Author: Aaron Gordon
Date: 12:36:58 04/09/03
Go up one level in this thread
On April 09, 2003 at 12:14:37, Robert Hyatt wrote: >On April 09, 2003 at 11:04:51, Aaron Gordon wrote: > >>On April 09, 2003 at 09:24:01, Charles Worthington wrote: >> >>>On April 09, 2003 at 00:46:15, Charles Worthington wrote: >>> >>>>On April 09, 2003 at 00:34:10, Pavel Blokhine wrote: >>>> >>>>>On April 09, 2003 at 00:17:16, Charles Worthington wrote: >>>>> >>>>>>On April 08, 2003 at 23:53:06, Charles Worthington wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>>On April 08, 2003 at 23:41:44, Pavel Blokhine wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>>>I am looking to buy a new computer. I will be using it for many things, but >>>>>>>>mostly for computer video games and chess online. So what computer would be >>>>>>>>best? TheMicro Express MicroFlex 27A Powered by AMD's 2.17-GHz Athlon XP 2700+ >>>>>>>>processor and 512MB of DDR400 SDRAM, the MicroFlex 27A earned a blistering score >>>>>>>>of 130 on PC WorldBench 4 tests, for $2254 or a Dell Dimension 8250• 3.06-GHz >>>>>>>>Pentium 4 processor• 200GB hard drive• 18-inch LCD monitor• 128MB ATI Radeon >>>>>>>>9700 Pro graphics• 16X DVD-ROM drive, DVD+RW/+R drive at $3158? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>>If video games and chess are your main uses for the machine I would think the >>>>>>>AMD would be the better choice...especially for the money....I own a dimension >>>>>>>8250 and while it surely performs well it was hardly worth the additional cost >>>>>>>were i to only use it for chess. But in the end it really is just a question of >>>>>>>personal preference. If both companies offer comparable service and support then >>>>>>>its really a toss of the coin. >>>>>>>Charles >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>P.S. The decision will also depend on what you plan for the machine in the >>>>>>future. If you want to upgrade to a faster cpu later on or overclock your >>>>>>current one then the AMD is the only option for you. Dell boards do not support >>>>>>overclocking and Intel is notorious for often changing the socket on their cpus. >>>>>>So you can pretty much rule out upgrading the Dell at all without >>>>>>some_major_expense. Speed wise you are not going to see a huge world of >>>>>>differece between the two machines. Assuming no overclocking you will get close >>>>>>to 1200 kNs running fritz 8 on either. The hyperthreading will give you a 10 to >>>>>>12% boost with the intel running Deep Fritz 7 but the strength difference is >>>>>>negligible. >>>>>> >>>>>>Charles >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>Thanks. But how do i overclock an AMD and is it safe? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>Well, I am not an expert in overclocking but for mild overclocking, where no >>>>additional cooling is required, i think you can just bump the cpu clock speed up >>>>in bios say 10% or so safely (my figure may be inaccuarate). You may have >>>>configure a jumper or two on the system board as well I am not certain about the >>>>design of these boards. Aaron Gordon would be the one to pose this question to >>>>as he has extensive knowledge of these boards and overclocking techniques. Sorry >>>>I couldn't be more help. >>>> >>>>Charles >>> >>> >>> >>>The same also applies to the dual 3.06 xeon system you emailed me the specs to >>>as we have already discussed above. The xeon systems have decreased in price a >>>bit though. For chess I would recommend a minimum of 1GB of RAM and 2 would be >>>even better but like all things related to the computer it is a matter of what >>>you can afford to sink into one. Dell's business machines are more flexible as >>>far as upgradability than their residential machines however they still cannot >>>be clocked up. My machine is automatically upgraded each time a newer or faster >>>part comes out as per my contract with Dell. The day after the part is released >>>a technician comes to install it. This contract includes motherboards, cpu's, >>>and memory only. As far as overclocking goes there is little need to overclock a >>>high end AMD or Xeon dual. They are both quite fast as it is and with the upper >>>end cpu's if you try anything more than mild overclocking you will need >>>additional cooling because these cpu's are already clocked close to the upper >>>end of what the engineers say is the limit of the part. Taking a 2 GHZ part to >>>2.5 GHz is much simpler than taking a 3GHz part to 3.5GHz. Like I said earlier >>>though, these are questions best left to Aaron Gordon or one of the guys here >>>who specialize in overclocking. Personally, with the current advances in cpu >>>technology i think overclocking the high end parts is a bit silly when there are >>>faster and faster cpu's coming to market constantly. Why take the risk when it >>>isn't needed? Most overclocking is done on the lower end chips to bring them up >>>to where the higher end chips are without putting out the expense for the high >>>end one. I think Aaron would agree that overclocking a high end chip past it's >>>safety margin would be unwise. >>> >>>Sincerely, Charles >> >>Overclocking a high-end chip is fine as long as you know what you're doing. Also >>as long as you run stability tests to ensure whatever cpu you're overclocking is >>completely stable it doesn't matter if you're overclocking an AthlonXP 3000+ or >>a 386SX-16MHz. Stable is stable. > > >_IF_ it is verified. This is not easy. It means you have to run a program that >specifically >tests "edge conditions" by running sliding 1 patterns thru every instruction, to >see if there is >any unexpected cross-talk at higher frequencies, etc. > >Just because it runs some application correctly, does _not_ mean it will run >_all_ applications >correctly. With all of the tests on my box that I've done I'd be willing to put money down that it is 100% stable. I'll put up a linux shell to that particular box and you can try everything in your power to crash it via cpu/memory/chipset/etc instabilities, it's just not going to happen.
This page took 0.01 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.