Opteron 4234 in a dual cpu workstation

[Olesen]

Hi

Why is nobody using it as a dual cpu workstation, I can’t find anyone using it to build here own pc.

Thinking of building my own workstation ( 3ds max- rendering-photoshop-), and on this chart: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/multi_cpu.html
A system with a dual Opteron 4234 setup seems to be a good power to money setup, especially if you compare it to a similar xeon ( se cutout of above link) there are a difference of +2300$ on the cpu’s

PassMark - CPU Mark
Multiple CPU Systems - Updated 11th of April 2012

[Dual CPU] Intel Xeon X5492 @ 3.40GHz (CPUmark 10,799) $2,782.58**

[Dual CPU] AMD Opteron 4234 (CPUmark 11,209) $399.98**



I must be missing something, anyone that can explane if it is possible to make a system with the Opteron 4234.


Olesen

 

[GhislainG]

You should use a Xeon E5645 or similar in your comparison instead of a 4 year old CPU. Building a system based on the Opteron is less expensive and you can find compatible motherboards from Asus, Tyan, Supermicro, etc.

 

[MU_Engineer]

Hi

Why is nobody using it as a dual cpu workstation, I can’t find anyone using it to build here own pc.

Thinking of building my own workstation ( 3ds max- rendering-photoshop-), and on this chart: http://www.cpubenchmark.net/multi_cpu.html
A system with a dual Opteron 4234 setup seems to be a good power to money setup, especially if you compare it to a similar xeon ( se cutout of above link) there are a difference of +2300$ on the cpu’s

PassMark - CPU Mark
Multiple CPU Systems - Updated 11th of April 2012

[Dual CPU] Intel Xeon X5492 @ 3.40GHz (CPUmark 10,799) $2,782.58**

[Dual CPU] AMD Opteron 4234 (CPUmark 11,209) $399.98**



I must be missing something, anyone that can explane if it is possible to make a system with the Opteron 4234.


Olesen

It is certainly possible to make a very nice system out of a pair of Opterons. Get yourself a dual Socket C32 board with more than one PCIe slot, get two Opterons and four sticks of DDR3 RAM and have a ball. All of my systems are dual-CPU and they work just fine for anything you'd want to use a desktop type system for.

Dual CPU systems are more reliable, much better at multithreaded tasks, can handle a bunch more RAM, and generally have better expansion capabilities than most single-CPU desktop setups. However, they are NOT overclockable except in a few VERY rare exceptions, the CPUs are more expensive and lower-clocked (especially Xeons- those cost a bunch!), and the motherboards are also a lot more expensive than many single-CPU desktop motherboards. Games typically don't need more than 2-3 cores, a few GB of RAM, and generally tend to respond well to overclocked CPUs. Paying 2-4 times as much for a dual-CPU system just to have most of the CPU cores sit idle and the RAM sit unused but not get any better performance out of it is why more people here don't buy dual-CPU setups. I like multi-socket setups because I rarely game, strongly value that the computer is rock-solid stable, and often use highly multithreaded programs.

Also, in your comparison the Xeon X5492 is three generations behind current, it's analogous to the Core 2 Quad Q9000 series from 2007-2008. I guess Intel's best comparison to the Opteron 4234 is the Xeon E5-2603 or E5-2609, although I've never seen them benchmarked head to head before. I'd probably go with the Opterons in that case, dual C32 Opteron boards are less expensive than Intel dual LGA2011 boards and any Xeon with a "0" as the second to last number is a highly crippled chip with a lot of cache turned off, low bus speeds, and low memory speeds. I would suggest the Opteron 4280 over the 4234, you get two more cores for only a little more money and don't lose much clock speed in the process.

 

[Olesen]

Thanks for the answers I will look into making a dual cpu Opteron workstation

 

[3dRendererer]

What sort of Cinebench 11.5 score would you expect from a dual Opteron 4280 system?

(I've not found anything on the net in this regard. However, looking at http://www.cbscores.com/ - and estimating that 32 cores from Opteron 6168s at 1.9 Ghz produced a score of 23.94… I'd estimate from 16 cores at 2.8Ghz that a Cinebench score of not far off 18 should be achievable. Would you agree?)

My purposes are for building a 3D (Lightwave) rendering machine.

Thanks