AMD price cuts 7-9-07
- Thread starter Bozo
- Start date
ddrueding
Fixture
Those are some really severe cuts...I do hope they survive the current price war.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
My supplier told me the price cut was scheduled for the 12th of July, not the 9th.
I'm glad the A64 X2 6000+ will fell like this : I still have an unsold Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro heatsink on my tablet. The 6000+ dissipates quite a lot and the Freezer 64 Pro will be put to good use soon. Everyone talks about the Core 2 Duo/Quad, but the 6000+ is a very good CPU for the Folding@home project. Put it on a cheap AMD 690G-based motherboard and you end up with a lot of processing power for peanuts.
I'm glad the A64 X2 6000+ will fell like this : I still have an unsold Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro heatsink on my tablet. The 6000+ dissipates quite a lot and the Freezer 64 Pro will be put to good use soon. Everyone talks about the Core 2 Duo/Quad, but the 6000+ is a very good CPU for the Folding@home project. Put it on a cheap AMD 690G-based motherboard and you end up with a lot of processing power for peanuts.
mubs
Storage? I am Storage!
Too bad these are AM2 CPUs. AMD screwed guys like me who invested in the S939 platform. Oh well, I gues it makes sense to replace the whole thing instead of upgrading bits and pieces.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Seconded. It's a pity prices for Opterons are not falling at the same rate...
I really can't disagree, that the X2 series is not producing a lot of quality processing power, for peanuts. They have very low up front costs. For the vast majority of people, low up-front cost is what matters. All of the modern chips have the processing power needed to do virtually any tasks called upon to do. Even the low-end chips do fine on gaming, as long as an appropiate video card exists.
However, for folding, the C2Q is the far more cost effective long term solution because of much lower energy usage, and better use of cache and SSE. A single Intel quad can easily replace 3 high-end AMD machines in folding PPD. Just looking at energy usage alone that would be a savings of $300-400 per year, depending on local electricity costs (I'm using the Pacific Northwest, which has relatively low electricity costs).
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
I haven't seen anything making me believe that a C2Q can produce more than twice what an X2 6000+ can do on FAH. Also, I doubt the 30% advantage that 4MB L2 cache Core 2 units have over the 2MB version. If that was the case, Bozo (who has a 3.2GHz Core 2 Duo with 4MB L2 cache) would be running back on me like a rabbit racing with a turtle. My main system uses a Core 2 Duo with 2MB L2 cache clocked at 2.72GHz. I also have two other systems producing ~3000 points per week together. Bozo has 6 CPUs (more than I do) working for him too, so that must make it at least kif-kif with my two other systems. Well, despite his higher clock and his 4MB L2 cache, I beat him by 800 points last week. So I think the tremendous advantage that larger cache Core 2 chips are rumored to have is greatly exagerated.
In the Tech Report article comparing some 20 different processors, they also tested FAH production. I know that the SMP client wasn't tested, but pretty much all the other clients/cores were and the X2 fared quite well against the Core 2. The 4MB Core 2 weren't a lot better than the 2MB versions there either. I don't see why the SMP client should favor the Core 2 that much compared to the X2 architecture. With 2 cores clocked at 3.0GHz each, I would guess that an Athlon 64 X2 6000+ should do at least half of what a Core 2 Quad can produce for FAH.
I might be wrong, but what I see right now doesn't let me that a 6000+ is that bad an investment compared to what Intel has to offer from an FAH perspective.
P.S. Sorry if I'm hard to read. I haven't been able to sleep during the last two days.
In the Tech Report article comparing some 20 different processors, they also tested FAH production. I know that the SMP client wasn't tested, but pretty much all the other clients/cores were and the X2 fared quite well against the Core 2. The 4MB Core 2 weren't a lot better than the 2MB versions there either. I don't see why the SMP client should favor the Core 2 that much compared to the X2 architecture. With 2 cores clocked at 3.0GHz each, I would guess that an Athlon 64 X2 6000+ should do at least half of what a Core 2 Quad can produce for FAH.
I might be wrong, but what I see right now doesn't let me that a 6000+ is that bad an investment compared to what Intel has to offer from an FAH perspective.
P.S. Sorry if I'm hard to read. I haven't been able to sleep during the last two days.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
My F@H computer doesn't run 24/7. It was down earlier this week while I played with Ubuntu. [removable hard drives, same system] It was also down for a couple of days when we were being hit with some severe thunderstorms.
