**HOT **Dual Core Opteron 165 1mb cache x2 = $ 270.00

[BubbaJudge]

got one.

glad i held off on the opteron feeding freenzy of the last month or so.

thanks OP

green for you, er, or Anands equivalent

 

[LSASr]

I think you will find that AMD provides a 1 year warranty on all OEM Optys and 3 years on Boxed Optys. XPs OEM only have a 30 day warranty.

LSASr

 

[Vallybally]

You know here's my story. I have an X2 3800 sitting for me at home (with ASRock), and I bit on this thread ordered the Opteron 165 (prolly will cancel it). But after some research, I really don't see that much of a difference between the 2 in terms of gaming if you run them at stock. I mean sure, in a year or so I may try a modest 2.2 (220 HTT) overclock but that would be about it. If overall they are like 5% apart, I'm not sure what the fuss is...

Did I really goof up? I can't imagine that there is a huge reliability/stability difference between the X2 3800+ and the Opty 165. I would love for someone to prove to me or link articles that show significant advantages at stock between these 2 CPUs.

ps. about the warranty. Sure Opteron may be more 'reliable'. But there's something good to be said about a 3 year protection on a retail 3800+ vs. 1 year protection on an OEM 165 (assuming similar price which they are for me)

 

[Vallybally]

Well apparently they are very efficient today. Order -> Shipping was only a few hours.

In order to avoid a restocking fee, and to be able to build up my PC this weekend with my X2 sitting at home, I will likely look to sell this here or auction site. If this sells out of stock, PM me and I will strongly consider to sell it when it arrives (likely mid next week) at cost of $278 +5 shipping.

 

[djspl]

Originally posted by: Vallybally
You know here's my story. I have an X2 3800 sitting for me at home (with ASRock), and I bit on this thread ordered the Opteron 165 (prolly will cancel it). But after some research, I really don't see that much of a difference between the 2 in terms of gaming if you run them at stock. I mean sure, in a year or so I may try a modest 2.2 (220 HTT) overclock but that would be about it. If overall they are like 5% apart, I'm not sure what the fuss is...

Did I really goof up? I can't imagine that there is a huge reliability/stability difference between the X2 3800+ and the Opty 165. I would love for someone to prove to me or link articles that show significant advantages at stock between these 2 CPUs.

ps. about the warranty. Sure Opteron may be more 'reliable'. But there's something good to be said about a 3 year protection on a retail 3800+ vs. 1 year protection on an OEM 165 (assuming similar price which they are for me)

Nobody is buying these to run at stock (except you). They are buying these because they easily overclock to the speed of a processor that costs twice as much, some easily overclock beyond that.

With a little tweaking you get a dual core at 2.4 ghz (or more), the extra cache is a bonus. The normal A64 X2 at 2.4 ghz is $600+. What makes this CPU so hot is its overclock ablility.

 

[StressedActor]

Ok, I've been looking at upgrading from my *hides* AMD Athlon 850Mhz for quite some time now. This looks like a good deal but I need some advice.

Spending the $278 for this processor is above what I had planned although I really want to go for the dual-core as I do alot of multitasking with a number of programs open and generally a lot of internet sessions as well.

Since this is OEM what kind of heatsink/fan setup should I get. Looking to spend ~ the difference between this and the $336 for a retail version. ~ $30-50.

Is the ASRock decent for overclocking to ~2.2? Should I spend the extra $30 for an Epox or DFI Infinity? I'd like to keep my AGP card for just a couple of months more until I get more money if possible but not necessary.

For my overclocking do I need to get PC3500 or PC3700 ram or can I use PC3200?

Would an Antec NeoHE 430 be sufficient?

Thanks for any help.
SA

 

[intogamer]

Originally posted by: Vallybally
Not to mention add $50 or so for a HSF since the OEM doesn't have it.

uh retail or not... when overclocking aren't you suppose to get a nice HSF or good cooling?

 

[Vallybally]

From what I've researched today. Basically if you want to run stock, X2 3800+ has slight edge (particularly in games). If you want to OC, Opteron 165 has slight edge (particularly encoding). But what about those of us in the middle who are happy with stock now and maybe OC a little in the future lol?! It sounds totally even to me, price being equal.

 

[djspl]

Originally posted by: intogamer

Originally posted by: Vallybally
Not to mention add $50 or so for a HSF since the OEM doesn't have it.

uh retail or not... when overclocking aren't you suppose to get a nice HSF or good cooling?

in the old days (socket A for example), the retail heatsinks were junk and the CPUs ran hot. Nowadays, the retail heatsinks are pretty good, the CPUs run cool and they overclock without a lot of voltage increase (meaning even the overclocked CPUs run pretty cool). Of course really trying to push your speeds to the limit will probably require enough voltage to require better cooling.

