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Back to AMD this week

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
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I figured I would let you guys know what is going on with our evaluation process here at HardOCP. If you read our stuff you know real world experience weighs in heavily on our conclusions now days. For the second time in the last 12 months I am back to AMD. I am proud to say that I am up and running as of 3am with a dual core 4800+ on a ASUS nForce4 SLI motherboard with 2GB of Corsair PC3200XL. I have a 4 drive WD Raptor RAID0 array for the OS drive. This replaces my 3.6GHz P4 system. I have yet to see it be faster in anything that I do, but it is certainly just a silky smooth as my P4 system.

So anyway, you know we like to put our money where our mouth is and surely this personal experience will impact what we right about AMD over the coming year, just as it impacted our support of HyperThreading on the P4.

Anyway, thought you might like to know. :)
 
Thanks for keeping us updated.
Question, are you using 2 X 1GB sticks of that RAM, and at what settings?
 
Memory is Corsair PC3200XL 4 x 512MB 2.2.2.5.2T (would not run with this beta bios at 1T) Will have to test more as things move forward. The new memory controller on the 4800 should do it and I have seen pull it off on other boards, just not this one. This is a 1.02 rev of the ASUS SLI board.

As for "welcome back", I only "left" a couple months ago. :)

The P4 rig is back on the testing shelves and most likely the parts given to HardGaming.com to use for monthly contests.

Video Card is a BFG 6800GT OC. I will probably put another in at some point. But I went with it as I had put a water cooler on the card and wanted to stick with it.

I asked AMD to supply a 4800+ for personal use so as to get a real feel for it and thankfully they did. I have had it for a week or so and just happened to kill my XP install night before last.....so it was time to pull it apart and give it a go.

Hey I am encoding video and playing Counter Strike Souce....now that is uber cool. :)
 
also could you run a stresstest in source at 1024x 768 at max settings
 
Yes, I meant "write," sorry I dont spell check forum posts.
 
Clear said:
My question is, how long before it is worth upgrading to something that is noticably faster than my current rig (sig) for instance? For everything besides gaming that is. (I know its kind of vague, but you know what I mean.)
Click to expand...

I don't answer vague questions like that because someone will always spend the next few days shooting holes in what I write. So given your wants and needs, I have no idea what it will take to make your computing experience faster....considering I have no idea what you want to go faster....
 
honkee said:
also could you run a stresstest in source at 1024x 768 at max settings
Click to expand...


What exactly is "max" settings to you?
 
Very nice Kyle, I knew you would come back *deep breath, lower voice* to the dark side. :p

So....personal use....yeah....do you think they could get a second? I'd take any speed X2. :D
 
Welcome back. Sounds like you got a great rig Kyle. Just a quick question, what monitor do you use on your main rig? And what is your CS:Source Handle?



 
darktiger said:
Welcome back. Sounds like you got a great rig Kyle. Just a quick question, what monitor do you use on your main rig? And what is your CS:Source Handle?



Click to expand...

I have two 20" Sony LCDs and one 20" Dell. I actually use one of the Sony's for gaming...even though I guess I should set it up to use the Dell since the response is better. I use a NV Quadro card for the 3rd DVI panel. Waiting for those to go on sale again and get number four. :D

And my css handle is [H]FrgMstr...same thing it has been since the dawn of gaming time. ;)
 
Hey I am encoding video and playing Counter Strike Souce....now that is uber cool
Click to expand...

Thats always been the goal I think of SMP, it just never worked as well as the Dual Cores are in that aspect. The fact both cores are integrated and on a nice fast bus system is showing true performance benefits, now just imagine when optimizations are written, and software is truly wrote to benefit SMP / Multi-CPU, not just multithreading.

These chips are incredible, and I'm dumping my P4 1.6 @ 2.4 in favor of a 4400 setup ASAP.

There's some things I'd say, well, Intel is cheaper on (Dual Core Dell's going for $1,000) but in this case, the price to performance ratio in a comparison is pretty heavy in favor of AMD and worth the added costs IMO. Its not FPS for a game or two, its complete, and total domination on the desktop for these AMD processors. I say that even though since the dawn of time all my main rigs have been Intels.

With that said, I could dump an entire PC in favor of one of these chips. I use 2 systems, 1 to play CS and 1 to encode Divx and stuff. So by your own admissions Kyle I could eliminate an entire PC :) That alone is a testement to just how far these dual core CPU's have raised the bar for the power user. Its not about single tasked environments, the benefits are negliglbe and definately not worth the entry fee at this time IMO. But for multi app, multi purpose uses, w/o a doubt this is it.
 
Choder said:
So when do we get to see your OC'ing results? :D
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i agree. being the guy i am, i am more interested in the oc'ing potential of these X2's. i have seen a select few overclocked already, but most are on phase, so i don't have a good idea of what it can do on air/water. a rough guess would be around the same as the rest of the revE cores, 2.7-2.9ghz, depending on how lucky you are :p

also, before you write up an article on your real world testing (i'm assuming you'll be doing this :p), can you please try to get all 4 sticks working at 1T? to many, this is a pretty important thing, as the transition from 1T to 2T seems to be around a 10-15% latency hit :(
 
Kyle,

After you have been using your new system for say....... a month, any chance you will re-visit your AMD Athlon 64 X2 Preview article and update it with more in-depth subjective computing experience content??

Your experience may sway me (and many others) to switch over. With so many new products coming out (dual core, SLI, Crossfire, SATA II, G70, R520), I think it may be time to close out the books on my socket 478 setup and try AMD, especially if the multitasking ability would be transparent to me, and the gaming experience cranked up a few notches.

Thanks
 
excellent news. can't wait to hear what you've got to say about this experience... i'm springing for a 4400 X2 in a month
 
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