True Spider System (should I wait?)

[Xpyrofuryx]

Alright, I am getting a true spyder system. My question is the AMD Phenoms have been having the cache problem as you all probably know. So, should I wait until they released the revised Phenom? Get one now, and trade in later? or wait until the PhenomFX is released? ...or get a Q6600 lol
Heres a what its gonna be with Spyder-wise:

AMD Phenom X4 Agena 9500 (I definately plan to Overclock)
MSI Platinum AMD 790FX socket AM2+
2x CF VisionTek ATI Radeon HD3870's

 

[bfellow]

Wait for the 9550 which fould have the errata problem fixed. Also, I have no idea there is a HD 3900 series coming out soon.

 

[Scotteq]

I would recommend waiting a few weeks to see how the AMD side shakes out before spending any money at all - Whether it goes AMD or Intel in the end.

If it were my money, I'd also want to have a deeper understanding of how *exactly* the Spider system works. The primary question being whether or not it's somehow transparent to the games you are running, or if it requires driver support a'la SLI/Crossfire. The former case being a gamer's wet dream. The latter... well.... dependent on software writers to create/build support in the games we play in order to make it work...

 

[BaronMatrix]

Alright, I am getting a true spyder system. My question is the AMD Phenoms have been having the cache problem as you all probably know. So, should I wait until they released the revised Phenom? Get one now, and trade in later? or wait until the PhenomFX is released? ...or get a Q6600 lol
Heres a what its gonna be with Spyder-wise:

AMD Phenom X4 Agena 9500 (I definately plan to Overclock)
MSI Platinum AMD 790FX socket AM2+
2x CF VisionTek ATI Radeon HD3970's

It depends on if you are DIY or buying retail. There is a great deal on a retail system at maingear.com or cyberpowerpc.com The CyberPower has water cooling for $1355. With a passive GPU, you will almost have a silent PC.

 

[Harrisson]

If you have money, just go for Intel. If you prefer AMD (which still has nice price/performance for X2, ATI 3800), then wait for B3 stepping, I wouldnt recommend current tbh, its not worth it. Its either X2 for low price or Intel dual/quad atm IMO.

 

[speedbird]

You may be waiting sometime for the 'fixed Phenom's'... the mere fact they released a bugged product in the first place, then lied about it only effecting the 2.4Ghz Phenom, says a lot about AMD's commitment to their customers

Q6600 is tried and tested with an affordable price tag

 

[Xpyrofuryx]

I did see about the phenom with B3 stepping, that might be worth waiting for. And what does the Phenom 9550 have special? Will the bug be fixed on either the B3 stepping one or the 9550?

Also I heard the bug only really shows up in lab conditions, not really anything that would inconvienance me too much

 

[pchoi04]

nothing wrong with the Q6600 and enjoy your system now.

 

[bfellow]

The 9550 will be the B3 revision of the 9500 which should have better performance. If you have anything that utilizes all 4 cores with a heavy workload, then you would encounter the bug (i.e. virtualization) and higher clock speed would cause the bug to be more prevalent (my guess on why they pulled everything above 2.4ghz off the market).

 

[Xpyrofuryx]

so will the 9550 have the cache bug? And how much do you think itll cost?

 

[ro3dog]

I'm also waiting to he spider because I think it will be a solid system.AMD will be coming out with drivers for Q Xfire in january,the same drivers for the X2 3870.

 

[Harrisson]

so will the 9550 have the cache bug? And how much do you think itll cost?

No, it wont. I dont think AMD would screwup up fixing TLB bug, just maybe introduce new ones (kidding )

 

[epsilon84]

I'd stay away from current Phenoms to be honest, just too many problems, and they aren't very overclockable either.

I'm sure you've heard it 100s of times already... but... wait for B3.

Or you can just take the 'easy' way out and get a Q6600.

 

[Xpyrofuryx]

I also heard this somewhere, not sure how true it is. But I heard that Win XP doesnt utilize 4 cores all that well, and Vista does it better, but still not all that well. But AMD is releasing a patch or something that will make the utilization of the four cores in Windows a lot better. this wont change anything like game benchmarks really but in general multi-tasking that will help. i do multi-tasking ALOT, even more then gaming.

