I was offered...

R

RyanL

Gawd
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
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652
I was offered the chioce of these two machines...which one would be a better choice? I am very avid gamer!!! And i run a local LAN here in my state.....

Dual 2.0 Ghz Xeons /w Hyper Threading Overclocked to 3.3 ghz
1 Gig of Corsair Ram 2x512
Asus PC-DL Motherboard
Thermaltake Xaser Case
Antec True Power 550 watt power supply
16x Dual Layer Sony DVD-RW
Floppy Drive
Radeon X800

or

Socket 939 Athlon System
MSI K8N Neo2 Motherboard
500 Watt Ultra Xconnect Silver Power supply (UV Reactive Cables) Antec Style Silver Case Athlon 64 3000+ Overclocked to 2.4 ghz Gig of Kingston PC 3200 2x512 160 Gig 7200 RPM 8 meg Seagate SATA HDD /w NCQ 16x Dual Layer Sony DVD-RW Floppy Drive
Radeon X800

or

Dell 8400 System
3.0 Ghz P4 LGA 775
1 gig of Samsung DDR2 2x512
Radeon X800 Pro Overclocked to past XT PE speeds. 580 mhz Core 530 mhz RAM NEC 16x Dual Layer DVD-RW NEC 48x CD-RW 160 Gig 7200 RPM 8 meg Seagate SATA HDD /w NCQ Floppy Windows XP Home Edition Dell Keyboard and Mouse


Again i GAME alot...but i want the fastest choice that have. Which one would run the best?
 
#2 with a different power supply... can't OC #3.. cause it's dell.. and #1 is a server.. maybe a multitasking workstation, but not ideal for games...
 
RyanL said:
I was offered the chioce of these two machines...which one would be a better choice? I am very avid gamer!!! And i run a local LAN here in my state.....


Socket 939 Athlon System
MSI K8N Neo2 Motherboard
500 Watt Ultra Xconnect Silver Power supply (UV Reactive Cables) Antec Style Silver Case Athlon 64 3000+ Overclocked to 2.4 ghz Gig of Kingston PC 3200 2x512 160 Gig 7200 RPM 8 meg Seagate SATA HDD /w NCQ 16x Dual Layer Sony DVD-RW Floppy Drive
Radeon X800
Click to expand...

AMD owns for games. There really isn't much of a choice here.
 
But woundnt the xeon server the purpose of gaming AND as a server?
 
If his primary concern is gaming, only one CPU is relevent, and the Athlon 64 will win out over the Xeon. Multiprocessing is irrelevant for gaming.
 
Yea i know but say i wanted to use it as a server for my LAN and also gaming machine with not at LAN?

And what if i were servering a small 16 man game....set the server to CPU2 and play on CPU1?
 
RyanL said:
Yea i know but say i wanted to use it as a server for my LAN and also gaming machine with not at LAN?

And what if i were servering a small 16 man game....set the server to CPU2 and play on CPU1?
Click to expand...

A 4-way proc setup won't help you if the game isn't programed to utilize the other processors. The only game I know of that actually made use of MP systems was Quake 3.

AMD has an onboard memory controller. The Athlon 64 will smoke any Intel chip in games because of this.
 
So what if my purpose was to game and use it as a server? Still number 2?
 
For light serving work running say, Apache, PHP and SQL In the background won't slow down an A64 much. It's if you ran a huge corporate server you'd need to worry about multiprocessing. ;)
 
If you wanted it for just gaming, option 2.

If you wanted it to host a server while gaming at the same time, option 1 will perform better if you run a dedicated server and the game on it.

Avoid option 3.
 
If its just for gaming than you might as well get your best bang for the buck and go with number 2. Just be sure to switch the psu.
 
So running games on a dual machine running at 3+ ghz with a X800 and useing the other CPU just for server BS would not be better then the 939?
 
The PSU in #2 doesn't look like a very reliable brand, something like Antec, Fortron, PC power and cooling, would be much better.

Anything past that would require a more versed person in that field to explain :)
 
RyanL said:
And whats wrong with that PSU in number 2?
Click to expand...

