Re: Lightwave hardware & question about cache


"Steve Reeves" <steve@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:djjgrd$d39$1$8300dec7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Hi Darkscience, thanks for the extensive replies - much appreciated.
>
> After more research over the last few days I too have come to the
> conclusion that 1Mb L2 cache is worth having.

That would be my opinion on the matter as well. :) I think that a 4400+
with the 1MB/core would be a better solution than the 4600+ with 512K/core
if cost is the issue (and when is it not?).

> So CPU wise it's down to a 4400+ (with maybe an overclock) or a 4800+.

Good luck on the overclock. Don't do it right out of the box, give your CPU
and cooler some time to settle down and let the thermal grease work its way
in. You'll find that after running the system for a few days or a week or
so, that your temps will drop a little from when you first fire it up. The
trick to a good overclock is to be sure you have adequate airflow and
cooling. Keep an eye on the temps, but with these AMD X2 CPUs, don't be too
shocked if you lose a noticeable amount of stability with the overclock.
Personally, if my workstation crashes more than once every 4 to 6 months, I
feel that there's something wrong. Obviously, this doesn't take software
crashes into consideration where an app craps out or shuts down... But on a
good system that's not all that common either. Most of your overclocker
types have a much different idea of stability and most would consider one or
two shutdowns/restarts in every 12 hours of use to be "stable".

> Asus A8N-SLi Premium (NF4 S939 DDR400 PCI-E SATA Raid Gbit Lan 8Ch Audio)

You really should take a look at some other mainboards. As has already been
discussed here, the A8N/AN8 boards can't cope with more than about 3GB of
RAM and they also can't support anything faster than CAS3 3,3,8 in configs
larger than 2GB. This could become a serious issue if you upgrade to 64bit
Windows Vista next year and want more RAM. Take a look at the MSI NEO4
Platinum SLI. About the same price and it's an evolving mainboard platform
that is now on its 4th generation. I have also been hearing some good
things about the EVGA boards, but haven't tried them personally.

> 2Gb (2x1GB)Corsair, DDR400, non-ECC, 2x184 DIMM, unbuffered, 2-3-3-6,
> Silver H/S (the photo says Platinum Series)

Good stuff. I would recommend sticking with 2x1GB so that you don't
populate all your memory slots to leave open future options.

> ...should be able to overclock a 4400+ to 4800+ speed quite easily.
> Obviously your experience is somewhat different - so I guess thwe question
> is do I need the extra 200Mhz that badly? I still rather suspect that AMD
> are charging too much money for the 4800+, about 175 sterling difference
> in price - quite shocking.

The extra 200MHz will be noticeable on those long renders and in sensitive
benchmarks. It never hurts to try, I just don't want you to get your hopes
up. Personally, I do play with overclocking on some systems occasionally,
but I know that I'm far more productive on a 100% stable system than on a
system that's 5% faster that likes to crash once a day.

> As for hard disc, many thanks for your advice about the Raptors. Again, I
> am having second thoughts here and will probably just go for the 200Gb
> Barracuda for now. A fast system/data drive would be nice - but I could do
> without the noise - I imagine the Raptor is fairly noisy. And as you

The Raptors aren't all that noisy. Not silent by any means, but I can't
hear the two that I have over any of the fans in the system. And they just
make a quiet clicking on read/writes. I've had some drives in the past that
sounded like someone shaking a handfull of birdshot in a coffee can.

> point out, am I really going to see a big difference? The odd second or so
> here is not the end of the world for me. Same goes for the CPU I guess. I
> will price up the RAID configuration you suggested.

Two 250GB drives in RAID 0 should be cheaper or about the same price as the
74GB Raptor with a 200GB drive. But you're half a world away and I've
noticed some goofy prices over there in the UK on things. :)

> somebody like Scan regarding items like the mobo. But I can upgarde the
> RAM to something like (4 x 512 Mb) Corsair TwinX-XL, DDR, PC3200XLPT, Cas
> 2
> - better RAM than above but is the extra cost worth it? I suspect not.

I haven't looked to see if it's available, but if you can get that RAM as
2x1GB, then it may be worth it if you do lots of memory intensive stuff.
Some rendering operations are fairly intensive for memory timings (more of
the rapid succession, instancing type stuff like Sasquatch). However, these
memory modules won't give you any superior bandwidth over the other modules
so for large block memory operations like video streaming/editing image
processing, etc.. you won't see a difference.

> And I haven't even decided on a monitor yet! Viewsonic VX924 seems
> favourite - any 19" recommendations for around 300-400 UK sterling?

Hmmm... Not sure how the prices translate, but there's some really nice
widescreen LCD displays available now. I doubt I'd ever go back to a CRT
display. Let me see if I have some suggestions of what might be available
to you. Off the top of my head, the newest LG panels that are OEM'd for
Dell are top notch. The 24" model has a 1000:1 contrast ratio and a 360cd/m
brightness and 1920x1200 res. It's a beauty, especially at it's typical
price of about $785 here in the states. It lists for like $1200, but they
routinely have 35% off coupons and free shipping and whatnot. The 19" model
is great too, although it isn't has bright and only has 500:1 contrast and
only 1680x1050 pixels. But at a going rate (with typical coupons) of less
than $350 it's hard to argue with that. The VX924 is a nice display, but I
personally have a tough time with 1280x1024, just not enough pixels and
space feels cramped, especially on a 19" display. I had 2 x 17" displays at
1280x1024 on my main system for nearly 2 years and thought it was great. I
sold them off and upgraded to a single 24" at 1920x1280 and it was the best
thing I ever did.


.

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