Subject: Re: [linux-audio-user] regarding mobos and CPUs
From: Malcolm Baldridge (linux-audio_AT_paypc.com)
Date: Thu May 06 2004 - 23:44:40 EEST
Quoting Russell Hanaghan <hanaghan_AT_starband.net>:
> Just so I can chirp in...
>
> Also Athalon XP 2500. Newer (ish) mobo..Shuttle A39KN. I'm also
> overclocking the sucker slightly at 1908mhz and it's seemingly stable.
>
> Foobar on Pentium! :) I gave up spending the extra $100 smackers on them
> things 3 boxes ago.
I know it's probably heresy for a Linux user to use Intel, but in a value
for money comparison THESE days, a P4 is money well spent. They run cooler,
support SSE/SSE2 (the latter I've used to brilliant effect in an
experimental anti-spam product which does wire-speed connection monitoring +
diversion), and has higher memory + subsystem bandwidth with the FSB800
dual-channel chipsets (865PE/875).
When you couple the Intel CPU with the (FREE!) Intel Compiler, you really
have a winner hands-down. Rebuilding the OpenSSL library with ICC gave me a
35% performance advantage over the best equivalent settings in gcc-3.3 in
the Pure C crypto cores, to name one small example.
With the very small number of exceptions if you hand-pick the low-end
Thoroughbred cores, run so bloody hot - they are little nuclear power
plants. Yes, the new top-end Prescott P4s top them in heat dissipation, but
those aren't necessary for your application.
Quoting Dave Phillips <dlphilp_AT_bright.net>:
> A client has asked me to get some opinions regarding AMD CPUs and
> recommended motherboards. He's planning to replace an SMP system that
> has apparently never worked quite right. He doesn't want another SMP
> mobo, and a friend is advising him to go with a uniprocessor system
> built around a recent AMD CPU.
If you were tempted to go AMD, I'd go for the Athlon FX-53, but that's
PRICEY. And overkill, I suspect. At least the Athlon64s have full SSE/SSE2
though.
> Am I just being paranoid, or
> are there particular reasons to go with Intel instead of AMD ?
I suspect you're the victim of a bad build script, but there ARE genuine
performance advantages to using a Pentium 4 if you build your own binaries.
> My client is considering a P4 instead of the AMD, hence this infoquest...
>
> Also, what's a recommended motherboard ?
Motherboard:
============
The Asus P4C800-E Deluxe if money is no object, but the Asus P4P800 (or
P4P800 Deluxe if he needs/wants onboard Firewire) will give you the same
performance for a bit less money. The quality of these motherboards is
EXCELLENT. Even though the P4P800 uses the i865PE chipset, it supports
"PAT" for most of the same memory bus optimisations the more expensive i875
chipsets (in the P4C800) support.
CPU:
====
P4-2.8Ghz-800 is probably the sweet spot (in North American markets)
In the Land of Mordor, where Quality lies,
=MB=
-- A focus on Quality.
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