My system specs are in my signature. I am reinstalling Win XP and was discussing the use of the CPU driver and Dual core optimizer at install on another forum. Some people say use both, others say use just the CPU driver and yet others say dont use either one. I figured I should come to the source for an answer to this one.

From what I see, the CPU driver is not for the OS to be able to utilize both CPU's, but for it to utlilize the Power Now feature. I could care less about lower power consumption etc... and would prefer the CPU to be operating at full speed all of the time.

As for the Dual Core Optimizer, alot of people stated they had no performance gains when using it, and recommended I do not use it unless I had issues.

So what's the real verdict here. Which drivers / utilities should I install with the fresh reinstall of Win XP? Thanks in advance for your inputs.

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DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra D bios 704-2BT
Athlon64 Opteron 170 CCBBE 0615EPMW
2 x 1 Gig OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Edition (9/10 divider)
Raid0 WD raptors (2x36G)
Radeon X850XT PCIexpress (560 Core 580 Mem) (8800 GTS 512MB coming soon)
Soundblaster X-fi Extreme Music (works well for games too [IMG][/IMG] )
OCZ GameXStream 600 Watt

Wow, 26 views and not a single reply. I thought this would be the place to get some advice but I guess not.

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DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra D bios 704-2BT
Athlon64 Opteron 170 CCBBE 0615EPMW
2 x 1 Gig OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Edition (9/10 divider)
Raid0 WD raptors (2x36G)
Radeon X850XT PCIexpress (560 Core 580 Mem) (8800 GTS 512MB coming soon)
Soundblaster X-fi Extreme Music (works well for games too [IMG][/IMG] )
OCZ GameXStream 600 Watt

You don't have to install the AMD CPU driver or the Optimizer, I wouldn't install anything unless it's needed.

FWIW, I've been running a s939 X2 system for over 2 years. I use WinXP with the power features enabled, I have the AMD CPU driver and MS Hotfix (KB896256) installed, everything runs great and stable as a rock.

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MSI 770-C45
Phenom II X2-550 @ X4 @ 3.5GHz @ Stock Vcore.
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
2x2GB DDR3 1333 @ 9-9-9-24-33-1T
1x60GB SSD /1x300GB VelociRaptor / 1x320GB Seagate / 1xDVD 22X
Audigy2 / HD 6670 1GB / Acer 22" / Win7-64_Ult.
Antec SOHO / Antec BP550 Plus

Thats what I have been hearing from most everyone else as well. I ran 3dmark06 before and after each install of the driver and optimizer and there was absolutely no increase in the CPU performance bench mark. I dont know about PCmark, all I really cared about was the video portion from the 8800GTS install, lol. Thanks for the reply though.

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DFI Lanparty UT NF4 Ultra D bios 704-2BT
Athlon64 Opteron 170 CCBBE 0615EPMW
2 x 1 Gig OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Gold Gamer eXtreme XTC Edition (9/10 divider)
Raid0 WD raptors (2x36G)
Radeon X850XT PCIexpress (560 Core 580 Mem) (8800 GTS 512MB coming soon)
Soundblaster X-fi Extreme Music (works well for games too [IMG][/IMG] )
OCZ GameXStream 600 Watt

AFAIK the "dual core optimizer" is not meant to be installed on Opteron based systems. It's just for Athlon X2 based systems.

If you check the AMD website for OPTERON drivers:
http://www.amd.com/de-de/Proce...0,,30_182_871,00.html
(The links under "AMD Opteron Processor") You won't find the "dual core optimizer".

PLEASE read the annotations for the drivers before you install everything you can find just because someone said so.




or



Just some sections taken from www.amd.com with copy&paste to think about.

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Regards,
  Ghostrider

·CPUs - 2*Opteron 246
·Mainboard - Tyan Thunder K8W S2885ANRF
·RAM - 4*Corsair TwinX1024RE-3200LL (4GB, 8*512MB, DDR400, 2-3-2)
·Graphics - HIS IceQ-II X800Pro
·HDD - Western Digital Raptor WD740GD, 74GB, 10k
·RAID - 3Ware 7850, 64bit PCI, 8chn hardware RAID
·RAID-HDDs - 5*WD800JB
·Optical - 1*SlimSize CD-ROM; 1*NEC7441 DVD-RW
·Sound - Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Elite Pro


Edited: 03/05/2008 at 06:56 PM by derGhostrider

IF you had an opteron the only one to me you would need would be this one:

AMD Opterontm Processor with AMD PowerNow!tm Technology Driver Version 1.3.2.0053 for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (x86 and x64) - Allows the system to automatically adjust the CPU speed, voltage and power combination to match the instantaneous user performance need. This package is a user friendly localized software installation of the driver designed for end-users. This driver supports single, dual, and quad-core AMD Opterontm processors on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP2 x86 and x64 Editions

This is a 2007 release.

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Asuss A8N SLI premium
Opteron 180 S939 X2 Toledo-Denmark
BFG 7900GT
OCZ ddr400 2Gigs