Opteron 165 or Raid 0

iceman7311

OSNN Senior Addict
Joined
4 Feb 2005
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ok guys, i have finally decided loading times are too damn long, i am ready tho upgrade.

My current system is the one in my sig.

if i went with the 165 would i have to reformat?

if i went for the raid 0 i would get two 160gb hard drives and put them in a raid 0. they would be the new sata 300mb/s or whatever they are. i would use my current harddrive ofr back up to that array. would i have to reformat if i went that route?

which should i choose to give me overall better performance in loading?
 
Opteron's are really bad for desktop usage.

I'd suggest that you upgrade to core 2 Duo, and leave RAID0 for a later date to see the most noticable improvement.
 
why would you say a opteron is bad for dasktop usage? i could clock it up to about 2.7 on stock volts if i am lucky enough to get a good stepping and week.



and i knew someone would say get core 2 duo but i am not ready to buy a ney mb and new ram.
 
because we used to use dual opteron 275 for software development at work and got better performance out of Pentium 4 1.6 Celerons!!

We never did track down what the issue was but we've shifted our critical stuff over to Xeon's and they just chug along nicely with our apps.
 
The Opteron 1xx CPUs are basically just Toledo-core Athlon 64 X2s; they simply undergo more rigorous quality testing.

From AMD's FAQ:
Q: How will the new AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory support differ from the AMD Athlon™ 64 and AMD Athlon 64 FX processors?

A: Although the AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with unbuffered memory support will share the same core technology as the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Athlon 64 FX processors and will be socket and thermally compatible, there are some distinct differences:

* AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory all have 1MB of L2 cache.
* AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory are produced on AMD Opteron processor die material and follow the same AMD Opteron processor manufacturing process as do the 800 Series and 200 Series.
* AMD Opteron 100 Series processors with ECC unbuffered memory undergo the same AMD Opteron processor-level testing and validation as do the 800 Series and 200 Series.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_8826_9384~85257,00.html#100311

And yes, they generally seem to overclock extremely well.
 
1) No formating required to change CPUs with the same MB.

2) I doubt if a minimally faster CPU will affect load time. Most of my load is the HD chugging away. RAIDing may require a reformat depending on how well it goes. There is a utility to monitor your boot and show what is taking so long. The name escapes me (as usual).

But! The biggest improvement in boot time will come from cleaning up your start up files list, defragging and optimizing your existing HD. That TV tuner card may be hurting boot time too. My all in wonder cost me an extra 30% to load all it's stupid drivers.

Still don't expect much. There is just too much blaotware in windoze.
 
I have an opteron 175. I love the thing. And it's definitely perfectly fine for desktop use. Look at all of the "enthusiasts" that have bought them for overclocking use for their gaming machines.
 
If your worried about boot time loads, use bootviz.
It'll re-arrange your driver load sequence, so that whilst one driver is waiting for something (picking up a dhcp address for example), it'll load other stuff in the background.

It's dramatically improved many machines for me.

Find it here:- http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664
 
bootvis does absolutely nothing. its a myth among "experts".
This is true. From Microsoft's own WHDC pages:
Bootvis.exe is a performance tracing and visualization tool that Microsoft designed to help PC system designers and software developers identify performance issues for boot/resume timing while developing new PC products or supporting software.

Please note that Bootvis.exe is not a tool that will improve boot/resume performance for end users. Contrary to some published reports, Bootvis.exe cannot reduce or alter a system's boot or resume performance. The boot optimization routines invoked by Bootvis.exe are built into Windows XP. These routines run automatically at pre-determined times as part of the normal operation of the operating system.
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/fastboot/default.mspx
 
1) No formating required to change CPUs with the same MB.

2) I doubt if a minimally faster CPU will affect load time. Most of my load is the HD chugging away. RAIDing may require a reformat depending on how well it goes. There is a utility to monitor your boot and show what is taking so long. The name escapes me (as usual).

But! The biggest improvement in boot time will come from cleaning up your start up files list, defragging and optimizing your existing HD. That TV tuner card may be hurting boot time too. My all in wonder cost me an extra 30% to load all it's stupid drivers.

Still don't expect much. There is just too much blaotware in windoze.




when i say loading times i mean all around loading times, including games. if i do go with the raid what can i do to make sure i dont have to reformat? how many games utilize duel core cpu's now?
 
1) Cross your fingers. I've seen threads where going to RAID striping was accomplished with no problems. No specific extra steps were required.

2) None. Game loading depends on available ram and HD speed. RAM first if you have less than 2 gig, HD speed second.

I want to put a second gig in to help loading speed but I'm in that ugly space. Drop over $200 for 2x1 gig sticks of DDR (2x512 now and only 2 slots) or buy a new MB and 2x512 of DDR for ~$200, or buy a new MB/Proc/2gig of DDR2 w/AM2 socket for $500. All options suck with new AMD sockets (AM3) 4-6 months away. AMD is really pissing me off. I could go any way I want w/Intel and CPU would not be an issue. I am so close to my next MB/CPU being Intel it is scary (AMD fanboy since 1995).

PS Get the bloatware and unneeded programs out. It frees RAM and will help with all loading, not just startup.
 
On the subject of bootloading there is a great application called TuneXP. Check it out, you can use it to help optimize your windows setup and reduce windows boot times.

http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/default.php

I have been using that for a few years, and I wont say I have noticed huge increases in performance or anything... but it could help those with less then optimum systems.
 
guys i just purchased a 165 off of ebay for 185. CCBBE 0617FPMW !!!!!
if you do some research about that stepping, you are looking at 2.8 ghz @stock voltage with stock cooling. 3+ @ 1.45. fx-62 for $185
 
Cool. I just got a 165 from Newegg ($160) with the "CCBBE 0615EPMW" stepping. Going to drop it in this weekend and see how it fares. :)
 
im running 300x9 right now. currently priming. i can go way higher all i have done so far is change the fsb to 300. screen shots comming once i have enogh time to prime it to make sure it is stable.
 
I installed mine last night. Currently priming at 290*9 = 2.61 GHz.
I've actually dropped the vcore down to 1.28V. Looking good so far, with decent temps for a quiet case with only one rear 120mm fan. :)
 

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