Going Llano...some questions

[Arachnotronic]

So I'm temporarily downgrading from the rig in my sig (selling the GTX 580, sitting on the cash until Tahiti hits) to a Llano based PC. I was going to build a PC for while I'm home anyway, so I figured I'd get my hands on a Llano.

Couple of things:

1. Why is the A8-3850 out of stock all the time? I will probably just go for the A6-3650 since I'm an impatient guy...but I kinda wanted an A8-3850! Is there a huge difference in the IGP?

2. How big of an impact does memory speed make on these suckers? I'd be happy to pick up some DDR3-1600 for it instead of the 1333 I've got lined up here for it.

3. Is the IGP overclockable?

I'll most likely have a "build log" and have some benches in modern games. I'm looking forward to overclocking for the sake of getting noticably better performance -- hangin' out in the high end world kind of numbed me to noticable performance increases.

 

[Idontcare]

Supposedly we are right on the verge of seeing the unlocked Llano's launch, so you might be best to hold off just a while yet and then be ready to camp out online at an etailer or two to try and grab one at time of launch.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Are we? Unlocked, you say? Well then. Things just got even more interesting!

 

[Soulkeeper]

There is also the lower TDP versions of the 3850/3650, that are always out of stock also, 3800/3600 respectively.
If you plan on doing any overclocking with locked llano's choose your motherboard carefully(gigabyte matx/atx reviews are very good), no current mini-itx boards have the needed dividers for overclocking (max out at 3-5% overclock).
Your only instrument for overclocking is the "bclck" right now. Everything is tied to that and the system becomes highly unstable if you go too high. Newegg has been offering $10/$15 off codes for some locked llanos recently. Fast memory is important for llano since you share it with cpu/gpu. I recommend 1866 or 2133 if you got the $$, I payed $100 for my 2133 memory just 2-3 months ago and it's already down to around $65 now.

I too will be picking up an unlocked llano when they hit the market

 

[lau808]

yes, 1866 or better is a plus. and a8 3870k is right around the corner with its unlocked multi.

 

[RyanGreener]

So I'm temporarily downgrading from the rig in my sig (selling the GTX 580, sitting on the cash until Tahiti hits) to a Llano based PC. I was going to build a PC for while I'm home anyway, so I figured I'd get my hands on a Llano.

Couple of things:

1. Why is the A8-3850 out of stock all the time? I will probably just go for the A6-3650 since I'm an impatient guy...but I kinda wanted an A8-3850! Is there a huge difference in the IGP?

2. How big of an impact does memory speed make on these suckers? I'd be happy to pick up some DDR3-1600 for it instead of the 1333 I've got lined up here for it.

3. Is the IGP overclockable?

I'll most likely have a "build log" and have some benches in modern games. I'm looking forward to overclocking for the sake of getting noticably better performance -- hangin' out in the high end world kind of numbed me to noticable performance increases.

1. It's going to be replaced soon by the unlocked version (unlocked multiplier)
2. There is an Anandtech or some sort of article about this, but ideally, you want good timings and at least 1600 MHz speed.
3. Yes, it is. It gets overclocked through the System Bus, similar to the CPU speed. But with the unlocked multiplier you won't have to be restricted in this aspect anymore, although i'm not sure if the GPU multiplier will be unlocked (if there is one)