GamePC reviews a Dual Opteron 244 NForce3 Workstation
Omega65
Philadelphia, Pa
<a href="http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=opteron244&page=1" target_blank>GamePC: Dual Opteron 244 Nforce3 Review</a>
<i>"Just as the Opteron is starting to pick-up steam on its own, AMD is getting ready to launch the Athlon64 processor next month, which will take the spotlight off the Opteron as AMD’s premiere consumer-level processor. From all accounts, it is appearing more and more like the Opteron will still be the high-end processor of choice for workstation and high-end gamers looking for the best performance from the AMD64 architecture. With the recent introduction of nVidia's nForce3 Pro 150 chipset, which paired the Opteron processor with a fairly inexpensive motherboard platform with AGP 8x graphics support, we're seeing the Opteron processor bloom into truly something special. Despite the early nature of this processor, the performance is impressive, even under a 32-bit operating system environment.
<b>Memory performance, on the other hand, is pretty incredible with the Opteron. As we've re-tested these CPU's with PC-2700 DDR memory with 4 modules (dual channel DDR for each CPU), the memory performance from the Opteron has gone from very good to absolutely top notch. Both the Xeon 3.06 GHz/1MB and the Opterons are tested with dual channel DDR-333 memory, but the Opteron's low-latency on-die memory controller allows for nearly a 30% boost in memory scores. Very impressive indeed!
If you're going for an Opteron in a 2P, it's very much worth the extra money to purchase four modules instead of two, even though two will work fine. "</b></i>
<i>"Just as the Opteron is starting to pick-up steam on its own, AMD is getting ready to launch the Athlon64 processor next month, which will take the spotlight off the Opteron as AMD’s premiere consumer-level processor. From all accounts, it is appearing more and more like the Opteron will still be the high-end processor of choice for workstation and high-end gamers looking for the best performance from the AMD64 architecture. With the recent introduction of nVidia's nForce3 Pro 150 chipset, which paired the Opteron processor with a fairly inexpensive motherboard platform with AGP 8x graphics support, we're seeing the Opteron processor bloom into truly something special. Despite the early nature of this processor, the performance is impressive, even under a 32-bit operating system environment.
<b>Memory performance, on the other hand, is pretty incredible with the Opteron. As we've re-tested these CPU's with PC-2700 DDR memory with 4 modules (dual channel DDR for each CPU), the memory performance from the Opteron has gone from very good to absolutely top notch. Both the Xeon 3.06 GHz/1MB and the Opterons are tested with dual channel DDR-333 memory, but the Opteron's low-latency on-die memory controller allows for nearly a 30% boost in memory scores. Very impressive indeed!
If you're going for an Opteron in a 2P, it's very much worth the extra money to purchase four modules instead of two, even though two will work fine. "</b></i>
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Comments
Smoothness - We thought we were in heaven with dual channel DDR on an 800 MHz FSB with Hyper-Threading. Nevertheless, despite the improvements which Intel has made with their CPU's, AMD has one upped them with their integrated DDR memory controller, which provides incredibly low latency access to the main system memory. Combined with the processor's beastly 1MB of L2 cache, the Opteron processor gives an incredibly smooth computing experience.
Cool and Quiet - Running at a mere 1.8 GHz, the Opteron 244 model doesn't chew up nearly as much power as Intel's 3 GHz+ Pentium 4 / Xeon processors. After hours of benchmarking, we only saw the Opteron processor reach the around 95-100 degrees (F), while comparable Intel chips can easily run in the range of 130-150 (F) with stock cooling. The Opteron runs cool, and such, the cooling solutions do not have to run as loud. Intel's 3.0 and 3.2 GHz stock cooling solutions are quite noisy. AMD's copper-based stock CPU cooler is very quiet, and struck a very positive chord with us.
Price - Sure, it's expensive. In comparison to the dual Xeon 3.06 GHz/1MB chips, they're less expensive, and performance is comparable between the two. Although if you're investing in a dual processor setup, you should really examine which applications you run and which processor will run better for your particular software config. Nevertheless, AMD's recently released Opteron 144 model offers all the same performance in a 1P environment as the 244 processor, but costs around $300 less, well below the price of a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz.
It's my mission to somehow...Some way, come into the possession of a dual Opteron 246 or higher system with 2GB of pc3200.
Opteron 246: $820 each
Registered ECC PC2700 512MB :~$110 (x4 = 440)
Total ~ $2500 (slighty beyond my budget range....
In any event that price should drop at least $1K by Q4 next year, so it's time to Start Saving....
BTW Don't forget to check out the scores of the Dual 2800+ (Barton 2.13ghz) System in the review.
(Cherry Picked Benchmarked Screenshot) A Barton Dualie running 2.50ghz FSB300 (150mhz) should score even higher (water cooling system undergoing leaktesting....