cheap dual processor system? (not build-it yourself)

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rishik12

Hey - am wondering what your advice is on where to buy a CHEAP
dual-processor AMD 64 or opteron system... I'm not a chip genius and
don't build my own computers! So I have to buy one, hopefully from a
reputable company...computer coming with a warranty, etc.

Anyway, I like shuttle, but I don't think they have dual proc systems.
Any advice on where to go?
 
Hey - am wondering what your advice is on where to buy a CHEAP
dual-processor AMD 64 or opteron system... I'm not a chip genius and
don't build my own computers! So I have to buy one, hopefully from a
reputable company...computer coming with a warranty, etc.

Anyway, I like shuttle, but I don't think they have dual proc systems.
Any advice on where to go?
Click to expand...


AMD64 porcessors are specifically designed for single CPU systems. The
Opteron chips are for multiprocessor systems.

Polywell.com makes nice high performance systems.

A friend just put together a dual opteron system system. the parts
came to about $2k on newegg.com.
 
Hey - am wondering what your advice is on where to buy a CHEAP
dual-processor AMD 64 or opteron system... I'm not a chip genius and
don't build my own computers! So I have to buy one, hopefully from a
reputable company...computer coming with a warranty, etc.

Anyway, I like shuttle, but I don't think they have dual proc systems.
Any advice on where to go?
Click to expand...

Actually, I think Shuttle recently announced a SFF Opty dualie.

In any case, it is a hard question to answer without knowing your
budget, what you intend to use the computer for, and what you
consider to be an acceptable warranty.

Vendors to consider include:
http://www.hp.com
http://www.polywell.com
http://www.boxxtech.com
http://www.ibm.com
http://www.xicomputer.com
http://www.sun.com

A search for terms like "dual opteron workstation" or "dual
opteron server" should turn up plenty of other vendors.

You might also want to check out the authorized resellers list at
http://www.newisys.com and the "partners" at AMD's site.
 
thanks guys, I'll check out those sites.

My budget is in the 2k - 3k range... certainly (and I realize this is
not apples-to-apples comparing, pardoning the foreshadowed pun) but I
know apple is selling their dual proc systems for about 2k... am
wondering why a good manufacturer can't construct a dual opteron system
in the same range...

I figured - I must be looking in the wrong places! So I came to this
newsgroup.

Thanks again.
 
thanks guys, I'll check out those sites.

My budget is in the 2k - 3k range... certainly (and I realize this is
not apples-to-apples comparing, pardoning the foreshadowed pun) but I
know apple is selling their dual proc systems for about 2k... am
wondering why a good manufacturer can't construct a dual opteron system
in the same range...
Click to expand...

You mentioned Shuttle in your initial post, so I hope that means
you are interested in a desktop or workstation rather than a server.

You *can* build a basic Opty dualie workstation for $2K - or buy
one from some vendors for about that much. $3K gets you more,
obviously, but don't forget to leave some money for software.

You might also want to consider a more conservative approach and
just get a typical single-processor system built around a Socket
939 motherboard. It would be cheaper, there would be many more
vendors to choose from, and you would have the option of
upgrading to a dual-core processor in the future. A dual-core
CPU would give you most of the benefits of a genuine Opteron
dualie box if at some point you decide that your initial single
core CPU isn't enough for you.

If you are in no hurry, you could also just wait until the
dual-core Socket 939 chips hit the market.
 
Hey - am wondering what your advice is on where to buy a CHEAP
dual-processor AMD 64 or opteron system... I'm not a chip genius and
don't build my own computers! So I have to buy one, hopefully from a
reputable company...computer coming with a warranty, etc.

Anyway, I like shuttle, but I don't think they have dual proc systems.
Any advice on where to go?
Click to expand...

If you like the Shuttle style of small-form-factor PCs, you may want
to have a look at IWill's ZMAXdp:

http://www.iwill.com.tw/product_2.asp?p_id=36&sp=Y

It's the same basic idea as a Shuttle design but has a pair of Opteron
chips in it.

