Ordering new Athlon x2 upgrade soon!!

[DaForce]

Hi y'all,

Im going to be order the parts for my Athlon X2 upgrade in the next week or so. And was wondering if anybody has had any experience with them?

I will be getting the Athlon64 X2 4400+, which at the moment is the best price/performance point, at a reasonable $899, whereas the top of the line 4800+ is $1599 a mere 200mhz increase... SOD THAT.

So will be ordering: ($ in Australian currency)
1x Athlon64 X2 4400+ $899
1x DFI LanParty nF4 SLi-DR $315
1x Nvidia GeForce 7800 GTX $899 (still unsure about this, but need new video card to work with PCIexpress)

Will be keeping my current sound card (audigy2), my numerous HDD's, and also my RAM for the time being (1gb Corsair DDR400)
Then will get atleast 2gb a little later on, and then another 2 if needed. For a total of 4GB (damn crazy)

Anyway, just would like to hear peoples opinions of the X2's or what im buying or whatever
IMO i reckon its a damn good price/performance, give it will be nipping at the heels of the dual core opteron 275's, which cost far far far more.

Ohh yeah upgrading from a Athlon 2700+ and a radeon 9700pro...new systems should be about 2-3x as fast for 3d rendering (hopefully)... mmmmm droolz

[mike.edel]

Re: Ordering new Athlon x2 upgrade soon!!

Hi y'all,
So will be ordering: ($ in Australian currency)
1x Athlon64 X2 4400+ $899
1x DFI LanParty nF4 SLi-DR $315

Just read a test in a german magazine (pc-pro - theyre especially respected for their hardware tests)
according to them, the gigabyte ga-k8nxp-sli ist better, while even being cheaper (150euro list price)

above the dfi board it has integrated wlan (81.11g)
performance is just a small bit lower

regarding the 7800gtx graphics cards: they are supposed to be up to 60% faster than a 6800 Ultra and even faster than two 6800 ultras in sli mode
- and they will also work in sli mode, so if you ever need more performance....
for germany they are quoted at about 550 euros - dont know if you can actually buy them right now...
ps: the 7800 seem to be much quieter than the 6800-ultra cards (half as loud in 3d apps, and even less in 2d)

cya, mike

ps: i envy you

[DaForce]

Hey Mike,

Have a look at this review.
http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2358&p=1

The Gigabyte does fairly well, but the DFI and MSI come out as the overall better choice. I am choosing the DFI for its feature set and its overclocking capacity. Not that i will dabble too much but the option is there

To be honest, im still not 100% sure about the motherboard, but the DFI is probably my current favourite.

As for the graphics card, have a look at these linked reviews.
http://www.anandtech.com/news/shownews.aspx?i=24444
Have a look at the Anandtech review (first link) and have a look at the battlefield 2 demo benchmarks... you apprear to be right...Thats some crazy power. Thats what im after hehehe
And yeah they are quieter and use less power!!

Thanks mate

[jujubee]

Just be certain to check the footprint - is it ATX or EATX as you may not be able to retrofit your case. Also, check the power supply to see if it matches up. I'd just hate to see you get a new toy only to not be able to use it.

[percydaman]

I recently did some comparative shopping at alienware.com and boxxtech.com. I couldn't find a workstation that had a single dualcore system. Maybe I missed. The same workstation on each site cost $800 more at boxxtech though.

A nice thing is that alienware lists the brand and model of alot of their components, so after comparing its components with what I could purchase and build myself, I was pretty surprised that it seemed worth it to just purchase the thing prebuilt.

[serge]

has anyone made one of this vray bench test with this cpu

http://www.chaosgroup.com/forum/phpB...ighlight=bench

i'm very interested to know how much performance we can expect with this new athlon 64 x2 dual core

this test http://techreport.com/reviews/2005q2...2/index.x?pg=7
doesen't test vray

[jow]

and the alienware's look ohhhh so nice!!!!

[rhino]

I can't wait for a X2 in a laptop!
In regards to the ram and upgrading, adding more ram later is not that feasible anymore, matched pairs are fairly essential for smooth running of a system. I've had a hell of a time finding same model/latency/batch ram to match my system (intel) and even then having four pairs means running the ram at 333 instead of 400. It's more of a case of throw out the old replace with new. I think the AMD's are far more forgiving with ram types but I would still consider buying all the ram you think you might need in the future up front.
Just a thought, I could be completely wrong.

[DaForce]

jujubee:
Yeah im pretty sure it will fit from what i have seen, but was probably planning on getting a new lian-li case anyway. As my old one is starting to get the rattles (damn aluminium cases)
Powersupply should be fine. Its currently an Antec True Power 550w

percydaman:
You cant beat building your own

serge:
Im not sure if anyone has gotten one yet. But with any luck i will have mine by this time next week, and will run all the tests... obviously

rhino:
X2 in a laptop...mmm that might take awhile. Seeing as they havnt even done any athlon64 lappys yet. But who knows...damn that would be a quick laptop.
My plan was (not properly stated originally) was to use my current 1GB or ram, then in a few weeks. Buy 2 -4GB (not sure yet) of matching pair ram sticks and take out my 1GB of RAM, and then use my old mobo, cpu, and now..ram, to build up a decent computer for either DR or my GF.. hahaha. I think she is getting sick of my old old old p3 500. I might upgrade her to my older p3 1ghz and use my previous AMD 2700 for DR.
Im pretty sure AMD's arnt that picky with ram. Well i will find out now wont I As long as the memory is the same brand and spec then everything should be just peachy. I have never bought matching pairs, because to me it seems like abit of a wank.

[jacksc02]

hmmmm i was looking at getting some 275 opterons, but if these athlons are cheaper i might have to change my thinking!
keep me posted with your progress daforce

[DaForce]

Heya Chris,

The opteron 275's will be quicker when your able to fully use the 4 cpu threads. But I believe the dual opteron 275s i mightily expensive ATM.
Plus you only need 1 X2 to get very competitive results

Its a pity that you cant get dual dual-core X2 setups that would be wicked.

Im curious to see how it fairs in vray tho. Once mine is in, I will do some comparitive tests with other dual opteron owners.

[DaForce]

Mini-update.

Everything is ordered....kinda
Only problem is the CPU and Video card are out of stock until next week.
I am trying to track down a different online retailer to get them ASAP
All i have sucessfully order is the mobo, and the heatsink. (Thermalright XP-90C)

[percydaman]

Heya Chris,

The opteron 275's will be quicker when your able to fully use the 4 cpu threads. But I believe the dual opteron 275s i mightily expensive ATM.
Plus you only need 1 X2 to get very competitive results

Its a pity that you cant get dual dual-core X2 setups that would be wicked.

Im curious to see how it fairs in vray tho. Once mine is in, I will do some comparitive tests with other dual opteron owners.

why cant you get a dual dual core setup? Both boxxtech and I believe alienware have one for sale. Quite expensive though.

[percydaman]

Heya Chris,

The opteron 275's will be quicker when your able to fully use the 4 cpu threads. But I believe the dual opteron 275s i mightily expensive ATM.
Plus you only need 1 X2 to get very competitive results

Its a pity that you cant get dual dual-core X2 setups that would be wicked.

Im curious to see how it fairs in vray tho. Once mine is in, I will do some comparitive tests with other dual opteron owners.

why cant you get a dual dual core setup? Both boxxtech and I believe alienware have one for sale. Quite expensive though.

[RErender]

those are optis not athys, percy.

Who knows though, maybe if you break some pins off or wire them together or whatevever the modders do, perhaps they will be able to run as duals.