BobMarley said:
clarification, how are the Xeon boards for that.. .
i know Asus are great... they're all i've ever had..
There is a nice review here. It is for a 7505 Placer based Xeon board, with
an AGP slot. (An Asus board with this chip is the PP-DLW). They also directly
compare a 3.06GHz P4 against a dual, which is interesting.
http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd/hardware-reviews/1221_5.html
Their conclusion:
"If you use CAD - CAM ,3D Animation software or you render animations
and time is money for you, Dual Xeon solutions will worth every
penny. The hyper threading technology really helps for these kinds
of applications. Lightwave, Maya, 3DStudio Max and Specviewperf
results points Dual Xeons with hyper threading technology.
If you are only a gamer, Dual Xeon means throwing away your money.
Quake III and 3DMark 2001SE points to the Pentium 4. Hyper threading
is not really important.
For Office applications users; It would be an overkill to buy a
Dual Xeon system unless you use really heavy financial applications
and databases. Even under heavy load a Pentium 4 will be OK for you.
The Sysmark 2002 Office Productivity points to a Pentium 4 and
hyper threading support helps.
For Internet Creation, Adobe software users, film editing and
photography enthusiasts; If you have the money, a hyper threading
disabled Dual Xeon would be great. If you have limited money Pentium
4 with hyper threading support is OK for you."
Now, considering the low core clock rate of your two processors, game
performance will stink (as most games are uniprocessor). For other
applications, you might just break even, compared to a 3.06GHz P4.
PP-DLW (7505 Placer MCH based, AGP 8X, 533FSB, Sock604 Dual) - $380
PR-DLSW (GrandChampion based, AGP 4X, 400FSB, Sock604 Dual) - $738
The PP-DLW can use registered or unregistered DIMMs. You'll need two,
and Crucial lists 512MB unbuffered PC2100 for $87 each. So, for a
total of $380 + 2*87 = $554 you can have a so-so machine.
The good points - good I/O bandwidth by using PCI-X, good desktop
responsiveness due to using a dual, upgrade path later when Xeon price
drops. The bad points - Asus doesn't do as many BIOS updates for server
boards, there are few users to talk to (and so bugs don't get
reported to this group), boards are big (check that board fits case!).
If I already owned the video card, a pair of matched DIMMs, and
the two Xeon processors, I might be tempted to buy the DLW
Consider your PCI card collection carefully before buying,
because your slot choices are complicated. You might also need
a new power supply.
Based on the IRQ table for the DLW, there are three PCI busses.
Three slots on one PCI-X, one slot on the second PCI-X, and an
ordinary PCI slot off the Southbridge.
Consult forums.2cpu.com for more info on dual Xeon stuff. You
could post your intended config there and get their comments.
If you don't like risks, stick with the P4P800.
Have fun,
Paul