Another option, if you're not in a rush, is to wait for a little bit
to see how the dual-core processors are going to pan out. Both AMD
and Intel are planning on releasing dual-core processors (ie two
processors in a single socket) within the next 2-3 months time. This
should provide dual-processor performance at roughly single-processor
prices.
 
Rob said:
You *can* build a basic Opty dualie workstation for $2K - or buy one
from some vendors for about that much. $3K gets you more, obviously,
but don't forget to leave some money for software.
Click to expand...

Why? The best he can do with a dual Opteron system is load
it with Linux anyway; that way, he can spend the extra $1K
on more memory :-)

Carlos
--
 
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AMD64 porcessors are specifically designed for single CPU systems. The
Opteron chips are for multiprocessor systems.
Click to expand...

Umm...AMD64 refers to the instruction set and general architecture. Athlon
64s, Opterons, and some Semprons (the Socket 754 Semprons, not the Socket
462 Semprons) are all AMD64 processors of one sort or another. Word is that
Intel has some processors that support the AMD64 instruction set, too.

Semprons, Athlon 64s, and Opteron 1xxs are single-processor (with the
possibility that the Opteron 1xxs might go dual-core in the future).
Opteron 2xxs and 8xxs support multiprocessor operation with up to 2 or 8
processors, respectively.
Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.
Click to expand...

The world is fortunate that you didn't get your way. If Gore won, we'd all
be praying toward Mecca five times a day now, whether we liked it or not.

_/_
/ v \ Scott Alfter (remove the obvious to send mail)
(IIGS( http://alfter.us/ Top-posting!
\_^_/ rm -rf /bin/laden >What's the most annoying thing on Usenet?

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: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
:<snip>

:: Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.
:
: The world is fortunate that you didn't get your way. If Gore won,
: we'd all be praying toward Mecca five times a day now, whether we
: liked it or not.

Yeah, that's pretty funny. You're all now praying to "George the Great."
Ain't that swell? Vaya gelipolla.

J.
 
Scott said:
The world is fortunate that you didn't get your way. If Gore won,
we'd all be praying toward Mecca five times a day now, whether we
liked it or not.
Click to expand...

Talk about flamebait... Sheesh!
 
Talk about flamebait... Sheesh!
Click to expand...

How convenient to "forget" to show the original quote to which Scott was
replying - typical Gore, Kerry et.al. tactics! Sorry, but Kofi and the
rest of the crypto-"liberals" have been exposed for what they really are...
but they still think we're all too dense to decipher their err, message.
 
: -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
:<snip>

:: Don't blame me. I voted for Gore.
:
: The world is fortunate that you didn't get your way. If Gore won,
: we'd all be praying toward Mecca five times a day now, whether we
: liked it or not.

Yeah, that's pretty funny. You're all now praying to "George the Great."
Ain't that swell? Vaya gelipolla.

J.
Click to expand...
Would you prefer to pray to Lenin/Stalin/Mao/Kerry?
 
....snip...
You mentioned Shuttle in your initial post, so I hope that means
you are interested in a desktop or workstation rather than a server.

You *can* build a basic Opty dualie workstation for $2K - or buy
one from some vendors for about that much. $3K gets you more,
obviously, but don't forget to leave some money for software.
Click to expand...

MSI MASTER2-FAR mobo + 2xOpty242 + 1GB RAM + (video, HDD, DVD burners,
case, etc, etc) < $1200 in May 2004. Today would be even higher spec
for less. Monitor & software not included. Upgradable (knock on
wood) to dual cores.
 
How convenient to "forget" to show the original quote to which Scott was
replying - typical Gore, Kerry et.al. tactics! Sorry, but Kofi and the
rest of the crypto-"liberals" have been exposed for what they really are...
Click to expand...

Politicians?
 
Last week I purchased a Tyan Tiger S2466N Dual Mobo / Dual AMD Barton
2800+ MP Processors / 1GB DDR RAM / Heatsink and fan for $775 including
S&H and assembly and test.

The only thing that annoyed me about the company was, my Visa credit
card had very difficult time going through so, I had to do a
wire-transfer. This caused me to lose about six valuable days since
their office took five days to OK payment although when I contacted the
bank they told me the transaction was made immediately.

