled with charts and graphs - it's been done already. Instead it's purpose is more to document my experience of building this machine so that others might benefit from the experience in the future.

Furthermore, none of the information presented in the blog is patently "false" and there are some "facts" available in the various posts, as well as some "editorial information".

Stare at the numbers all you want, but they don't tell the whole story when there are four processors in your machine, Intel or AMD. This is doubly true now that we have operating systems "smart" enough to use them all.

Thanks for the bump Baron.


Not a problem. I got some good info from your site.

The last I heard the R600 was two months away. Have there been any credible rumours about a new 4X4 motherboard at that same time? I'm not overly enamoured by what I've read about the current QFX motherboard but I'd sure love to go with 8 cores in Q3 without resorting to FB-DIMMs.