Well it doesn't give out very "reliable" power. Frequent break downs and lackluster performance. Go with something else, like a OCZ or Zippy or something.
 
Hmm..ok ... well im still debating against the dual xeon vs the 939....i like the idea of running the duals one game and servers on the other chip...however i like the 939 also....grrr
 
RyanL said:
Hmm..ok ... well im still debating against the dual xeon vs the 939....i like the idea of running the duals one game and servers on the other chip...however i like the 939 also....grrr
Click to expand...

From one of the million times I have posted this:

I think I have said this now a million times but here is +1.

The x-connect is not a high end supply it is a low to mid range premodded PSU. It probably won't eat your computer but some have failed rather spectacularly, and at least 2 that failed when really tested....not I ran x,y,z components some bling case fans and measureed my voltages off the mobo sensor test but real tests.

Being a low to mid supply it will provide power, it won't provide good protection under voltage sags, it will derate pretty poorly with temp, it may not be clean power, but in all likelyhood it won't eat your system.......but if things goo bad it won't provide nearly the protection of a better PSU...and for god sake don't load it near it's rating.

and it is made by Young Year not Powmax........however that is like saying my Gremlin pwns your Yugo.

In addition to the other reasons not to go with the xeon is what memory is that running?
 
Seconding that Ultra PSUs are poorly built. Their rails are shoddy and voltages are all over the place, which will cause crashes and constant random reboots, or in more extreme cases, hardware damage. They don't supply all that much power. You pay for the modular cables and the flashy lights, when an Antec NeoPower 480 will supply modular cabling but supply STABLE rails, dead on voltages and loads of amperage.

An Antec NeoPower 480 (if you demand modular cables), or a TruePower 430 if you do not, is your best bet in the A64 machine, System 2.
 
good cause that ultra psu is a rebadged powmax - and they are cheapo built...
too bad you cant get 2 comps - but hey if they are giving it to you - can I have one of the others? ;)
anyway, gaming and lite (such as game server for under 12-16 ppl) server duty the amd will do fine.
 
HvyMtl said:
good cause that ultra psu is a rebadged powmax - and they are cheapo built...
Click to expand...


No they aren't. From my previous post
and it is made by Young Year not Powmax........however that is like saying my Gremlin pwns your Yugo.
Click to expand...
 
RyanL said:
Hmm..ok ... well im still debating against the dual xeon vs the 939....i like the idea of running the duals one game and servers on the other chip...however i like the 939 also....grrr
Click to expand...

How many different ways do you need to hear the same thing? :rolleyes:
 
Im just trying to talk my self out of getting the Xeons and im useing others to push me into submission :)
 
If all you do is game, go with the second machine.

Personally, I'd go with the first.. dualies :)
 
Spectre said:
From one of the million times I have posted this:

I think I have said this now a million times but here is +1.

The x-connect is not a high end supply it is a low to mid range premodded PSU. It probably won't eat your computer but some have failed rather spectacularly, and at least 2 that failed when really tested....not I ran x,y,z components some bling case fans and measureed my voltages off the mobo sensor test but real tests.
Click to expand...

X-connect is not the same as Powmax. All the reviews I have seen about the x-connect say it is a very highly recommended PSU.
 
bonkrowave said:
X-connect is not the same as Powmax. All the reviews I have seen about the x-connect say it is a very highly recommended PSU.
Click to expand...
thats because none of the "reviewers" put enough of a load on it really test it. they boot up a system and check it with a multimeter and say "wow, this PSU is great"

when really pushed, that thing will blow up.


since no one else has seemed to answer this:

yes. you can set it up to make the xeons handle serving and the other handle the game. i have no idea why no one had told you taht yet, and if that is waht you are wanting to do, i would definatly go with the xeons.
 
lithium726 said:
thats because none of the "reviewers" put enough of a load on it really test it. they boot up a system and check it with a multimeter and say "wow, this PSU is great"

when really pushed, that thing will blow up.
Click to expand...

Well the reviews I have read they have added the PSU to their main rig, because they like it so much. And again ... X-connect is not Powmax ... they have their own manufactouring plant.
 
bonkrowave said:
X-connect is not the same as Powmax. All the reviews I have seen about the x-connect say it is a very highly recommended PSU.
Click to expand...