 

[Scotteq]

I also heard this somewhere, not sure how true it is. But I heard that Win XP doesnt utilize 4 cores all that well, and Vista does it better, but still not all that well.

This is a function of the applications running on the OS, and not just the OS itself. Vista and XP SP2+ utilize 4 cores just fine.

 

[epsilon84]

Perhaps that is what WinXP SP3 is for... they claim a 10% performance boost, some argue it is due to multithreaded optimizations.

AMD is releasing a patch for quad core utilization in Windows? First time I've heard anything like that... do you have a link?

 

[Grimmy]

I'd say just go ahead and buy it, the spider. Post some pic's and stuff.. Share some bench mark info. It would be nice to see comparisons from users on this forum.

 

[zenmaster]

If you want a Spider System Get a Spider System.
This is about getting a Spider System, no reason to wait.

I would get it ASAP because AMD has stopped shipping more Phenoms due to all of the problems, so I would get them before the limited number they have shipped sell out.

It will be 3+ months until more ship.

 

[cnumartyr]

I would get the spider system with a 5000+ BE for now (over a Phenom) until the B3's ship out.

 

[sailer]

Alright, I am getting a true spyder system. My question is the AMD Phenoms have been having the cache problem as you all probably know. So, should I wait until they released the revised Phenom? Get one now, and trade in later? or wait until the PhenomFX is released? ...or get a Q6600 lol
Heres a what its gonna be with Spyder-wise:

AMD Phenom X4 Agena 9500 (I definately plan to Overclock)
MSI Platinum AMD 790FX socket AM2+
2x CF VisionTek ATI Radeon HD3870's

Looking back to your original question, partly because I've thought through this matter myself, I'd skip buying a Phenom at all for the moment. Instead, I'd put a 5000+ Black Edition into the board for half the price and get better performance, plus have a good range of overclocking available. I would not plan on the idea of 3 or 4 video cards. No drivers have been released, and it may January or it may be months before they get released. Besides, except for those who have a lot of excess money and the need to get super high 3DMark06 scores, of how much real use would all those cards be?

Then there is the gamble involved. A little over a year ago, AMD released the QFX. After the initial bad press, AMD promised a FX76 chip that would address the problems. After a period of time, AMD decided to shelve the FX76. Though I can't say it will happen, AMD might discover there are more problems with Phenom than can be solved and put it on the shelf as well. If that happened, you would have an expensive motherboard with no corresonding, non-recalled cpu to put into it. Oh, maybe you could use 3 or 4 video cards, if the drivers ever come out and you feel a need and have lots of money.

For myself, I decided that if I was going to build a machine with an AMD cpu at the moment, I would get an ASUS AM2 Crosshair mobo, a couple gig of ram, and the 5000+ BE for around $450, thus saving about $200. But that's my take on the sirutation and others may have different ideas. Either that, or spend a bit more on an Intel powered machine

 

[skittle]

the 10% boost in SP3 was in one companys benchmark using office 2007.

 

[jevon]

I'd also overclock the $130 5000+ BE and wait to see what happens with the Phenom B3's. Also, pretty sure I read AMD is aiming to release an unlocked Phenom CPU (Black Edition) by the end of this year (Q4), so that might be worth looking at also.

I like the idea of the Spider system, including the 4 GPU option with the FX motherboards because that will allow you to stick in a 3rd and 4th in a year or two (or more) once your current number of cards start to bottleneck the system. The other cool thing is that in 2 years, you can add in whatever new ATI cards you want and they will crossfire with your 'old' 3870s

 

[Mandrake_]

If you like the idea of CF 3870s you can do that with an Intel P35 or X38 board and a Q6600 CPU. I certainly wouldn't buy a Phenom CPU now, not until the TLB bug is addressed properly in the next revision.

 

[Xpyrofuryx]

What do you guys think about maybe going with a x38 and Q6600? I kinds wanna stick with AMD tho, even the wait will ease the financial burden

 

[sailer]

What do you guys think about maybe going with a x38 and Q6600? I kinds wanna stick with AMD tho, even the wait will ease the financial burden

That's pretty much the combo I've been considering. It works, its reasonably fast, can have a cpu upgrade if you want, can take two cards for Crossfire if you want, and most important, its here now and now instead of promised to come sometime in the vague future.