I’m torn between two systems that I wanna use with Blender so I need some advice
Either a 4800 *2 with 4GB(RAM) or
Opteron 250 with 4GB(RAM)+
I want speed but also scalability the 4800 will probably be faster though I was thinking of creating a tiny render cluster in the future so the opteron would be a better option .
RAM considerations may also be an issue though are there any significant benefits of using more that 4GB of RAM on an opteron system.
Any ideas on caparisons of the two systems what other areas should I be looking at
You mean, dual Opteron 250? Or why else would you get a 250 instead of 150? Or even instead of a dual-core CPU with same clock speed in the case of the X2 4800+…
In any case, i think a single-core CPU is somewhat a waste of money for rendering purpose already…
I’d either go X2 4800+ or 2x Opteron 265 or higher…but you should make sure you have some use for 4 cores in the latter case…
And with Socket 939 you are a bit limited with memory, i think with 4x1GB DIMMs you already need to go back to DDR333…so maybe wait for AM2 (=> DDR2) in that case, should come quite soon now…
More than 4GB…well…you can always bog down your system if you want, but then again with a bit of clever modeling/texturing etc. you can render very nice and complex scenes with 1GB RAM too…but heavy compositing would be a reason to get as much RAM as you can.
I’d be inclined to go with the Athlon 64, because not only does the Opteron cost more, it also requores more expensive motherboards, memory, probably a 19 inch rack mount chassis, etc. However, do bear in mind that Socket 939 is about to be phased out so your ability to upgrade if you bought now would be restricted. AMD tend to keep socket designs in service for several years, unlike Intel who change sockets with alarming regularity, so I’d suggest you wait for Socket AM2, then buy an AM2 based Athlon 64 system. You should be able to upgrade it in years to come simply by dropping a new CPU into the socket.
It really is a question on what i want to do in the future I guess and how much I’m willing to spend -
Just curious at the moment I probably could just afford a dual 250 system -
At a later date would it be possible to replace the 250 with 285 and use the 250’s in a render fram setup
but i suppose i can use the same reasoning for the new AM2 system - would the memory modules make a real difference (Im guessing there a limit to the performance that one can achieve)
personally i wouldnt drop the cash into a dual opteron setup right now.
you wouldnt be able to replace the 250’s with 285’s because am2 is coming out within months, so most likely, by the time you have the ~$1800 for the new chips, you will be unable to afford them.
you would also need a server board with dual sockets, tyan or supermicro. you would be hard pressed to find one for under $300, and youd most likely spend upwards of $500 to get a decent one.
you would also need resgistered ram, which is slow and expensive, 4gb of that stuff is probably ~$600.
you would need a server grade psu becaus eof the special power slots that they use. case would also probably be more expensive, but you wouldnt need rackmount unless you wanted your neighbours to hear the comp.
dont really think its worth investing that much $ in a computer right now. by the end of the year intel and amd should have released the new sockets hopefully more preformance. by going to 2 285’s you probably wouldnt see much of a speed increase using the internal render; it only supports 2 threads. yafray would see an increase, how much i dont know.
imo wait until the new amd server socket comes out and make your decision then. it should be out in a few months.