Choosing a Workstation CPU

[Essobie]

I am building a workstation that i will be using for
-static design
-3d animation
-gaming
-video editing

im choosing between

-Dual Intel® Xeon™ Processors 2.8GHz w/ EM64T 800 MHz FSB w/1MB Cache

-Dual AMD Opteron™ 246 2.0 GHz 64-Bit

- Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 560J w/ HT Technology 3.6GHz 800MHz FSB 1MB Cache

which would be the best choice considering what i plan to use it for?

 

[RichPLS]

Dual AMD Opteron™ 246 2.0 GHz 64-Bit

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[endyen]

Dont listen to Richman. He's an Intel man from the getgo.
Get none of the above.
The 560 has overheating problems, spends a lot of time throttled, to protect itself.
The xeons also run hot, have an overpriced mobo, and do 64 bit badly.
The opterons @ 2ghz will outperform the xeons, and are cooler, but the mobo is too expensive, and the system would not perform as well as a s939 setup.
For about the same $ you could put together a much better system using an A64 X2 4200+. Since the chip only started shipping today, you may have to wait a day or two, for availability.

 

[RichPLS]

Two real processors perform much better on 3D CAD than a dual core does.

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[endyen]

The same goes for video editing, if the chips are the same speed. The 4200 runs 200mhz faster, so it's not an important difference. Not like the difference in gaming, at any rate. That clearly goes to the 4200. Besides the 4200 is a higher number

 

[endyen]

BTW, that has to be a software problem, as dual cores are the same thing, only with faster ram (no ECC) and a faster interconnect.

 

[RichPLS]

Your may be right, I have not used a dual core, only dual processors and Hyperthreaded CPU's. I was thinking of Hyperthreading compared to dual CPU's, and dual CPU's blow away a hyperthreaded CPU.

<pre><font color=red>°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°`°¤o \\// o¤°`°¤o,¸¸¸,o¤°
And the sign says "You got to have a membership card to get inside" Huh
So I got me a pen and paper And I made up my own little sign</pre><p></font color=red>

 

[P4Man]

I would also suggest a dual core athlon 64 X2. If you have to choose between the three cpu's you listed, I guess it depends if your apps take advantage of MT performance or not. If MT performance is paramount, get the opteron. If ST is more important, hmmm.. the P4 would give best performance then, but I find it hard recommending an overheating 32 bit cpu.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[slvr_phoenix]

Granted, a CPU only overheats if you don't cool it properly.

<pre><font color=orange><i>Jesters do oft prove prophets.</i> -Regan in
King Lear (Act V, Scene iii) by William Shakespear</font color=orange></pre><p>@ 189K -> 200,000 miles or bust!

 

[Essobie]

Also I was wondering wheather i would be better off getting a
-Dual AMD Opteron™ 246 2.0 GHz 64-Bit
or a
-AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-55 Processor with HyperTransport Technology

 

[P4Man]

are you better off with a 4 wheel drive or a cabrio convertible ? I guess it depends what you care more about..

2xopteron will perform better on MT code that scales well, like rendering, video encoding. Athlon FX will be better at single threaded code, and probably be a lot cheaper as well.

btw, no need to state the obvious, we know the opteron is 64 bit, just like the FX, and we know the FX, just like the opteron, has hypertransport

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =