Hammer/CK8 speculation...

[CaptAce]

Since my next PC will be Hammer based, I am of course very interested in what Nvidia's Crush K8 will have to offer. I really would like to be able to build a dual CPU workstation but I have yet to see any pics/info on a consumer level, ATX board for 2 chips. I think the whole uni-chip CK8 fits the Hammer architecture like 69, so I am worried I will have to choose between 2 Opterons or an Athlon 64 with a CK8 chipset.

I think if some manufacturer were to offer a workstation class 2 CPU Opteron motherboard, CK8 would be the perfect match, but it doesn't seem like it has been considered as a possibility... A manufacturer should be able to use whatever, AGP tunnel, I/O hub, etc that suits their fancy because they ALL connect to the CPU through HyperTransport. .

What do you think?
Will my prayers be answered or will 2 CPUs be too expensive anyway?

 

[MatthewF01]

hah!

to begin with, hammer will be available in very low numbers, probably VERY hard to obtain if youre not somehow closely affiliated with AMD/Nvidia or some huge company who is also in bed with the afforementioned...


and then you can expect to shell out quite a bit 'o dough for TWO Hammers, let alone ONE. THEN theres the board, and being a Dualie board, add some more right there.


Yea id say youll be somewhere over $1000. But i dunno...

 

[mechBgon]

I try to keep up on that stuff, and I haven't heard anything about multiprocessor nVidia chipsets yet. Do your apps, or combinations of apps, stand to benefit from a dual-processor system?

The Opteron being a server-oriented part, I'm guessing it will be pricey to start. Remember that there will apparently be Athlon 64's with 1Mb of L2, and the A64 being the desktop part, it will probably offer a higher clockspeed too, just like today's AthlonXP's are several notches ahead of AthlonMP's. So a less-expensive board with a faster 1Mb Athlon 64 might be a good way to spend your money. Time will tell, right?

 

[CaptAce]

You guys are right of course, but AMD really needs to get the Hammer train moving. I am ready to believe NOW. I am ready to buy NOW. Further delay of 3 or 4 months is not acceptable. Why do they not demonstrate more systems in more configurations? AMD has nothing to lose by making more information available. I want to know what my options are and I'm sure there are businesses anxious to know as well, as they won't be making purchase orders until they know what capabilities to expect from the architecture.

 

[mechBgon]

I'm ready to buy now, too (but my credit card isn't! ). However, after all the flak that AMD took for paper-launching its last few CPUs, maybe it will be better for their reputation to keep their cards close to their chest.

One thing that I really want to see, personally, is how it does in the SSE2-enhanced apps where the Pentium4 has benchmarked so well (Lightwave 7, for instance, which I'd like to get someday when my ship comes in).

 

[mechBgon]

By the way, this may interest you: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=6737

 

[CaptAce]

That is very interesting...a 1.2Ghz Hammer almost as good as a 2.2 Ghz P4...all I have to say is WOW!!

 

[MatthewF01]

i thought they were running an 800mhz box that was equaling a 2.2 Intel...

oh well. maybe it was against a Xeon. Then again that wouldnt make much sense either...
whatever. someone is confused.

 

[CaptAce]

The article says 1.2Ghz Athlon 64 vs. 1.2Ghz Athlon XP vs. 2.2 Ghz P4...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: MatthewF01
i thought they were running an 800mhz box that was equaling a 2.2 Intel...

oh well. maybe it was against a Xeon. Then again that wouldnt make much sense either...
whatever. someone is confused.

I think you were recalling Anand's comments about running a quick round of 3DMark2001SE on a 1.4GHz A64 (presumably 256kb L2) at Comdex? He remarked that it was performing on the level of an XP 2200+ or a P4 2.2GHz.

The benchmark that made a splash with an 800MHz Hammer was a 256kb Clawhammer which matched a 1.6GHz Pentium4 Williamette in Quake3.

 

[CaptAce]

Mech, I share you interest in the SSE-2 perfomance of Hammer...My main interest in a dual CPU system stems from the fact that the Hammer architecture will probably scale much better than previous Xeon and AthlonMP systems. I never thought it made much financial sense to do it when SMP software scaled so poorly on them, but I think Hammer might really kick butt in Photoshop, Lightwave, and 3D Studio Max, especially with SSE-2 optimizations.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: CaptAce
Mech, I share you interest in the SSE-2 perfomance of Hammer...My main interest in a dual CPU system stems from the fact that the Hammer architecture will probably scale much better than previous Xeon and AthlonMP systems. I never thought it made much financial sense to do it when SMP software scaled so poorly on them, but I think Hammer might really kick butt in Photoshop, Lightwave, and 3D Studio Max, especially with SSE-2 optimizations.

Heck yeah! If that's what you'll be using, by all means dual.

 

[mrman3k]

You are going to be waiting until the end of 2003 before there will be acceptable A64 prices. Before that they will probably be ultra-expensive, up in Intel land. Once volume starts ramping then we will see better prices and likewise probably better processors which can OC more.

 

[tapir]

personally I'm waiting until 90-nanometer (0.09micron) A64 hits in 2004. Something tells me the .09 micron Hammer is going to be a lot like .13 micron Northwood.

Also by then the on-die memory controller will have been updated to support next-gen memories like DDR-II or something.

 

[CaptAce]

Very interesting thoughts everyone, thanks for your contributions...