There is also the question of if your 3D modeling/animation software supports multithreading and can take advantage of multiple processors. With multiple processors you can have far more performance with certain specially designed applications. Even if your application doesn't take advantage of multiple processors, SMP gives you a much smoother computing experience. For example while one processor is busy rendering, you can continue work in other applications or the same application designing another scene for rendering later.
With SMP machines there are currently only two options: Athlon MP vs Xeon While it is true that you will have slightly more performance with the fastest Xeon's, you pay far more. The price/performance ratio of dual Athlon MP is a much greater value. Coming late this year is the "Hammer" x86-64 architecture from AMD. Hammer is fully compatible with existing 32-bit Athlon, but adds 64-bit registers and SSE2 among some other stuff. This means that it can simultaneously run existing 32-bit operating systems and software while running certain applications that take advantage of 64-bit power. I read some estimate that 32-bit applications will be about 20% faster than the fastest Athlon at the time of Hammer. This platform will be available initially as the low-end Athlon 64-bit with 256KB cache codename "Clawhammer" late this year, followed by the server version Opteron with 1MB cache during 2003. Yes, this means that AMD plans on eventually phasing out the 32-bit Athlon, meaning all of their x86 processors will be fully backwards compatible 64-bit chips in servers, desktops and even laptops. Last I heard, Athlon "Clawhammer" will be up to dual-processors, while Opteron will initially be available as quad. ----- Original Message ----- From: "W. Wayne Liauh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, July 28, 2002 9:28 AM Subject: [luau] processor opinion > Many benchmarks can be misleading because they were using RDRAM for > Pentium 4. The Pentium 4s are designed to run with the Rambus DRAM, > which, for a number of reasons, has completely disappeared from Intel's > recent roadmaps. With RDRAM, Pentium 4 is a crippled CPU. > > Athlon XPs are more cost-effective then Pentium 4s. Actually, > personally I would still prefer Athlon XPs even if there were at the > same price. The lowered price of Athlon XP is simply a bonus. > > But, YES, I will definitely get a Clawhammer when it comes out. This > could be THE most exciting event for the stagnant or even (obviously) > dwindling PC industry.
