Wich differences Opteron/Athlon 64?

kwild · Post by **kwild** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 5:58 am

I i don't have understand wich are the differences with these two AMD cpus and wich is the best suitable for DAW (and SFP of course!) setups.
Thanx a lot.

http://www.kwild.com

firubbi · Post by **firubbi** » Thu Apr 01, 2004 11:50 am

Maybe Opteron is something like Xeon. some info for Opteron http://www.geek.com/htbc/glandrwk.htm
thanks

valis · Post by **valis** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 7:40 am

Opterons are the server-level 64bit 'Hammer' chip and intended for multiprocessor (dual on up) configurations.

Athlon FX & Athlon 64 are the desktop 64-bit 'Hammer' chips.

Quick words on Amd's current products:

There's an impending socket change coming, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy a brand new mobo & machine right now as you'll be near the top of the upgrade curve for it. Also the FX version (which has a dual-channel mem architecture) requires buffered (ecc) RAM and is targeted towards an 'enthusiast' audience. This combined with the impending socket change means if you must get a machine soon skip the FX altogether.

More info in these links:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1884&p=2

http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1946

amd cpu roadmap:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpu/showdoc.html?i=1985

firubbi · Post by **firubbi** » Fri Apr 02, 2004 11:17 pm

Thanks valis, so does 64bit can help sfp? pulsar2 card is 32bit!

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Mon Apr 05, 2004 10:04 am

The Opteron is the server level series (there are three types: 1xx, 2xx, 8xx).
AthlonFX is for the enthusiast market, it's simply an Opteron 1xx.
Athlon64 is the consumer CPU.

Differences:
Opteron: 1MB 2nd-level cache, dual channel memory controller on-die, supports dual-CPU configs (Opteron 2xx), supports up to 8 CPU's (Opteron 8xx);

AthlonFX: 1MB 2nd-level cache, dual channel memory controller on-die, no multiprocessor support (like an Opteron 1xx);

Athlon64: 512kB 2nd-level cache, single channel memory controller on-die, no multiprocessor support;

To use the 64bit functions, you'll need a 64bit OS (Linux, xBSD, WindowsXP 64, Windows 2k3 64) and 64bit drivers (CW doesn't offer 64bit drivers for Windows yet, but we intend to support 64bit Linux drivers - 64bit Windows is still beta, BTW).
Since Scope is DSP based, I don't expect any performance increase by using a 64bit system, but it could help the host software (Cubase, Sonar, etc), given that the software would be 64bit compatible.
The AMD64 CPU's offer some nice features only available in 64bit mode (16 registers, 64bit integer arithmetic), and some other features also available in 32bit mode (on-die memory controller, SSE2, and SSE3 anytime soon).

The impending socket switch (940->939) only affects AthlonFX and Athlon64, the Opteron will keep the 940, and getting an Opteron would be the best choice, anyway...

And something to get an idea how fast that thing is: I use a single Opteron 140 on Linux/ AMD64, and playing Neverwinter Nights, I didn't even notice I was lacking hardware 3D accelleration 'till I finished the game - all 3D calculations were performed by the CPU...

kwild · Post by **kwild** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 8:25 am

Thanx to all...
Im thinking to buy a single CPU system for now.
The Athlon FX is too expensive to mee the choice is single Opteron or Athlon 64 3400?
Wich is the better choice?

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:50 am

I would suggest to get an Opteron 2xx, a Tyan Tiger K8W, and some DDR400 reg ECC RAM. That way, you're able to add a second CPU if you need more power, and even if you don't do that, it's still very fast and stable - and not that expensive (about 500 Euro, depending on the CPU and the RAM you choose. Corsair XMS might be a good choice)...

MikeRaphone · Post by **MikeRaphone** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:10 pm

@wsippel

Please tell me if you are actually using 64bit AMD's with creamware boards? How does it work? Any issues? How is MIDI stability?
Which MOBO you have- how is PCI bandwidth, thx a lot for your answer!
It would be great to have such powerful processor working along with Scope system- a killer! But i don't want to spend whole lot of time working out hardware/issues, which sequencer do you use?
Thx again!

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 4:59 pm

Yes, I use a single Opteron 140 on a Tyan Tiger K8W (will upgrade to dual Opterons as soon as the next revision is out) - Scope works very well using standard 32bit Windows XP, no issues. I don't use external MIDI devices, so I can't tell you much about that issue.
But: it will not work with 64bit Windows, 'cause you'd need 64bit CW drivers...

The performance is very good, and bandwith is a non-issue: the Opteron is the only x86 CPU with enough bandwith to meet and exceed the PCI specs. It would be even better using a Tyan Thunder K8W, with PCI-X and NUMA (up to 12.8GB/s memory bandwith, my current system has 6.4GB/s), but this one is very expensive...

MikeRaphone · Post by **MikeRaphone** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 5:51 pm

Wow!
Great

Could you please post your detailed setup-
DAW/DSP boards/sequencer

Thanks a lot!

wsippel · Post by **wsippel** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 10:17 pm

The sequencer is Cakewalk Sonar 3, but since I use mostly Linux now, I boot Windows only once in a while... (Windows XP Pro SP1 btw, with all the latest drivers)

Detailed setup:

Tyan Tiger K8W
1x Opteron 140
2x 512 MB Corsair XMS 400 MHz reg. ECC 2-3-2-6
Adaptec 19160 SCSI Controller
Terratec EWX24/96
CW Luna II
PNY QuadroFX 3000G
IBM Ultrastar 10000 Rpm SCSI HDD 18.3 GB
3x Quantum Atlas 5 7200 Rpm SCSI HDD 9.2 GB
Plextor Ultraplex 40TSI SCSI CDROM
Pioneer DVR-A05 DVD/RW with Acard IDE->SCSI bridge
550 W Enermax PSU

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: wsippel on 2004-04-06 23:18 ]</font>