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VIA K8T800 Chipset Preview - Dual Opteron in Action

Posted by timothy on from the more-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at dept.

Mr.Tweak writes "It has been a long time coming but we are finally reaching the beginning stages of 64-bit mainstream computing. AMD has been the first to bring a 64-bit processor to the market with any true support in the Opteron. VIA is one of the key chipset companies supporting AMD64 and today TweakTown takes a preview look at their new K8T800 chipset with AMD Opteron 242 and 244 processors. 64-bit computing is boarding - don't miss the train!"

12 of 258 comments (clear)

  1. Yes, but... by Sir+Haxalot · · Score: 5, Funny

    64-bit computing is boarding - don't miss the train!
    I'll get on the train when the fare is a bit less.

    --
    I have over 70 freaks, do you?
  2. Well. by JanusFury · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As much as I'd love to board the train, the ticket price is a bit expensive, especially because I don't know exactly where the train goes.

    I'm sure this is true for most other computer users as well. 64-bit on the x86 desktop is not really a 'mature' technology, even though it's been done before with Alpha and Itanium... I for one would hate to spend lots of money moving to an Opteron-based platform, to find out that one of my devices doesn't work or that one of my programs doesn't work. So I suspect that the risk involved (even though it's rather minimal, really) probably is going to keep a lot of people from moving to Opteron and co. for a while.

    --
    using namespace slashdot;
    troll::post();
    1. Re:Well. by Ed+Avis · · Score: 5, Informative

      For the relatively small number of programs (at least on Linux) that have trouble with 64-bit longs, just compile as i386 code. The Opteron is backwards compatible with 32-bit code and gets reasonable performance out of it.

      --
      -- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
    2. Re:Well. by hattig · · Score: 5, Informative

      The really useful thing about the Opteron isn't the 64-bit aspect, but the fact that in 64-bit mode you get a lot more registers, etc, to play with. This in turn means that code compiled for the 64-bit mode will run faster than the code compiled for the 32-bit mode. Also the on-die memory controller means that memory latency is much lower, which in turn means things run faster. I'd buy a dual Opteron machine over a dual Xeon machine anyday.

  3. AMD the first? by LeninZhiv · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think the distinction between PC and RISC is quickly becoming obsolete, and so perhaps one should be including the UltraSparc IIe that's in the SunBlade 100/150, which retail for less than most new PC's.

    By all accounts this is not the best of the current 64-bit chips, but I think it was the first to be offered in "PC-priced" systems.

  4. 64-bit computing is just now boarding? by Surak · · Score: 5, Informative

    Where have you been? I've had a 64-bit machine for almost 5 years now. ;) It's even been EOLed since July 2002.

    --
    My journal has hot /. gossip.
  5. Memory by I_am_Rambi · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The via board hinders the opteron. Instead of utilizing both on-chip memory controllers, it only uses one. You can see better results if you added a second set of memory banks for the second opteron to use.

    There are more dual boards also including Tyans Thuder K8W. Rumor has it that nvidia will be coming out with a nforce chipset that will support dual opterons also.

    Benchmarks
    246 Benchmark
    Overclocked 246

  6. C'T Review by gmania · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is a nice review in the latest german C'T too (issue 18 - page 36) of the MSI K8T Master2FAR board with dual opteron support, Via K8T800/VT8237 chipset and a lot of nice features (AGP, SATA, GBit Ethernet). Size constaints meant only a single memory-bus is implemented, a 5-10% speed bump on memory access. Another downside is no PCI-X slots.

    The nicest thing though is the price: 280 euros. Sounds like a good workstation board.

    1. Re:C'T Review by DarkSarin · · Score: 5, Informative

      go for this the s2885 from tyan. It has PCI-X, AGP, SATA, GBe, and hold 16GB RAM... Can't lose.

      --
      "We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
  7. Overclocking, tweaking, overclock, tweak by dorlthed · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does anyone else think this site is a little weird? "PGA or Pin Grid Array can be separated into two parts: the first being Pin, which in this case is the small metal pins we see coming from the bottom of the processor and the other is the Grid Array." Well bless my stars! Who knew?!

  8. 64 bit processors running 32 bit software by mkosmul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sure, the benchmarks are impressive, but it would be nice to see more benchmarks using 64-bit-optimized software (eg. an optimized gromacs). 32 bit software just doesn't use all the power these chips have.

  9. I allready rode the train. by jgarland79 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I allready rode the 64bit train to DEC Alphaville and back.

    --
    Microsoft Windows runs on stress and frustration.