 

[kmmatney]

Originally posted by: djspl

Originally posted by: intogamer

Originally posted by: Vallybally
Not to mention add $50 or so for a HSF since the OEM doesn't have it.

uh retail or not... when overclocking aren't you suppose to get a nice HSF or good cooling?

in the old days (socket A for example), the retail heatsinks were junk and the CPUs ran hot. Nowadays, the retail heatsinks are pretty good, the CPUs run cool and they overclock without a lot of voltage increase (meaning even the overclocked CPUs run pretty cool). Of course really trying to push your speeds to the limit will probably require enough voltage to require better cooling.

The stock heatsink is great on my Sempron. Since its an Opteron, it probably has a very nice heatsink - you can probably get a nice overclock with it.

 

[fabidovalle]

Originally posted by: Vallybally
...
ps. about the warranty. Sure Opteron may be more 'reliable'. But there's something good to be said about a 3 year protection on a retail 3800+ vs. 1 year protection on an OEM 165 (assuming similar price which they are for me)

I paid $15,00 and got a 3 years warranty through Monarck comps.

 

[OatMan]

I would get the OEM and a good HSF if youare going to OC.
OEM chips are tray picked and in my limited experience have had better chances at a good OC. I've had 3 optys. Two OEMs and one Retail. Totally anacdotal and not scientific, but the retail was the supposedly best stepping and week of the three and would only do 2.6 with my SI-120. Both OEMs are rock stable Prime for 12 hours easy at 2700 and less voltage than the retail.

just food for thought.

OH and the retail HSF despite being a heat pipe sucks.

 

[richardycc]

I have the retail version of 170, running it at 2400mhz, so thats like a x2 4800 for $399 (165 oem/retail were all out of stock at the time, so $399 was a good price when I needed a chip). I am using the stock hs/fan that came with it, its very quiet and got heatpipes. I am using it with the asrock 939dual, which is not an overclocker friendly board, if I use a more overclocker friendly board, I bet I can overclock this chip even more. good luck!

 

[kamranziadar]

I added some links to the online stores.

 

[Chunkee]

these things are outrageous right now, should not even be in the hot deals section

jC

 

[intogamer]

Damn when will the retail boxes get close to MSRP?

 

[kamranziadar]

Originally posted by: Chunkee
these things are outrageous right now, should not even be in the hot deals section

jC

$287 shipped is pretty damn good price if you ask me. I bought it for $308 a couple of months back.

 

[intogamer]

$325 At mwave... hot!!!! getting closer to 3800+ prices

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: Vallybally
From what I've researched today. Basically if you want to run stock, X2 3800+ has slight edge (particularly in games). If you want to OC, Opteron 165 has slight edge (particularly encoding). But what about those of us in the middle who are happy with stock now and maybe OC a little in the future lol?! It sounds totally even to me, price being equal.

Well, I think most people think the Opteron is better because they plan on OCing it to 2.5Ghz+ right off the bat, and at that speed the Opteron will be kicking the X2's butt all over the place and then some.

I have no idea why you would want to run these stock right now, because they hit 2.4Ghz (which is exactly Athlon X2 4800+ speed btw) flawlessly. I haven't yet seen anyone *not* be able to hit 2.4Ghz with the Opty 165 on air.

Seriously I think you should get over your fears about overclocking...I know people who have always regarded it as some sort of insanely risky thing, but it's really not...I had a Pentium 3 that was overclocked 53% for years and kept on 24/7 and it was still perfect when I sold it. In fact, I haven't had an overclocked CPU go nuts on me yet.

The Opteron 165's are probably cut from the exact same wafers as the 4800+'s, so it's not like the cores were somehow not designed to handle 2.4Ghz, they just speed bin them for marketing reasons.

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: richardycc
I have the retail version of 170, running it at 2400mhz, so thats like a x2 4800 for $399 (165 oem/retail were all out of stock at the time, so $399 was a good price when I needed a chip). I am using the stock hs/fan that came with it, its very quiet and got heatpipes. I am using it with the asrock 939dual, which is not an overclocker friendly board, if I use a more overclocker friendly board, I bet I can overclock this chip even more. good luck!

The ASRock is actually a fairly decent overclocking board with newer/modded BIOSes...

Apparently there is a software cap on the HTT in some versions of the BIOS! (dunno if it's intentional)

 

[HoO Haw]

Great! Another computer I have to build.

 

[mrkun]

I had it quoted for $270 at Monarch and I just ordered it. =)

 

[thirdlegstump]

Mine still haven't arrived. Ordered it like on Thursnatch.

 

[kindest]

i will be ugrading myself shortly.. closer to end of january tho

 

[nealh]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Mine still haven't arrived. Ordered it like on Thursnatch.

Dont forget ...they are not working today either..I bet it ships tomorrow

Not sure why they are so much slower than Newegg with processing

When I ordered Operton 165 took them Fri/Mon to process order..shipped on Tues..2 day fedex not std ground....so I got slower processing but free upgrade on shipping, this was done auto by them..it was strange...when the order showed up on the website it had updgraded shipping