36 replies to this topic

[Jito463]

Well, I finally broke down and bought a dual-core CPU, the 4400+ X2. So much for my income tax refund. My 3DMark06 CPU score jumped from 855 with my 3200+ to 1706 with my 4400+. Double the pleasure, double the fun. I'll have to see how it affects my Oblivion frame rates as it's supposed to be multi-threaded.

[Big Dave]

You need to get your sig updated then

It would be interesting to see if Oblivion does actually have a higher frame rate with it as there have been a few games that are supposed to be dual core optimised or whatever but weren't, such as FEAR

[Jito463]

It is updated, you probably just need to refresh. It's likely using the same image from your cache.

[2005]

4400+ was a bad choice IMHO. If you know even the slightest about overclocking the opteron 165 is a much better processor. It can reach FX-60 levels of performance and even slightly above for about 1/3 the cost.

But you have it know, and im sure you'll be liking it. Its the toledo core so your good there as it has the double cache (basically its just 2x San Deigo cores). Its mulitplier is 11 so if your mobo is picky you can get slightly more out of it... as the opteron only has a 9x multi. Its all good though as my Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D can easily handle 300+ FSB speeds.

You should be able to push that 4400+ to atleast 2.6ghz and probably 2.8 stable as the 4400+ has that nice AMD heatpipe cooler (so does the opteron 165).



As im sure you already know, make sure you get that AMD dual core patch for windows and make sure that both cores are enabled for oblivion under affinity settings.


The bottleknecks right now are that 6800GS... its a slower card and for 289$ you can jump into a retail sapphire X1800XT 256MB. Its much better in shader heavy games like oblivion and it performs better then the 7900GT more often then not.

Also check your ram. I think sometimes that if you run 4 sticks they will be forced to run at 333mhz instead of the 400mzh their rated at. I would ditch the four 512 sticks and pick up two 1GB sticks.

Dont worry about latency/bandwidth either. You have a 4400+ and it has an on die memory IC that does benifit from tigher timings but the difference is marginal bewteen tight timings/low clockspeed and loose timings/high clockspeed. A nice pair of 1GB sticks rated at something like 2.5-3-3-6 should run you no more then 170$ and you should be able to tighten it down to 2-3-3-6.


Enjoy that X2, and oblivion as I cant wait until I can start playing it next week!!!!!!!!!!!! Espically now that ATI released a patch that will allow you to force HDR+AA on X1XXX series cards (since bedstha disabled it for all cards).

[Jito463]

Well, I didn't go the Opteron route because they upped the price on them. I decided to go straight X2. Plus, the only advantage the Opterons have over the X2 or the Athlon64 on the 939 socket is heat dissipation with their lower thermals, but as I don't have any thermal problems anyway it's not an issue for me. As for the 6800GS, I realize it's not a screamer, however I purchased a factory overclocked version and will soon be adding a second one for SLI. I don't intend to run just one for much longer (providing Newegg will stop deactivating the frikkin product). Plus I'm not really an Ati fan. If I went up, I'd look towards the 7600GS or the 7900GT as upgrades, but I don't really feel like replacing this card anytime soon. Though I suppose I could relegate this card to my work computer (yes, I have a computer at work just for playing games on lunch, lol), and then buy a better one for this computer. You are correct about the memory timings, but I already took that into account. I've been running 4 x 512 for a while now, and I know what settings work best. I run this instead of 2 x 1GB because these are the XLL sticks (2-2-2-5 timings). You can't get that low in 1GB sticks, period. 2GB at those timings is impressive, let me tell you. To wrap it up, as for the dual-core patch, I'm running x64 which is based off Server 2k3, so it doesn't need a patch. Thanks anyway.

[MaLing]

Congratulations for the new pieces! (and for the tax refund!) Enjoy!

I did not see you much last couple of days, wondered where you were. It seemed that you were busy in configuring (or playing with?) your new machine.

[2005]

The opteron 165 is 325$ on newegg.com and your right it was up to about 350$ but it came back down.

The main advantage I feel they have (espically the opteron 165) is that its an extreme OC'er for a dual core CPU. On air you can get an average overclock of 800mhz to 1 ghz and have it stable. That puts it at and higher FX-60 status for about 687$ less. Comparing its price to the X2 4400+ (458$) and its mere 400mhz clockspeed advantage (which you can easily give the 165 a 400mhz advantage over the 4400+) and it seems like a no brainer to me.


SLI, to me, is a whole nother story.

Not only do you have to purchase a second GPU, but a SLI capable motherboard, a good sturdy 500+ W PSU with stable and high amp rails, and then you need to consider in the extra heat generation.