Try monarchcomputer.com but I suggest you call them first because I
tried to purchase from them a few times and the credit card never went
through. They have a troubleshooting area on their site about customers
complaining about that issue but none of the tips work and when I
complained they seem not to believe the card does not work.

I will advise you to buy from them because they have good tech support
and they are easy to get hold of by phone. All my purchases went well
and the equipment performed great but, if you are pressed for time
don't buy from them.

Call ahead first and discuss your payment method before buying because
the wait for their office to clear the wire-transfer is a big killer.

By the way, if you are going to buy AMD based dual processor mobo you
need to buy MP processors and Tyan boards are great. However, they have
another version of this board that only takes a special power supply.
To avoid complications buy the one that takes the AMD ready PS and
carry regular IDE/EIDE and SATA drive controllers. All that talk about
64 bit and 32 bit processing are just techie excitement.

AMD MP Processors are the only type that will work in a dual or quad
processor system.
 
modiftek said:
Last week I purchased a Tyan Tiger S2466N Dual Mobo / Dual AMD Barton
2800+ MP Processors / 1GB DDR RAM / Heatsink and fan for $775 including
S&H and assembly and test.
Click to expand...

You could have gotten yourself a dual Opteron 242 kit for only
$100 to $300 more - depending on what motherboard you used.

Can't understand why anyone would build themselves a dual-Athlon
system at this late date.

[SNIP]
AMD MP Processors are the only type that will work in a dual or quad
processor system.
Click to expand...

MP can work in a single or dualie. Quad is not possible. For a
quad you need Opteron 8xx, Xeon, Itanic, Power, Sparc, etc.
 
Politicians?
Click to expand...

Well they're all a bit flakey - seems to be a qualification for the job --
possibly a required personality trait for wanting the job -- and most of
them are, of course, lawyers. What I'm particularly disgusted with is the
(usually, but with exceptions) liberal meddlers and tamperers who encode
their nefarious agenda in pseudo-altruistic sermons while they
simultaneously perpetrate a fraud on the masses - they're scoundrels!
 
Well they're all a bit flakey - seems to be a qualification for the job --
possibly a required personality trait for wanting the job -- and most of
them are, of course, lawyers. What I'm particularly disgusted with is the
(usually, but with exceptions) liberal meddlers and tamperers who encode
their nefarious agenda in pseudo-altruistic sermons while they
simultaneously perpetrate a fraud on the masses - they're scoundrels!
Click to expand...

Call me a cynic if you will, but to me that sounds exactly like what
the conservatives do as well. Make a few changes to the nature of the
agenda and sermon their giving, but in the end the fraud is the same.

Maybe that's just me though. Up here in the Great White North we have
had a bit of a run on bad politicians for the past little bit,
particularly for our provincial leaders IMO (after 8 years under
conservative mismanagement that saw about a small (~$50/year?)
reduction in my taxes to compensate for a large decrease in services,
and large budget deficits, we now have the liberals who had increased
the taxes without giving any additional services and are STILL running
a large deficit). As I said though, maybe I'm just a cynic.
 
Call me a cynic if you will, but to me that sounds exactly like what
the conservatives do as well. Make a few changes to the nature of the
agenda and sermon their giving, but in the end the fraud is the same.

Maybe that's just me though. Up here in the Great White North we have
had a bit of a run on bad politicians for the past little bit,
particularly for our provincial leaders IMO (after 8 years under
conservative mismanagement that saw about a small (~$50/year?)
reduction in my taxes to compensate for a large decrease in services,
and large budget deficits, we now have the liberals who had increased
the taxes without giving any additional services and are STILL running
a large deficit). As I said though, maybe I'm just a cynic.
Click to expand...

Yes, you probably are a cynic, but I personally see nothing wrong with
it - it is just a healthy reaction to the political games played by
both left and right, on both sides of US-Canadian border - played at
the expense of us taxpayers. As for the difference of politician's
agenda - there is none. The agenda of every politician is one and the
same - to get (re)elected. They just ponder to different target
audiences, therefore the difference in the sermon. Having said that,
my observance is that the liberals tend to put their hands in your
pocket deeper and more often than the conservatives...
 
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