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DATA
05-16-2002, 05:14 PM
Hi ppl

what is the best cpu to use for crunching DF
ColinT
05-16-2002, 05:34 PM
Right now it's an AMD XP2100.
Dyyryath
05-16-2002, 05:36 PM
I haven't run any definitive benchmarks myself, but there is some interesting info in this thread (http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=570).

From all accounts the Alpha is the fastest clock for clock. However, I don't know how accurate the rest of the assumptions in that thread are.
Dyyryath
05-16-2002, 05:37 PM
Perhaps we should do some benchmarking? Jodie seems to think the P4's would be faster than the Athlon. I've got both, so I guess I could test that theory...
Paratima
05-16-2002, 06:50 PM
Based on what I've seen/been told, the Alpha is pretty clearly the winner, as Dyy says, "clock for clock". See this thread (http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=813) .

However, the Gigahertz race has bypassed the Alpha. Looks to me like the best you can get is 1 Gig. See the Alpha site (http://www.compaq.com/alphaserver/index.html) . Now of course, you CAN plug up to 32 Alphas into one frame, which you can't do with Athlons, however, the price/performance ration is gruesome.

My vote for a reasonable implementation is the Athlon, soon (July?) to be available with 512 KB of L2 cache, later (4th qtr?) to appear in 64-bit Sledgehammer guise.

Interesting, huh? :smoking:
ColinT
05-16-2002, 06:54 PM
I did not mention the Alpha because it is exotic. Not off the shelf stuff.

My XP1800s are faster than my Northwood P4 2000. However, the latest P4s at 2500 will certainly whip the AMDs. I saw the tests.

It's all a matter of money. The XPs are dirt cheap. Nothing made by Intel even comes close.
DATA
05-16-2002, 08:46 PM
Originally posted by Paratima

My vote for a reasonable implementation is the Athlon, soon (July?) to be available with 512 KB of L2 cache, later (4th qtr?) to appear in 64-bit Sledgehammer guise.

Interesting, huh? :smoking:

:cool: this looks to be more in my line by then there should be some pretty reliable twin AMD cpu Mobos - thanks for the info

(start laying down the plans for the new cruncher)
Chinasaur
05-16-2002, 10:35 PM
If you go dual AMD ... get a Tyan S2460

It's not overclockable..but it will allow anything from a Palomino Duron to an XP2100 to run in MP mode.

The newer MPX boards don't recognize XP's as dual..only AMD MP chips.

I'll be buying my third S2460 soon ,as it's MP-spec and not MPX-spec ,and populating it with two more XP1800's.

BTW, if you get Crucial brand, registered PC2100 is not necessary as Tyan states...although YMMV. I have an s2460 running on Crucial non-reg DDR.but I don't do it by choice..I prefer stability.