best workstation board

D

dekard

2[H]4U
Joined
Nov 1, 2004
Messages
2,188
Hey guys, I'm starting to think about my next system and of course dual core Athlons\Opterons are a must. Those things just trash the p4 dual cores.

Hardware I'll be keeping from my old system:

2 x Raptors
cdrom, floopy, case, powersupply etc..

Replacement hardware:
Mobo
Cpu
Ram (1 gig ddr400 corsair atm, i'd like to keep if I can)
Video (gonna need a pci-e card)

OS and Apps:
Windows xp 64
Games (World of Warcraft and more)
Bit Torrent
Photoshop (just a 'lil)

what board would you recommend for workstation class board? I'll probably not go above 2 gigs of ram.
 
I always recommend the Tyan s2895 board, and this is no exception. It's only at a few retailers so far (eg not newegg :( ) but it's worth the $550 for it. Dual opteron, 2 16x pci-E slots for SLI or a video card and raid controller, your choice.

The ram you can keep if it's registered, but you might consider getting some ECC stuff instead.

With regard to the processors, there's really 3 ways to go - get an old pair of fast opterons, get a new dual core opteron, or get a pair of new ones. It's your choice; for this application you probably don't need and can't use the heavy horespower of 4 cores. I'd personally get one dualcore chip and then decide later if I need more. Note that you lose one NIC and one x16 slot if you only have 1 processor, though, so if you don't plan on upgrading any time soon, get two single core processors. Having 2 lan ports makes for a much more flexible machine.

No suggestions on a video card, really - just wait on the next generation plus 2 weeks to buy anything really cutting-edge. The price will drop a lot on the 6800/x800 series in that period, I predict. So basically, unless you plan on buying at the end of the week, wait until the next generation and either save some money or get a faster card.
 
The Tyan s2895 can handle 16 G of memory, but where do you find memory for that board? It's a bitch trying to find 2 G sticks of PC3200 DDR ECC. I'm looking because I'm considering this board as well and I'm having trouble finding this anywhere other than GamePC.
 
Also, you mentioned that you wish to keep your old PSU. Unless you've got a high-end EPS12V-complient supply, that is very unadvisable and won't cut it.
But the real question in this thread is, why go Opty when you can get a nice Athlon X2, not have to deal with slower, more expensive registered RAM? Looking over your list of apps, you don't need a "workstation". For gaming, opterons are slower than Athlon64s anyway, and if you haven't heard yet, dual core isn't something gamers are looking forward to, as games are not multithreaded yet and therefore run slower on dual-core. I think you need to rethink this opteron and dual-core business before you go and blow a lot of money that you'll regret when your friends with 3.2c P4s are beating you on FPS.
 
Just out of curiosity why are you going dual core? They really won't benifit most games out there for a while yet and a single higher clocked single core will outperform most the dual cores as they tend to be lower clocked for much more $$$.
 
I do quit a bit of gaming, but also a considerable ammount of multitasking. When you are talking about a system that will do both gaming and multitasking that means x2 or duallie.. anyway, thanks for all the comments..
 
If you do both, you've got to go full out dualie instead of dual-core, at least until one of two things happens: a) dual-core ghz start challenging single core designs or b) games become multithreaded. So in that case, a pair of 246s on the aforementioned board would be right up your ally, as individually it's a fast enough proc for good gaming, and together they multitask like butta!
 
In order to take full advantage of that board, you'll need 2 processors and at least 4
sticks of ram.

This will get you NUMA.

However, this where things can get rather costly. Say you get a pair of 242s and say
4 sticks of 256MB RAM (totaling 1GB), your still getting plenty of power and can run
in NUMA mode. But doing this will force in a upgrade path that will sort of cripple your
options unless you have a big budget.

I'd ought to agree with unhappy_mage. Get a single dual-core chip and 2 sticks of
512MB RAM. This will give you plenty of room to upgrade in the years to come
while giving you probably more then enough power for what you need ATM.
 
Sheff said:
The Tyan s2895 can handle 16 G of memory, but where do you find memory for that board? It's a bitch trying to find 2 G sticks of PC3200 DDR ECC. I'm looking because I'm considering this board as well and I'm having trouble finding this anywhere other than GamePC.
Click to expand...
newegg...

If that search doesn't work, look for memory of size 2gb and ecc. The board probably won't handle 3200 at that capacity anyways, so 2700 is all you need. If that won't work there's always pricewatch.
 
Based on dual core prices, you'd be better off really, like someone mentioned before, with a pair of single cores.
 
defakto said:
Based on dual core prices, you'd be better off really, like someone mentioned before, with a pair of single cores.
Click to expand...
I'm starting to realize that.

To finish up this thread I just picked up a Asus a8n-sli, 3000+ and a x600xt. When the dual core processors and sli compatible video cards start really dropping in price in a year or so I'll have the perfect upgrade path. In the mean time I've got a decent second system for my wife to use playing Wow. I'll just hijack it next year and give her my p4 2.8 and 6800nu.
 
It's really a shame that a single dual core at 2gig runs about as much as two single cores and a motherboard.
 
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