64-Bits on the Desktop We've written extensively about AMD's x86-64 architecture in the past. Most recently, Nick Stam looked under the hood in his piece on "Inside AMD's Opteron Processor". Nick also gave us some good insight into the Opteron's performance as a server, which was, in a word, stellar. Back in early 2002, microprocessor industry analyst Jim Turley compared the architectures of AMD's x86-64 and Intel's Itanium CPU.
However, as Opteron CPUs have begun entering the channel, it's becoming possible for any user to buy one. Adding to the temptation is Nvidia's release of its Nforce3 Pro/150 chipset, which supports the 1xx series single processor version of AMD's new 64-bit brainchild. Asus is now shipping a motherboard built around nVidia's Nforce3 Pro/150 chipset, called the SK8N. We used it for our testing in this article – albeit with a beta-level bios.
If you speak to AMD and Nvidia, they'll carefully tell you that the Opteron 1xx series and Nforce3 combination is targeted for entry level workstations. This state of affairs is known as "market segmentation". We say, "hogwash". So that's why we put together a killer "workstation", which we just call a desktop, to see how it performed.
It's true that Opteron 144 processors in the channel are currently as scarce as hens teeth, but the dual-processor version, the 244, is available at around $710-740 each. AMD's official price for the Opteron 144 is $660 (quantity 1000), so it's probably not much cheaper than the 244, even if you could get one. The only substantive difference between the 244 and the 144 is that the 2xx series supports a single coherent HyperTransport link (both CPUs support a total of three HyperTransport channels). We used a 144 in the following tests, but the results should be extendable over to a single-processor 244 configuration as well.
Also, AMD will soon be launching the Athlon 64, which is the one actually targeted for desktop CPUs. So AMD's uniprocessor focus will likely be the Athlon 64 family.
We kept these positioning caveats in mind as we ran the test system through our suite of benchmarks. Before we get to all the numbers, though, we should point out that the Opteron 144 / Nforce3 combo does make for a sweet desktop PC. Yes, it's more expensive than the most expensive Pentium 4 CPU/motherboard combination you can get. It's not necessarily as fast as the fastest P4 in 32-bit processing in many cases. But the price premium is only around $100, when compared to a 3.2GHz P4 system. you'll have the added benefit of being able to play with 64-bit technology. Call it fun for tech geeks.
The focus of this article is Opteron in a desktop PC configuration. This necessarily means we'll be running 32-bit operating systems and applications. In a few weeks, we'll tackle some serious workstation applications, and experiment with 64-bit operating systems and applications too.
However, as Opteron CPUs have begun entering the channel, it's becoming possible for any user to buy one. Adding to the temptation is Nvidia's release of its Nforce3 Pro/150 chipset, which supports the 1xx series single processor version of AMD's new 64-bit brainchild. Asus is now shipping a motherboard built around nVidia's Nforce3 Pro/150 chipset, called the SK8N. We used it for our testing in this article – albeit with a beta-level bios.
If you speak to AMD and Nvidia, they'll carefully tell you that the Opteron 1xx series and Nforce3 combination is targeted for entry level workstations. This state of affairs is known as "market segmentation". We say, "hogwash". So that's why we put together a killer "workstation", which we just call a desktop, to see how it performed.
It's true that Opteron 144 processors in the channel are currently as scarce as hens teeth, but the dual-processor version, the 244, is available at around $710-740 each. AMD's official price for the Opteron 144 is $660 (quantity 1000), so it's probably not much cheaper than the 244, even if you could get one. The only substantive difference between the 244 and the 144 is that the 2xx series supports a single coherent HyperTransport link (both CPUs support a total of three HyperTransport channels). We used a 144 in the following tests, but the results should be extendable over to a single-processor 244 configuration as well.
Also, AMD will soon be launching the Athlon 64, which is the one actually targeted for desktop CPUs. So AMD's uniprocessor focus will likely be the Athlon 64 family.
We kept these positioning caveats in mind as we ran the test system through our suite of benchmarks. Before we get to all the numbers, though, we should point out that the Opteron 144 / Nforce3 combo does make for a sweet desktop PC. Yes, it's more expensive than the most expensive Pentium 4 CPU/motherboard combination you can get. It's not necessarily as fast as the fastest P4 in 32-bit processing in many cases. But the price premium is only around $100, when compared to a 3.2GHz P4 system. you'll have the added benefit of being able to play with 64-bit technology. Call it fun for tech geeks.
The focus of this article is Opteron in a desktop PC configuration. This necessarily means we'll be running 32-bit operating systems and applications. In a few weeks, we'll tackle some serious workstation applications, and experiment with 64-bit operating systems and applications too.
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