Avid Pro Audio Community

mixdoctor · #**4911** 11-15-2005, 11:07 PM

Quote:

I've been watching this thread intently! I'm still not clear on which is performing better, AMD64 x2 or Pentium D. From what I'm seeing, the AMDs are better on power usage, but that's not as much of a concern on a desktop (vs. a laptop). The DaveC results are similar, no? I'm currently running 6.9 on a Gateway 7422gx, and it runs great, but I plan on going to 7 with this desktop upgrade.

Can anyone comment on how they think an AMD 3800+ x2 would compare to a Pentium D 820? Not wanting to build my own system, I've found each of those systems with otherwise similar specs, with the AMD system coming in at $849, and the Pentium at $799. Which would you recommend?

I'll be able to tell you soon. I now have an AMD X2 3800 system Overclocked to 2.75 Gb and it is Prime 95 stable.

I am building another rig soon just for PT. It will be an Intel rig :

Pentium 820D w/ Big Typhoon Heatsink
Asus P5WD2 Premium
1 GB Gskill ram
Maxtor 120Gb HD

I am going to OC the Pentium 820D to all hell and see how it goes. I should be buying an 002R system next month sometime.

djspl · #**4912** 11-16-2005, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Athlon 64 4800+ Dual Core Processor 787.00

Another thing to note... for those of us who don't have $787.00 to buy the Athlon 64 x2 4800+ (2.40 GHz) there is another option.

According to HotHardware.com, you can purchase an AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+ (2.00 GHz) and OVERCLOCK the processor to a COMPLETELY STABLE 2.5GHz (10x250MHz)!!!
Also, be sure to note that this overclocked speed was attained using a NORMAL Thermaltake heatsink/fan combo with a noise rating of 19 dbA! No special water cooling or other device is needed to overclock this processorHotHardware.com - Overclocking the Athlon 64 x2 3800+

This overclocking was done using an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe motherboard, which means that any of the newer Socket 939 motherboards should be able to handle this.

Although the Athlon 64 x2 4800+ has more L2 cache (1 MB) than the x2 3800+, "[a]s we've observed from our own benchmark results, boosting the base clock rate to 200 MHz produces better results than does adding more cache to a processor." Tom's Hardware

Finally, you DO NOT need a huge power supply to overclock the x2 3800+!!! According to HotHardware, the x2 3800+ has a draws a MAXIMUM of 89 watts of power!!! Assuming you stay away from the SLI motherboards (which are NOT needed to build a killer Pro Tools system), you could easily overclock the x2 3800+ with everything else in a typical Allenstein Machine with no more than a 480 - 500 watt PSU

Here is the point: You can easily save $470 by buying the x2 3800+ and overclocking it. Not only do you save almost $500, you will also have a FASTER processor than the x2 4800+!!!!

This is definitely something to consider when building a new machine (on a budget).

Allen, as you work to finalize a complete system over the weekend, please consider the info in this post. Also, do you know of any issues with overclocking in PTLE?

These are excellent suggestions and I'll be posting an alternative to the current Allenstein Machine as I have done in the past for those wanting to OC and save money. You can also OC the 4800+ giving you even more power, but I doubt we will need it.

Allen

The s939 X2 Opteron 165 and 170 are offering up some OC potential for decent prices too...if you can find them...
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...ory_Code=amddc (scroll down)

info:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=958540
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=978503
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y (go to the last page for lots of answers)
http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?t=276863
http://www.sharkyforums.com/showthread.php?t=277066

PHIK · #**4913** 11-16-2005, 08:53 AM

For those looking to build a quiet PT system, The Asus A8N SLI Premium Board uses a Heat Pipe instead of chipset fans for cooling, and MSI & XFX make a GeForce 6600 LE PCI Video Card with a Large Heat sink instead of a Cooling Fan.

(My 2 cents)

Phik

PS - This just in from Tomshardwareguide.com "AMD schedules quad-cores for 2007"

Just in time for PT LE 7.0cs3??

Rober50 · #**4914** 11-16-2005, 05:37 PM

Has anyone had any experience with the Sempron processors? My local shop told me that Athlon was being phased out and wants to build a box for me with a Sempron 2800+, ASUS K8V-MX Motherboard, 1 GB RAM, and 2X80GB HDs. All for about $400. Has there been any compatibility problems? Any anticipated performance problems?

djspl · #**4915** 11-16-2005, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Has anyone had any experience with the Sempron processors? My local shop told me that Athlon was being phased out and wants to build a box for me with a Sempron 2800+, ASUS K8V-MX Motherboard, 1 GB RAM, and 2X80GB HDs. All for about $400. Has there been any compatibility problems? Any anticipated performance problems?

http://www.tomshardware.com/cpu/2004...charts-21.html

B Hind · #**4916** 11-16-2005, 06:56 PM

words of wisdom, Get a Mac

Shan · #**4917** 11-16-2005, 08:17 PM

Ok everyone. There has been a huge error regarding the Davec test posted on the mac forum. Here is his correction. So he is back down to 32+86. Will have to get Haggis to retest his X2 4400+ system and watch those output routings.

Shane

mixdoctor · #**4918** 11-16-2005, 08:43 PM

Would 2 Gb's of memory be better for Protools LE systems like the 002r ? If so, how much ?

TFL · #**4919** 11-17-2005, 08:10 PM

Quote:

I've been watching this thread intently! I'm still not clear on which is performing better, AMD64 x2 or Pentium D. From what I'm seeing, the AMDs are better on power usage, but that's not as much of a concern on a desktop (vs. a laptop). The DaveC results are similar, no? I'm currently running 6.9 on a Gateway 7422gx, and it runs great, but I plan on going to 7 with this desktop upgrade.

Can anyone comment on how they think an AMD 3800+ x2 would compare to a Pentium D 820? Not wanting to build my own system, I've found each of those systems with otherwise similar specs, with the AMD system coming in at $849, and the Pentium at $799. Which would you recommend?

You will do fine either way.

Allen

I've been looking at the AMD 3800+ x2 mentioned above (HP A1250N). I have some credit at Circuit City and figured I might as well use it on a new PC for my little basement studio. Could anyone give me some advice as to whether this will be a good computer to record with? Is there anything I will need to add to make it PTLE compatible? Thanks for any help!

Here's the link:
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pa...oductDetail.do

mezza9 · #**4920** 11-18-2005, 07:14 AM

Quote:

For those looking to build a quiet PT system, The Asus A8N SLI Premium Board uses a Heat Pipe instead of chipset fans for cooling, and MSI & XFX make a GeForce 6600 LE PCI Video Card with a Large Heat sink instead of a Cooling Fan.

Also the Digidesign recommended Asus P5WD2 mobo is a fanless design. I have achieved IMO a reasonably quiet system with that mobo, Intel D820 CPU and fan cooled Radeon X550 display card packed in a Nexus Breeze case. I have yet to measure noise levels, but will propably do that soon.

On a sidenote, Digi recommends the Premium version of the board, obviously because it has got built-in firewire (and 2x LAN instead of 1) but otherwise they're quite the same. So at least for me it came much cheaper to by the standard version and a separate PCI-firewire card with more connectors than on the Premium mobo.

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