Friday, October 29, 2004
Shuttle SN95G5 and AMD Processors...
Posted by Jason Dunn in "THOUGHT" @ 02:31 PM
Shuttle sent me a new XPC to review, and it's a looker: the SN95G5. It's an AMD-based system, so I can't just gut my current Shuttle to get a CPU. The SN95G5 has a bevy of tasty technologies: nForce3 Ultra chipset, Serial ATA RAID, a 240 watt power supply running at 32 db, stealthed drive bay doors, gigabit LAN, an 8X AGP slot, and a single PCI slot. PCI Express would have put more of a smile on my face, but there's shortage of AGP cards just yet. ;-)
It's been three years since I've used an AMD-based system as my primary computer, so I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to AMD-based CPUs. The SN95G5 takes Socket 939 AMD CPUs, which as far as I know means either the AMD64 or the AMD64 FX. I'm looking at local prices for the two types of CPUs, and the differences are mind boggling:
• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ w/ 512K Cache: $389 CND
• AMD Athlon 64 3800+ w/ 512K Cache: $879 CND
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 w/ 1MB Cache: $919 CND
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 w/ 1MB Cache: $1179 CND
The only reason I'm having to look at AMD CPUs at retail is because the media relations representative from AMD hasn't returned either of my phone calls requesting a review loaner CPU (and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to even find the right person to talk to). The AMD Web site is rather vague on the differences between the 64 and the 64 FX line - is it just the extra cache? There's so much marketing jargon I can't figure out if there are any other differences between the two CPUs. Since I'm evidently going to buying this out of my own pocket, I'm going to have a very hard time justifying getting anything faster than the AMD 64 3500+...the price jump on the 3800+ and the FX chips is just too crazy for me.
Any input from your AMD-lovin' types?
It's been three years since I've used an AMD-based system as my primary computer, so I'm a little out of the loop when it comes to AMD-based CPUs. The SN95G5 takes Socket 939 AMD CPUs, which as far as I know means either the AMD64 or the AMD64 FX. I'm looking at local prices for the two types of CPUs, and the differences are mind boggling:
• AMD Athlon 64 3500+ w/ 512K Cache: $389 CND
• AMD Athlon 64 3800+ w/ 512K Cache: $879 CND
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-51 w/ 1MB Cache: $919 CND
• AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 w/ 1MB Cache: $1179 CND
The only reason I'm having to look at AMD CPUs at retail is because the media relations representative from AMD hasn't returned either of my phone calls requesting a review loaner CPU (and you wouldn't believe how hard it was to even find the right person to talk to). The AMD Web site is rather vague on the differences between the 64 and the 64 FX line - is it just the extra cache? There's so much marketing jargon I can't figure out if there are any other differences between the two CPUs. Since I'm evidently going to buying this out of my own pocket, I'm going to have a very hard time justifying getting anything faster than the AMD 64 3500+...the price jump on the 3800+ and the FX chips is just too crazy for me.
Any input from your AMD-lovin' types?
