HELP: X2 3800, 4200 or 4400

[zebbedee]

I need help in choosing between the X2 3800, 4200 or 4400.

I can get hold of these chips in Europe for 378, 511 and 562 euro respectively.

My aim is to get the highest possible performance for the lowest possible price. All the other components of my system are well capable of producing a good overclock, but limited to air cooling.

The 3800 seems to be able to o/c up to 2.5GHz. Can the 4200 or 4400 go much higher on air? And if so does the extra 130 euro make the extra o/c worthwhile?

My impression is that the 2MB cache of the Toledo 4400+ does not make any significant difference c.f. the 1MB of Manchester. Does anyone have reason to disagree?

Many thanks,

M

 

[Bona Fide]

Recent 3800+ reviews (yesterday) are more than likely to have been cherry-picked CPUs, so I don't know if you should bank on a 2.5 OC. One person on OCForums bought one and got it to 2.6 stable, but your mileage may vary.

And yes you're right that the extra cache makes little different. 6-8% difference...not enough to warrant the 50E premium unless you have the money.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

If u want high performance for low money why u want dualcore anyways? gaming performance with a 3800+ will be decreasing compared to ur current rig. except for multitasking scenarios, and yeah u look like an heavy multitasker who needs either a Opteron or a dualcore rig for CS:S [/sarcasm]

@bona fide: any proof for ur lil cherry picked cpu theory? ur paranoid

 

[Leper Messiah]

Well, generally CPU's given to reviewers are the cream of the crop, but in this case, these might actually be kinda like the 3000+ Clawhammers (the ones with half the cache disabled). Once teh manchester process matures, higher OC's will be possible.

Plus, I've said this about 5 times. Those reviewers are wusses. I'm betting 1.5vcore would be fine on decent air cooling. What'd they use? 1.425 or something. The extra volts would give abit higher OCs.

 

[rgreen83]

These "highest possible performance for the lowest possible price" posts always crack me up! Its always going to be the cheapest one! Say a 3800 gets you 10,000 magical MIPS at 378 euro, thats 26.5 magical MIPS per euro. Then say the 4200 gets you 10,800 magical MIPS at 511 euro, you are getting 6 magical MIPS per euro over the 3800, geddit? My advice, if its a "want", get the cheapest and hope for a good overclock, if its a "need" get the best one you can afford.

And jebus, thats like $100 USD over list price for the 3800, $150 for the 4200 and 4400, maybe you could wait a week or two to avoid throwing money away?

 

[rgreen83]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
If u want high performance for low money why u want dualcore anyways? gaming performance with a 3800+ will be decreasing compared to ur current rig. except for multitasking scenarios, and yeah u look like an heavy multitasker who needs either a Opteron or a dualcore rig for CS:S [/sarcasm]

How do you know what he looks like?

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Originally posted by: rgreen83

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
If u want high performance for low money why u want dualcore anyways? gaming performance with a 3800+ will be decreasing compared to ur current rig. except for multitasking scenarios, and yeah u look like an heavy multitasker who needs either a Opteron or a dualcore rig for CS:S [/sarcasm]

How do you know what he looks like?

i was just looking at his quite decent (gaming) rig asking myself and why oh why does he need a dualcore. plus in like 6-8 months there will be a new Socket, new (dualcore) CPU´s, new memory...i dont want to see the op pay 350-500$ for a hype.

 

[Hacp]

3800+ right now. There is no competition.

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

http://forum.counter-strike.de/bb/img/smilies/icon18.gif

 

[MadMax]

I agree with the others, you should probably wait to upgrade until socket M2 comes out next year. Your CPU is pretty fast as it is.

But, if you can't wait, then why spend the money on the 3800+? The 3800+ and the 3200+ will have identical single treaded performance. If you want to upgrade your CPU, then you should at least get better performance across the board. So go with the 4200+ since it has an 11x multiplier (2.2 GHz). That way, you get better multitasking AND better single threaded performance. Also, with the higher multiplier, you'll get better overclocks at the same FSB.

