Opterons for gaming??

[zulander]

With all the fuss over Opterons being great over clockers have they now taken over as the best CPU to use for gaming as well? Or are the A64s still the best for running Quake 4 or whatever. I only run stuff at stock speeds so am i just better off getting an A64 wich has slighty faster clock cycles? cheers

[sawyen]

opterons will work just as well as A64s.. maybe a little less optimised for games.. but think of the possibilities of 40 linear samples of 4GB size on a non redundant basic alignment search done within 1 hour?! drool... Now you know why I got that dual Xeons for free yes? Now we're running dual Opterons 250s on HP!...

Once, the divine lord hailed.. let there be Opterons.. and with their 2x2.4Ghz of might, the evil Xeons were slain..

[kalniel]

(off topic)
Surprised you're still using BLAST. Pattern hunters faster for large stuff, and if you want proper alignment you might as well use Smith-Waterman, implemented in hardware via FPGA of course ;p

Of course, if you really have to, there is GRID I suppose...

(on topic)
Opterons are good anyway, but its the old choice between faster core or more cache. The cache is probably equal to an extra 200mhz, so once that's into account just choose the cheapest.

[oralpain]

Socket 939 opterons are exactly the same as San Deigo (or toledo) A64s, except the best dies go into the opterons first. They tend to be able to take higher temps and reach higher clocks.

There are NO architectural differences between the 939 opterons or A64s, none. Opterons just get binned better, go throgh a tougher qualification procedure, and are more expensive.

Note I'm tlaking about s939 opterons only, as those are the ones that seem to appeal to gamers/OCers the most.

S940 opterons are a slightly different, registered memory is a bit of perfromance hit and most S940 motherboards do not have the greatest overclocking options.

[sawyen]

(off topic)
Surprised you're still using BLAST. Pattern hunters faster for large stuff, and if you want proper alignment you might as well use Smith-Waterman, implemented in hardware via FPGA of course ;p

Of course, if you really have to, there is GRID I suppose...

(on topic)
Opterons are good anyway, but its the old choice between faster core or more cache. The cache is probably equal to an extra 200mhz, so once that's into account just choose the cheapest.

Well.. when you have that many sets of proteomics and genomics data prepared in-house. Its difficult to accustom urself with other alignment programs other than BLAST. Preparing a different matching algorithm will also require published evidence and most importantly.. the critical old hags in the international referee board.

[fullfat]

arent the opterons basically the same core as the fx series? albeit the clocks are lower, but with overclocking would they perform similar to say fx55/57?

[fredered]

sandiego core which is the same, and they can overlock to that level, the main difference being they are not garanteed to be that fast whilst the fx57s are and the multiplier is locked, upwards at least.