[NTLUG:Discuss] AM2 Based motherboards, Overclocking & Linux

[Chris Cox]

David Simmons wrote:
> Have been reading alot of reviews of AM2 motherboards...in anticipation of
> the AMD X2 'fire sale' coming up next week:
> 
> http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2800
> http://digitimes.com/mobos/a20060612A1001.html?www.dailytech.com
> 
> ...and I'm interested in the 'overclocking' aspects of the reviews.
> 
> Has overclocking become mainstream and a 'suggested' way to run a
> computer?  I've liked the idea, but have always shyed away just from a
> stability point.  From many of the reviews - it seems almost 'expected'
> that you would be overclocking your CPU and Memory.  Is this true?'

Overclocking has become a common review criteria simply because...
and especially AMD, appeals to the ethusiast (often times simply
gamer) market.

There is always some risk with overclocking.  However, articles
on overclocking give you a sense of what is "safer" to do with
regards to an overclock.

> 
> I can see a bit more from a 'tuning' aspect with today's DDR2 RAM...that a
> 'sweet-spot' needs to be found based on the variety of memory controllers,
> mother-board implementations, not much standards on the higher end, the
> alignment of the moon & stars...etc, etc, etc....but is this really
> considered 'overclocking' for the ram?

Not sure on all of it... but I think DDR still performs better than
DDR2.... just costs more.  I think there are some AM2 benchmarks
that seem to show this.  I hear what kills DDR2 is latency with
regards to the AMD chips.  I guess it all depends... I just hear
that latency is a bigger issue.

> 
> Any problems/issues with running one of these boards (AM2) with an AMD X2
> (socketed for AM2) - with a SuSE 64bit OS (host) with VMware for 'other'
> OS'?

I can't think of a problem... but might be cheaper to go with the older
X2 (non AM2)...  I think I'd rather go Intel Conroe/Woodcrest right now.
Maybe there is something compelling about the AM2??  I just haven't seen it.

If the AM2 plaform becomes significantly cheaper than the older 940
socketed scenario, then I might go for it.  Otherwise, I don't think
you'll see much performance gain... might even see some degradation.
(I'm by no means an expert on the perf differences between AM2
and 940).


> 
> thanks for any insight - dave