MadMax

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: BlingBlingArsch
http://forum.counter-strike.de/bb/img/smilies/icon18.gif

:roll:

 

[zebbedee]

Thanks for the comments. Waiting for the M2 is a bad idea I think, because I will then need to buy a new processor, new M/B and new memory (IIRC M2 needs DDR2?), which will cost a lot more than a 3800+.

I guess the fundamental question is whether the 3800+'s all OC well, or if it's hit and miss. Looking forward to seeing what people come up with on this forum in the coming weeks.

M

 

[stockriderman]

So far I've had my dual core 4200 for a month. Some dumb people here were bashing me for the choice,telling me to go with 4400(extra $100cdn). Same now happening with 3800.The same idiots are now recommending to wait for the x2 4000. Little they know,there's only about 1.1.5% increase in speed in SOME applications. All the reviews show the same results Is it worth extra money? Will you ever notice it? NO NO and NO.

Few of my friends have 4400(they listened to the rumors) and in some cases my cpu(stock) is faster than theirs. I actually did not see any performance gains there at all.


So,stop listening what some have to say(in most cases they don't even own the cpu!!!)
Read the revies and see what cash you have available. That's all there's to it.

 

[govtcheez75]

I'm thinking of getting an X2 myself...but I only play games on my Windows PC. Will X2 improve gaming performance?

 

[kelticknight]

hi guys
new here
like the x2 cpu's,but will wait till they get a little cheaper,have a fx 53 2.4 at moment,running good,if was going to get one ,would get 4400,seems best allrounder

 

[Hacp]

Don't bother with an x2 ifyou just planning on upgrading. Its not worth it right now, and probably never will be... I would suggest an x2 only to new system.

 

[kelticknight]

what about the fx 57

 

[imported_burningrave101]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Don't bother with an x2 ifyou just planning on upgrading. Its not worth it right now, and probably never will be... I would suggest an x2 only to new system.

Have you ever used a dual core or dual CPU machine vs something like a single core A64? Probably not. If you ever have you'd never go back. The reason the Pentium 4's were still very popular choices over the Athlon 64's was because of HyperThreading. You could actually do multiple CPU intensive tasks at once and not have the system come to a crawl while your switching windows. With a dual core CPU you can run whatever you want in the background and still get the same performance as a single core A64 clocked at the same speed. More and more games will also be multithreaded optimized because the PS3 and Xbox 360 both use multi core CPU's. nVidia is also set to release new dual core optimized drivers in the 80.xx series.

 

[Hacp]

Burning Grave I have a p4 2.0 and 4200+, so I have experience with single core and dual core. Don't assume things.

Ow ya, after using my 4200+ I can safetly say that I WON'T never go back.

 

[kelticknight]

my system just built 2 months ago,only considering x2 because would be future proof,how would it work with new windows when it comes out

 

[Chef Brian]

X2s will cut through Vista like a hot knife through butter. Well, really cold butter, because so far it's a piece of crap..

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Chef Brian
X2s will cut through Vista like a hot knife through butter. Well, really cold butter, because so far it's a piece of crap..

LOL. Thats almost sig material there...

 

[kelticknight]

so don't bother upgrading to x2 ,is this what your saying

 

[stockriderman]

Originally posted by: Hacp
Burning Grave I have a p4 2.0 and 4200+, so I have experience with single core and dual core. Don't assume things.

Ow ya, after using my 4200+ I can safetly say that I WON'T never go back.

I guess you are playing games and games only. I had xp2500+ and upgraded and performance is at least twice as fast EVERYWHERE(ie,games,winrar and... photoshop is AT LEAST 5 times faster. Some photoshop processes are cut down from 2 minutes to 12-15 seconds.

So,I think there's something wrong with your 4200.

 

[Zebo]

Always buy lowest end chip in iteration. It's always the best bang for the buck.

And if you OC it's same potential as any other chip so why spend more for the same?