Has anyone used a 64 bit opteron system, and if so

[gmask]

Well then it may be ill advised to run win2000 on opterons.. they are putting the cart before the horse

[user_deleted]

Gmask,

I thought WinXP 64-bit is only supported on the Itanium2 proc and sold in HP turnkey systems. The download on the M$ site is for WinXP 64-bit which is a preview demo only, not a final release. This demo is also only compatible with AMD Opteron and Athlon 64 procs. This is stupid when you consider Novell is releasing SuSE Pro 9.1 on May 6 with 64-bit support for Itanium2, AMD Opteron and Athlon 64/64-FX procs on the same OS. Why is M$ seperating the procs for WinXP 64-bit and why offer a 360 day demo? Maybe it's so they can have an excuse for why it takes another year to offer support for the AMD 64-bit product line. If you experience buggs then M$ can just say sorry but it's only a demo.

How to buy:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/howtobuy/default.asphttp://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/h...buy/default.asp

Preview 360 day demo:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/downloads/upgrade.asphttp://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/64bit/d...ads/upgrade.asp

[gmask]

You can still run WinXP Pro on Operteron systems and it's 32bit performance is faster then Xeon's.. I guess you can run w2k but it stands to reason that opterons were developed after win2k (I may be mistaken about that) that they might not run as well.

Itanium's are irrelevant anyway in regards to graphic susers besides the outrageous expense they apparently have to run many programs in emulation because Itaniums are not x86 or something like that. I have heard them referred to as Itanics.

[jtk77]

It seems becouse of Corprate BS I may not have a choice... really really frustrating.
ha, i'm about ready to just wipe my hands of the whole mess. Its amazing that I work for a fairly hooked up companyand they for some reason, are treating this purchase we're trying to make as if its a system to run MS WORD on.
Might have to go 32 XEON just becouse of this.
However , since the departemnt is stuck for about 5 years with whatever we get its a ruff call.

[idagrove]

Is there any evidence that Win2K will NOT work effectively on the Opteron architecture? AMD claims that the Opteron is fully backward-compatible with 32-bit x86 software platforms.

Anyway, it's clearly time to go on strike against your IT department. I feel your pain...

[user_deleted]

A 32-bit OS like Win2000 will run on an AMD 64-bit proc but I don't believe it will allow you to take full advantage of the 64-bit CPU. If you plan on purchasing a 64-bit CPU then plan on purchasing a 64-bit OS that is also backwards compatible to run any apps you have that are still 32-bit. Otherwise stick with your 32-bit OS on a 32-bit proc.

[aaron_johnson]

speaking from experience Windows 2000 Pro runs perfectly with AMD-64 chips, just as it does on WindowsXP Pro. They are both 32bit operating systems.

You won't get to use the chips 64bit extensions, but you won't be able to use those much even with the WindowsXP 64bit Edition ES (Extended Systems 360 day preview). this is because the success of XP-64 ES is based on drivers for your basic hardware, which must also be 64bit, many of which still don't exist. 32bit maya runs fine on XP-64, no faster. certain apps like premiere are problomatic and won't even run.

the public preview of XP-64 is a beta and definitely not recommended for a production envronment.

[aaron_johnson]

Correct, Itaniums have had a lot of OS support with WindowsXP 64bit and Windows 2003 Server 64bit Edition. XP-64 is a different product from XP-64-ES (for Extended Systems, currently in beta). there are different OSs because Intel had 64bit chips before AMD did.

also XP-64-ES will take a while because it takes partners (hardware developers) that long to get off their arse and design good 64bit drivers for it, and without a majority of them there's no point in officially releasing an OS. also its a good idea to let the public test out some apps - MS can't test them all (and would u trust them to..?)

i think ur partly right there could be a delay based on their buddy status with Intel.

[user_deleted]

M$ delays combined with constant excuses are some of the reasons I left Windows for Linux. So for those that are fed up and live in Europe they can purchase SuSE Pro 9.1 in late April. It comes with two OS to choose from. Choose either to install a 32-bit OS or the 64-bit OS. You can also distribute it to suit your needs and your budget. Novell also offers excellent driver support on the CD/DVD for both 32-bit and 64-bit. Not to mention all the free software included with SuSE. Novell has said they will include Ximian Desktop 2 Pro as part of SuSE Pro 9.1. In North America though we have to wait till May 6 before being able to purchase it in retail stores which is still not long.

Red Carpet Enterprise is something else Novell offers that should interest those looking for a cost effective management solution alternative to RedHat. Red Carpet comes with Ximian Desktop 2 Pro which is like I said included with SuSE Pro 9.1.

SuSE Pro 9.1 (32-bit and 64-bit OS install discs)
http://www.suse.com/en/private/products/suse_linux/preview/prof.htmlhttp://www.suse.com/en/private/products/su...eview/prof.html
http://www.suse.com/en/private/products/suse_linux/preview/interview.htmlhttp://www.suse.com/en/private/products/su.../interview.html

XIMIAN (Corporate Enterprise desktop)
http://ximian.com/products/desktop/http://ximian.com/products/desktop/

Red Carpet Enterprise
http://ximian.com/products/redcarpet_enterprise/http://ximian.com/products/redcarpet\_enterprise/

[jtk77]

Anyone know if you can have a 32 bit OS and a 64 bit, say Linux 64 bit OS, as a dual boot? Or can you not do that on the same system?

