processor prices

[khan]

Just a quick question...you guys always seem to know these things, so I figured I'd throw it out there:

Around September/November, what do you anticipate prices will be like for Opteron chips, and when the Athlon64s come out, how much will they cost, and will that release affect the prices of Opterons? I'm trying to figure out whether or not I should go 64-bit or not, and the cost-effectiveness thereof.

I want to build a new desktop machine, and I know it would be cheaper to buy now, go with a 3200+ or something, but I'd be worried about having to upgrade soon. Am I crazy? Which is the best way to go?

[Omega65]

Dual Channel 940/939 pin Opterons/Athlon64 will be $200 & Up

Single Channel Athlon 64 (754pin) will be $150-$400

[TheBaron]

you are crazy, because you have no need to upgrade now. your 1.8 can last you until september, when you can get something much more feature rich (64 , w00h00). unless there's some reason you can't wait, i would. plus, if Omega is right on those prices, you could probably get whatever is right below top of the line for around $275, which isn't bad. either way though, i'd advise the 3000+ over the 3200+. don't let those crazy quantispeed numbers confuse you, just because it has 200 mhz fsb does NOT make it faster

[Straight_Man]

And part of the decision will be what operating system you want to use. The Opterons and Athlon 64s will be 64 bit, but there will not be a lot of 64 bit software on the open market. And Windows by November is unlikely to have enough software to use a Athlon64 and get a lot improvement across a wide range of uses.

OTOH, the Opterons will show as SMP multiprocessors. They will let you set a processor affinity for many Windows services, let one pipe do lots of the background work and another do apps simultaneously because they are multiple porcessors on-die as far as Windows XP Pro is now concerned.

Linux has Athlon64 versions available, adn 64bit apps, as it is used in universities with clusters and things that can multithread apps well-- so the threading has been tuned for 64 bit as far as the operating system is concerned longer.

It is not just hardware, in fact the decision needs to be based on software availability and software and O\S cost to upgrade for 64 bit if you want to do that on a single CPU ondie, while Opterons will be more useful now with current software. That, for me, says I will use Opteron 200 series or 400 series before Athlon64.

[TheBaron]

when is longhorn supposed to come out?

[mmonnin]

Not for awhile.

[TheLostSwede]

It will actually mean a whole new game for the most of us who haven´t fiddled with a 64-bit system before.

Personally, i haven´t even tried Linux but i guess i have to now.
My biggest concerns is availability of media apps and games on 64 bit.

[khan]

the way i figure it, if the 64 bit chips are compatable with all 32 bit stuff, which they are (or should be), then for my next regularly scheduled upgrade i should jump on the bandwagon so i dont have to worry about it for a while.

[TheBaron]

i'm just saying maybe postpone the upgrade for 64-bit... bitch (harhar, you are t3h 0wn3d)