On top of all that, I've seen benchmarks where cards in SLI performed at or below levels of single card configurations. Not worth it to me, when you could sell off that 6800GS for about $150ish and pick up a 7900GT (which would beat two 6800GS's, takes less power and gives off alot less heat) for an aditional 150$. Then you also consider you didnt have to get the SLI mobo (I get quality PSU no matter what).


Meh Im ranting on lmao, you've obviously done what you felt was best for you. Your situation is different from mine as I had to build from the ground up and you already had the majority of your rig to reuse.

[MaLing]

Jito, by the way, do Windows XP 32-bit and 64-bit make use of dual core? If so, are they for both Intel and AMD?

[2005]

I belive theirs a patch for 32 bit windows to utilize dual cores, I guess the 64 bit version of the xp pro os has intergrated support for it. And I dont know for sure about intel having a dual core patch out or not, never really looked into intels that much.

[Charalambos]

As far as I know a proccessor with hyperthreading technology or a dual core one is neccessary for running 64 bit operating systems( except if it is a solid 64 one as I think are Intel Pentium 4 EE and Intel Xeon ones).

[zamiel]

@Jito463

No one likes a showoff

[shawn_nee]

As far as I know a proccessor with hyperthreading technology or a dual core one is neccessary for running 64 bit operating systems( except if it is a solid 64 one as I think are Intel Pentium 4 EE and Intel Xeon ones).

the 64bit Win just means you needed a 64 bit chip to run the OS. They come in single and dual cores on one dye.

The dual core was to help share the workload to speed up the time it takes to process all the instructions.

[Jito463]

Well, I'm not seeing a huge performance increase in my games, but when in Windows I tend to run a lot of programs simultaneously and this is helping considerably. The other night I was watching a video, browsing a pictures directory, running a java app, browsing the web and compressing a 7.5GB folder into a RAR archive and I didn't even notice a slowdown. Why was I doing all that? Don't ask, I just tend to get distracted easily and will start doing other things while I'm waiting for something else to finish, heh. Now that I'm sure it's stable, time to start OC'ing.

[MaLing]

Your motherboard is a good one.

[Jito463]

@Jito463

No one likes a showoff

I disagree, everyone likes a showoff.

@MaLing
Thanks, I thought so too. An SLI MoBo for $100 (from Newegg) was just too good a deal to pass up. And it's my favorite brand, heh.

[MaLing]

2005, I see in your signature that you use Viewsonic 19". I am using Viewsonic (17") as well but it has come to the end of its life. I am planning to renew to the same brand, but considering whether an LCD or CRT. Does it matter to play games with an LCD?

An SLI MoBo for $100

Wow............... $100. That is superb! How long was it?

[2005]

It will boil down to quite a few factors in the debate between LCD and CRT.

Do you do alot of image work (digital photography) or art work. If your doing high level DI work or art work you should more then likely invest into the LCD as its much brighter and shows colors alot better then a CRT.

However if you darken the room your PC is in consderably then the CRT should do just as well... some people just dont like the hassle of working in a dimm room and opt for an LCD. LCDs also show text better.


Now if you game alot or fairly ofter, or anything for that matter in which you would like higher resolutions... say 1280x1024+ then your best bet is to go with a CRT. That viewsonic I have does up to 1920x1440 and cost me 220$... I dont know if LCD's even go that high yet but expect the price of one that does to be easily double to triple the price of that viewsonic I have.

In my personal opinion, I would go with a CRT (just try to get a flat CRT like this viewsonic is). Unless you do alot of higher end photo/art work.



And dang man, thats a heck of a deal on that mobo. Socket 939 with SLI, 4 SATA ports its a sweet deal for 98$ on newegg

Usually SLI mobo's under 100$ are socket 754 lmao... even though I think SLI is a waste of money over buying a new high end card its still a plus. Heck I paid 122$ for this DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D

Edited by 2005, 10 April 2006 - 11:48 AM.

[MaLing]

Thank you 2005. Yes I think CRT is cheaper, and I shall go for it. The only thing is whether 17" or 19". How much difference do they make?

[shawn_nee]

How much difference do they make?

About 2"

So you just need to decide if you like'em big or small? Does size matter to you?

I say go with the bigger screen 19" or bigger, for the price difference on them now you should go with a bigger screen with more inputs on it. I think I paid $200 for my 19" Viewsonic, it's heavy and big but its worth it to me.

I checked newegg, for a range of $204-219 you can get a new 19" monitor.

Newegg

or you can go LCD for about $40 more

LCD at newegg

[MaLing]

About 2"

Arrr... Why did I ask that? Ok, one word:

So you just need to decide if you like'em big or small? Does size matter to you?

Actually I just want to know whether the extra cost is worthwhile for the 2". You know, money for me is always a big matter.

NewEgg... I think the transport cost will be a big matter. I should go to a local shop instead.