[user_deleted]

The AMD 64 Athlon/Opteron and Intel Itanium2 are backwards compatible with 32-bit so their should not be an issue with mixed bit dual boot configurations. Dual boot is great for testing various distros but I never really found it practical. If you so choose you can install both WinXP 64-bit/32-bit with a dual boot of SuSE Pro 9.1 or what ever distro you want.

I still see the Novell deal for SuSE 9.1 the best offer when comparing to other Linux distros and even what Microsoft has to offer. The great thing for not only studios but also freelance artists is with SuSE Pro 9.1 you get both 32-bit and 64-bit install discs. This means you can take your time upgrading your system/network. The cost of SuSE Pro 9.1 beats what other developers are currently offering since at present only Novell is offering two OS in one retail box. Even if you were only getting the 64-bit OS which is still backwards compatible you are getting a good deal for the cost.

Since SuSE Pro comes with server capabilities you can opt to install it designating one machine as server and the rest as clients. Doing this still only cost you the purchase of the one retail box since you are allowed to freely distribute across your network.

Note under the current license agreement for Novell/SuSE you cannot burn copies of SuSE and sell them. You can make copies and give them away for free under the GNU/GPL license (ie: install on a friends PC) or sell the original boxed set with all materials included. The 90 days Tech Support only applies to the original purchase though a new user can purchase one of the many maintenance support packages through Novell/SuSE. See link for better understanding.

http://www.suse.com/us/private/support/licenses/http://www.suse.com/us/private/support/licenses/

Sorry for the long winded post but I'm excited waiting in anticipation for this release.

[1000101-]

Currently running XP Pro 32 bit on this system with a 64 bit linux on another drive.

[mag]

Got my dual 242 opteron system the other day at work.. so thats dual 1.6 ghz

runs maya fine.. so far the entire adobe video collection runs fine too...

it got 46 seconds on the Test Center benchmark (it has 2gb ram and xp pro)

our dual xeon 2.4s got 57 seconds.... thats with 2gb ram and win2k

so for a computer that was a few hundred dollars cheaper than the dual xeon setup its nice that it performed even better.. makes the boss happy

(our single p4 2.6 [1gb ram 2k] got 75 seconds and our new single p4 2.8 prescott [1gb ram xppro] got 66 seconds
BTW .. just if you want some more numbers)

but yeah.... so its early days but the perfomance is great... and so far the stability has been fine...

[jtk77]

I jsut hopes it works under win2k..untill my corporation gets off their butts and aproved something else..
for us it shouldn't matter at ALL..I'm stuck with it.
But like I said, I gotta think about the furture so I don;t screw anyone over.
These boxes will be in use for about 5 years before they buy again.. yea no crap.. its horrid to even contemplate.
I change mine out at home every two years at the lest.

[mag]

hmm well the opteron machine would have had 2k on it but needed xp for premiere pro...

[mag]

Hmm i cant see it performing mega badly under 2k...

as for your dillema.. well 5 years is a long time.. no matter what you pic now in 5 years time you're still going to have a bunch of slow computers...

Personally id choose the 64s because surely within the time frame that you're planning to hold on to the computers 64 bit software will actually be a reality so you'll get a nice speed boost midway through the lifecycle of your pcs.

which of course wont happen with the xeons.

So in 5 years you'll either have some 'slow' machines or some 'less slow' machines.

At my work we got the opteron machine because it was cheaper than the xeon config we were considering and we reckoned it would be as faster or at least as fast. Turned out it was faster so that was good. I dont know if we'll be hanging on to it long enough to see the benefits of 64bit computing but that doesn't really matter because it would seem we made a pretty good purchase anyway... even without the carrot of 64bit being dangled in front of you the opteron would still seem to be a good choice...

[jtk77]

Hey guys, well if anyone cares we know what we're doing now after much debate.
We're going 32 XEOns on winXP PRO.
They said we can go XP after all that, but they were not confortable going AMD.
Also turns out, the engeneers can, in their budget for maintance , redo the insides to go 64 bit intainum or whatever is going to be out down the road. So we're not technicaly stuck for 5 years. Sounded like a good plan for now , for us.
Now we have a debate.. these sony digial LCDs look awsome in another room we have, and it would save us deskspace.. I like CRTs but I havn't worked on some of these new LCDs yet as far as graphics and things..
What do you guys thing?

[jtk77]

Mm just tested a Sony flatscreen, its one of the nicest LCD screens I have used but its not good enough.
Everything seem to have a texture to it, gradeints especialy. Also it doesn't hold color variations as well as a CRT.
So CRTs it is.

[idagrove]

I don't mean to be contentious, but are these workstations primarily for modeling/animation? I wouldn't necessarily advocate LCDs for art directors or compositors, but for all other purposes, I've found them to be more than adequate. And in my profession (2d print/web design), even the latter tasks are often done on LCDs successfully.

It's an interesting debate. One of the issues I have dealt with in 2d is that even on CRTs there is no reliable way to represent PMS colors and other important color considerations, even with well-tuned color management workflows. And my understanding is that film is similarly confounded by the comparatively low dynamic range of existing computer displays.

[gmask]

And my understanding is that film is similarly confounded by the comparatively low dynamic range of existing computer displays.

Film is impossible to compensate for .. depending on where the film is processed the color will be different and every job is a different lab usually. Bascially you do color tests and send a range of tweaks of frames and see what the results are then produce the final.. it's a PITA! There are however HIgh Dynamic Range displays avaiable now but you would stil have the unpredictabilty of color film development to contend with.