Re: C.P.U. suggestions.

[Mark Allums <mark@allums.com>]

Chris Wakefield wrote:
> Greetings all.
>
> I'm planning to build my next power machine, this time I 
> may go with a Core Duo, but I looking for some suggestions 
> and CPU stories from Y'all....
>
> To my dissappointment my 'AMD 64 X2 Dual Core 3800' has 
> been a ho-hum experience; don't know if it's the scheduler 
> with the default debian compile that seems to effect the 
> performance, but it's certainly nothing to write home 
> about.
> .....I actually found my original AMD 64 Processor 3200+ 
> (the one with 1 MiB L2 cache) to be probably the best CPU 
> I ever had and I think just as capable as my X2.
>
> So, I'm wondering about the Core Duo family and which is 
> best for the desktop?
> (I've built about 3 machines for clients with these CPU's 
> and they seem very snappy.  I'm even talking about the 1.8 
> MHz variety).
>
> I'm also wondering about alternate CPU's as well and what 
> suggestions anyone has about those as well?
>
> Any Suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
> Chris W.

Make sure your BIOS is up to date, you need BIOS support to run a dual 
core CPU on the old AMD boards from around the time of the transition to 
dual core.

Then look for an Opteron 185 on eBay.  Almost the fastest non-FX socket 
939 X2 CPU.  Again, make sure the BIOS support is there.

Or, you can buy a new motherboard and go Intel Core 2.  They are 
seriously fast.


Mark Allums