Opteron as a Desktop System?

[Twitch]

Couple questions for the experts among us:

1. How does Opteron run at 1.8 ghz when on a 166 mhz memory bus? Shouldn't it be 1.83 ghz? Does it not use a clock multiplier based on FSB speed? And if this is the case what are the prospects for overclocking, if there are any?

2. Will motherboards with AGP (like the nForce3 for Opteron) provide a suitable desktop gaming rig if one is willing to shell out the cash for an Opteron CPU? Has anyone heard anything about how much the new nForce3 boards will cost?

These questions might be WAAAY premature at the moment, but I thought someone might have an answer out there.

<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:

 

[TKH]

1. I don't know a [-peep-] on this ^_^'

2. Why would people want to spend this whole lot of cash while they can get the best desktop CPU/mobo combo with cheaper price?

You never know how stupid you are until you have done something stupid enough for you to realize it.
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=22996" target="_new">My System Rig</A>

 

[rcj187]

the opteron doesnt run on a fsb.. or at least the traditional fsb is incorporated into the cpu (the ondie memory controller) the all the external links between chips on the mobo are done with HT rather than the traditional buses. im not sure how the clock speed is generated but as i understand it there isnt a fsb amd multiplier.. ill read my amd presspack tonight and get back cos im curious now..

 

[Twitch]

Well, it may be that A-64 will not perform as well as Opteron in games, since Opteron has twice the internal memory bandwidth. And Opteron is available very soon, whereas A-64 won't be available for another five months or so...


<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:

 

[Teq]

1) Ummm Twitch... you gotta feed the chip 200mhz, which is internally multiplied to get whatever it's operating frequency is. (1ghz == 1000mhz, don't forget) The tech sheets are here:
<A HREF="http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23932.pdf" target="_new">http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23932.pdf</A>


2) Give technology a chance to catch up. You can bet the mobo manufaturers have their thinking caps on right now figuring out how to cash in on the high end gamer and SOHO markets with that chip. I'd bet by fall there will be a dozen or more choices for Opteron Desktop systems... in time for the system builders to cash in on the Christmas market.






--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[reever2]

As far as I know Opteron has no fsb or multiplier, all reviews point to it having divisors set on its cpu speed that decides what everything runs at, and the clock speed is from a code on the cpu which is interpreted in the bios such as 1=100mhz 2=200 mhz and so on

 

[juin]

it multiplie Hyper transport speed wich is 200 mghz.

[-peep-] french

 

[Teq]

Actually, I decided to go look after I wrote the original draft of the posting... see the revised version please.

Apparently you feed the chip 200mhz on it's clock in pins and it generates the DDR and other frequencies internally.


--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[Twitch]

This is why I started this thread...it's obvious that Opteron is not "doing business" the same way as other processors with FSB X Multiplier = Core Frequency. You see, when I was just casually observing, it didn't seem strange that Opteron had a 1.8 ghz bus, but when I noticed it uses DDR333 RAM, that got me thinking...

And that's usually when the trouble starts.


<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:

 

[Teq]

Actually the closest thing to the FSB on this chip are the FClocks which, according to the data sheet are 200mhz...



--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[eden]

The Opteron SINGLE performance, is very bad for workstation, if you had noticed. It simply does not do THAT much better than its cousin the Barton 2500+. It would not be profitable at all, considering it costs over 700$ for a single CPU.

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[Twitch]

Did you see Anandtech's game benchmarks on an Opteron single-CPU system? We talked about it a little bit on the Anand Part 4 thread. The Opteron walked all over the P4 Canterwood in those benchmarks--but it was also using an MX440 PCI card, so who knows what that means once nForce 3 or something similar hits the market with AGP?


<font color=green>The Netherlands is where you go when you're too good for heaven.</font color=green> :tongue:

 

[eden]

WOW! I didn't check it yet, I totally forgot they had Part 3 out yesterday. Will check it all today.

Still, I am very happy overall that Opteron DOES showcase incredible strengh.
Intel may indeed have to adopt Hyper Transport, as it is a much more significant importance than Hyper Threading in that market, it seems. (often HT would lower performance in Ace's Tests for MP)

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This post is brought to you by Eden, on a Via Eden, in the garden of Eden.