AM2 random thoughts

[peetee]

after much thought it looks like my new system will be based on the AMD 64 x2 processor.

I havent yet decided the speed though as I usually only upgrade when the speed is at least doubled.
ie K75 to K400, then 1gig then my current system AMD 2400. this is getting a bit prehistoric but still runs my video editing stuff but probably a lot slower than current systems.

therin lies my problem. are new systems that much faster?

I run Windows 2000 which will work with the 2 core ok I figure, but how about the 64 bit stuff? surely it will need to emulate to run which slows the thing down?

or do I need to get a 64 bit OS, plus 64 bit versions of my studio software, nero et al?

and another thing, I have been searching for Silent heatsink/fan combo's and can find few references to AM2 cpu's. do they exist?
the new system is going to have to be as silent as possible and I dont want to have to go to the added expense of watercooling. so I figured Zalman might have a solution but happen not.
The case of choice wont help either me thinks, a SFF Aspire X -Qpac which I have heard is a noisy case to begin with but it looks so much better than my current lump....

any thoughts anyone?

[Gregoroth]

64bit AMD's run a 32bit OS absolutely fine. Just think of their 64bit abilities as an added bonus.

Dual core prices should drop next year with the introduction of quad cores :roll: , so you could get a cheap single core cpu for the moment such as a Sempron. I'm planning on doing exactly that.

Also, the dual cores haven't been exploited yet on the programming side of things which would help games etc.

You are ok with standard Windows. As for when Vista comes out, I'm not sure about the whole 32/64bit issue. If and when you get Vista, it will probably benefit getting 64bit although you'll have to keep updated with that. I imagine there will be a large push for the market to go 64bit.

[Anonymous]

[Removed at the request of the author]

[peetee]

thanks for the replies.

figured most of it out but hadnt thought about the sempron route, not enough of a percieved speed increase but I could be wrong...

As far as Im concerned games stopped after duke nukem 3d so I dont need a flashy graphics card but I might miss my matrox g450's tv out.

I like the idea of twin core but am still unconvinced about 64bit. I like that the os can get on with whatever it does and still have a cpu to do other stuff. It looks like I may have to go with XP as an os but my experience with it has not been happy so far. Vista? not a chance until I really have too. It worries me when the OS takes up over a gig of my hard drive and thats without anything else added. what does it need all that stuff for? far too much fluff if you ask me. My eldest runs windows millenium ( yes I know) off a 1 gig compact flash without any trouble at all. quick too. She likes it because its \"pretty\"

most silent coolers i have seen for the am2 have needed an adapter to fit and have specific requirements. seems complicated to me.

Yup the hard drive may well be the noisiest thing in the box but speed and capacity equal heat and wrapping it in foam to make it quiet seems a recipy for disaster? shame they dont sell 320g compact flash yet.... now thats quiet.

[LJ]

OK, two things:

The 64-bitness of your CPU does far more than just enable some bigger, funkier instructions. If you check out the architecture of the CPUs (and I'm not suggesting you do - it's a very dry subject, and not to everyone's taste), you'll notice that, for example, the Athlon64 is actually *throttled* in 32-bit mode, albeit not by clock frequency. The secret is in the registers, which are effectively very small, *very* fast bits of memory that the individual processing units in the CPU use as a working area. I forget exactly how many there are, but something like 25% of the registers in an Athlon64 are inactive in 32-bit mode. That's where you see the performance boost coming from on 64-bit machines running 64-bit OSs - it's not from all the wonderful big instructions and big lumps of data being chucked around....in actuality, the amount of true 64-bit code running is probably fairly minimal unless you're running an app specifically compiled to do so.

(as a small aside, the x64 version of XP is far more stable than its 32-bit brother - even to the point that I was using the beta build 1269 in preference to XP 32-bit)

With regard to hard drives and noise, you'd be surprised. Take a look at the system in my sig - it's fairly quiet (no fan whine, but a noticeable constant rush of air). You'd expect the Raptor to be the noisiest, hottest component, right? Wrong. The crunch of the drive seeks is definitely audible, but its ambient noise is next to nothing. Bizarrely, the 7600GS is the noisiest and hottest part - ironic, really, since the nVidia reference spec for that part is fanless :P I don't use a fan to cool the drive, since I've spent a bit of £££ on a decent LiLi case which has the drive bays at the bottom, thus allowing me to keep plenty of space above and below the drive and avoid heat problems. The point is, with a little forward planning (as opposed to buying some decent bits and shoving them in a case), you can pretty much get around any heat or noise issues. One way to do this with relatively noisy drives is to suspend them on rubber bands (tensioned above and below the drive) to avoid vibrations....it's usually a good idea to use seriously thick bands, and check them regularly, though. 'Course, this isn't a particularly good solution if you move your machine around a lot.

And yes, people who wrap their drives in foam clearly don't love their data much. However, I don't think that's what was being suggested - insulating the drive bay itself isn't a bad idea, as long as there's about an inch of clear space above an below the drive. You should probably shove an 80mm fan in there to blow air over the drive - if you're still bothered about noise, step the fan down to 7v instead of 12v - if memory serves, connect the fan across the red (12v?) and yellow(5v?) wires, which will give a difference of 7v and thus spin the fan a bit slower.

:D