Reading skills are going downhill so very fast. I said Young Year look at the UL listing in my post above this.

As for reviews.......well this is not a review:

"I got this pimping new PSU in. So i dropped in x,y, and z components into and some bling case fans. Then I fired up MBM5 and it said my rails were x,y,z. Oh my nutter butter goodness it has modular cable buy this before I jizz on it!"

This was a good review. Notice all how it was tested:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=64&page=2279
And then notice what happened to the Ultra:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?head=64&page=2307

That is the second high profile review to have one blow up the first being the slightly flawed MaximumPc but better than the case mod review I just joked about above.
 
And how often is your PSU at full load ?

Thats like red-lining a car for hours on end then being surprised when the engine goes.

Not to mention the article does go on to say:

Although your average PC will never push the PSU above 50 percent during normal usage, newer PCs with the latest generation of processors and graphics cards will need something substantially better than what has been the norm so far.
Click to expand...
 
bonkrowave said:
And how often is your PSU at full load ?

Thats like red-lining a car for hours on end then being surprised when the engine goes.
Click to expand...

It is called worst case scenario. You want your PSU to be able to handle the worst that is thrown at it because it is the front line between you and your very expensive very sensitive components. Now did you read the UL listing so you understand Ultra doesn't make them? Ultra is a rebrander which isn't a bad thing when you are rebranding quality. When you rebrand bad stuff it is.

Anyway the OP has been informed and the known facts are out. If you would like to continue this chat make a thread in the PSU forum. If you or someone else reads this and doesn't listen it is their choice to do so.........but if something goes wrong don't come crying becasue you aren't getting any sympathy.
 
bonkrowave said:
And how often is your PSU at full load ?

Thats like red-lining a car for hours on end then being surprised when the engine goes.

Not to mention the article does go on to say:
Click to expand...
would you rather have something that will blow up at full load, or take it like a man?

many of the other PSU's in that review did not blow. the fortran blue storm is such a much better choice for the same money.
 
Spectre said:
It is called worst case scenario. You want your PSU to be able to handle the worst that is thrown at it because it is the front line between you and your very expensive very sensitive components. Now did you read the UL listing so you understand Ultra doesn't make them? Ultra is a rebrander which isn't a bad thing when you are rebranding quality. When you rebrand bad stuff it is.

Anyway the OP has been informed and the known facts are out. If you would like to continue this chat make a thread in the PSU forum. If you or someone else reads this and doesn't listen it is their choice to do so.........but if something goes wrong don't come crying becasue you aren't getting any sympathy.
Click to expand...


lithium726 said:
would you rather have something that will blow up at full load, or take it like a man?

many of the other PSU's in that review did not blow. the fortran blue storm is such a much better choice for the same money.
Click to expand...


The worst case scenario in this case is not a real world scenario.
 
bonkrowave said:
The worst case scenario in this case is not a real world scenario.
Click to expand...
i dont understand why you would trust your rig to a suppy that blew up at full load, when there are better choices at the same pricepoint. that Ultra isnt going to hold up very well when you get a brownout in your house...
 
bonkrowave said:
The worst case scenario in this case is not a real world scenario.
Click to expand...

Go on and believe that if you want but high temps cause PSU's to derate pretty quickly, but even if that was the case (which it isn't) why buy something that can't survive a real test at what it is speced for when there are alternatives that can. Now like I said if you want to continue this there is a forum for it.
 
lithium726 said:
i dont understand why you would trust your rig to a suppy that blew up at full load, when there are better choices at the same pricepoint. that Ultra isnt going to hold up very well when you get a brownout in your house...
Click to expand...

Because your PSU is never going to get to full load. Even the article you linked says todays PCs never go above 50% load. PSUs dont take well to brown outs, thats what surge protectors are for.

Spectre said:
Go on and believe that if you want but high temps cause PSU's to derate pretty quickly, but even if that was the case (which it isn't) why buy something that can't survive a real test at what it is speced for when there are alternatives that can. Now like I said if you want to continue this there is a forum for it.
Click to expand...
Because it is not a real test ... read above.
 
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