Dual Athlons and overclocking

[kherman]

OK, letthe comments fly:

I'm going to put together a dually Athlon MP rig in the future and was wondering what motherboard is good for OCing and if it is worthwhile trying to do to a dually rig?

Thanks,
Karl

 

[Technonut]

About the best OC'ing dual AMD mobo would be the MSI K7D Master IMO. I have one, and it is one of the most stable boards I have had the pleasure to run. It also offers FSB/Vcore/multiplier adjustments not found on other AMD dual boards.

EDIT:

is worthwhile trying to do to a dually rig?

That depends upon your needs. If you are into multi-tasking, video editing, CAD, or working with Photoshop, etc... A dual rig would do you well. If you just want to play around with a dual processor board, it is ok also. I have 2 custom waterblocks ready to install on my K7D Master in an acrylic case. Even though I do some work that will benefit from the dual processors, it is more a hobby project than anything else.

Go to the 2cpu.com forums for plenty of info.

 

[kherman]

Well, why am I doing a dually rig?:
Basically, Quake 3 supported dual processors and dual processors yielded about a 40% performance boost.
The Carmack has already stated that Doom 3 will support dual processor solutions. Based on the past, I'm betting Carmack will be able to beat the 40% performance boost of Quake 3.

So, the answer is: Gaming!

Also, I've always wanted to do a dually rig

Before people bash me:
Keep in mind that the Doom 3 engine will be the base for ID games for the next 5 years(according to The Carmack) and that they are liscensing out the tech to third parties. Dual processors is going to be common place in 3d games in the future. It will also leave a nice upgrade path

MSI K7D Master:
Is this a commonly recomended board by enthusiasts? Anywhere I can find a review?

Karl

 

[Technonut]

Sure.... There is a review of the MSI Here.

 

[Chaotic42]

If you have an SMP capable OS, the smoothness is great. No more waiting on stuff to load up while you're trying to do something else. You can task switch easily.

I think you make a good point about the new Doom engine, if it really is multithreaded (I don't keep up with that stuff).

I have a Tyan Tiger MP, which is not for overclocking at all.

 

[Lonyo]

I thought most MP boards are quite poor for overclocking since most peopel who use dual processors are businesses/professional users who aren't going to want to overclock because they need something stable.
If you can find an MP board that's good for OC'ing then well done

 

[kherman]

Chaotic:

I think you make a good point about the new Doom engine, if it really is multithreaded (I don't keep up with that stuff).

Thanks. I never really thought about it, but most people probably don't realize it's multi-threaded.

Lonyo:
From what i'v read, the reason that dually motherboards are bad overclockers is that not many users want to overclock dually mobos since they are used for critical systems (file servers, etc). Because of this, manufacturers invest their time/money in stability, not for enthusiasts interested in overclocking. There are a few boards out there that are dually's that had OCing in mind, but they are rare. So the reason that duallys are bad OCers is that manufacturers don't often consider the concept that someone might want to overclock them...

There is also the inherent nature of dual processors running at the same speed. You can only overclock to as fast as the weeker CPU.

 

[DualXP4ghz]

I would agree that the MSI board has the best overclocking features, however i have not used it. Im using the Asus A7m-266D board and I have to XP chips in the board running at 1800 Mhz. They are both 1800+ chips. I am using a watercooler, but still my system is incredibly stable. Ive never had a crash.