That is why you see gaps in my output.
Bozo :joker:
That is why you see gaps in my output.
Bozo :joker:
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Ah, ok. I mean : shit, I'll lose a spot in the team ranking.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
We'll see. It has been running for over 24 hours now. Unless something unexpected comes up, I should be able to let it run until Thursday.
But, I think you are right. Looks like the average will be ~1500PPD.
Bozo :joker:
But, I think you are right. Looks like the average will be ~1500PPD.
Bozo :joker:
Stereodude
Not really a
Looks like they ended up coming out today...
paugie
Storage is cool
I have a PC again.
Athlon 64 3000+ socket 939
MSI NForce 4 with integrated 6150 video
512mb DDR400
250Gb Seagate SATA II
with these components holdovers from my old PC which I didn't sell
80Gb Maxtor
NEC DVD 16X burner
HEC 350watt power supply
I don't know why I didn't wait a little while longer to get an AM2 system.
Athlon 64 3000+ socket 939
MSI NForce 4 with integrated 6150 video
512mb DDR400
250Gb Seagate SATA II
with these components holdovers from my old PC which I didn't sell
80Gb Maxtor
NEC DVD 16X burner
HEC 350watt power supply
I don't know why I didn't wait a little while longer to get an AM2 system.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
ddrueding
Fixture
Welcome back indeed. That system should keep you surfing for quite some time.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Yeah, you should not need to upgrade until at least September. ;-)
sechs
Storage? I am Storage!
Are people really going to keep up the upgrade cycles with multicore CPUs?
I was working on an 18-moth to two-year cycle with my desktop until I went with the dual-processor system. I've had it for almost three years now, and don't see upgrading for at least another. A lot of folks who run dual-processor systems say that they seem to feel useful longer.
I was working on an 18-moth to two-year cycle with my desktop until I went with the dual-processor system. I've had it for almost three years now, and don't see upgrading for at least another. A lot of folks who run dual-processor systems say that they seem to feel useful longer.
ddrueding
Fixture
A lot of people I know who used to do 2CPU systems (Santilli, etc) kept them much longer than people who bought single CPU systems. I'm now on my third dual-core CPU, and the next will likely be a quad. The biggest thing I'm noticing is the number of things my system does at once has increased dramatically. The thought of winamp and a P2P client running in the background during a gaming session would have been insane in single-core machines. Now I have those as well as AutoGK, windows updates, and a movie playing on another screen! It's what has made me comfortable running a single machine for everything.
paugie
Storage is cool
Thanks for the welcome greetings.
I had really hoped to have a dual core PC on the outset. But I came across what I thought to be a real bargain, the A64-3000+ for USD40. It was half of the price of a new Brisbane X2-3600+.
Seems in this last week that bargain would prove to be run o' the mill, as everyone was trying to unload his single core Athlon. Grrrr.
Well, here's to OverClocking, again.
Or hoping some really cheap Socket 939 X2 comes along.
I had really hoped to have a dual core PC on the outset. But I came across what I thought to be a real bargain, the A64-3000+ for USD40. It was half of the price of a new Brisbane X2-3600+.
Seems in this last week that bargain would prove to be run o' the mill, as everyone was trying to unload his single core Athlon. Grrrr.
Well, here's to OverClocking, again.
Or hoping some really cheap Socket 939 X2 comes along.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Don't forget that for most dual/quad socket systems cost more upfront as well, so people tend to value the system more. eg motherboard typically 3-5x the cost, 2x for the CPUs, more for Reg/ECC RAM or FBDIMM's.
My personal 2CPU system is approaching 3yrs old, and will be keeping it for at least another 12-18mths. Cost in replacing it is admittedly one of those factors (new case + PSU, motherboard, 2x CPUs, RAM, gfx card, etc), however looking at what is out there, IMHO my system is still on par with most new entry/mid level single CPU systems in overall performance! (except for gfx, which is limited to a ATi R9600XT on AGP).
Overall my system is performing adequately for what I use my system for, so I don't see the need for upgrading. (It be nice to drop in a pair of Op275's into my current system, though).
PS. I do have a history of slow upgrades - 286@16 (~1991) -> P233MMX (1997) -> P4@1.6 (2001) -> Dual Opteron (2004) -> ??? (2008-09)
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
A power outage today had my computer off for about 4 hrs. The power wasn't off that long, but until I got home it was.
Bozo :joker: