Operating Frequency Vs. L2 Cache

[harobikes333]

When I first was looking at CPUs I was all for the 3800 X2 but then the Opteron came and swept through. But now seeing the price hike in the Opterons I'm wondering if the L2 Cache is that important.

I was comparing these

And basicly The 500 dollar one is kinda outa my budget, seeing my budget is 1500 max... with monitor, the works....

Should I just go with the 3800 X2?

 

[sonoma1993]

yeah i would go with the 3800x2, I think the 1mb cache is worth an extra 100-200mhz from what i heard.

 

[theMan]

well, you can just overclock the 3800+ and easily get a 4800+

 

[harobikes333]

So the L2 cache isn't as important as if I were to get a differen't CPU???
By the way I'm not going to OC.



P.S. thnx for the posts! keep um coming!

 

[harobikes333]

bump

 

[interchange]

The larger L2 cache has an impact on some applications and no impact on others. IMO, you pay too much for the extra cache from a performance standpoint.

 

[harobikes333]

i think I'll get the 3800 X2 then

 

[coomar]

if your not overclocking, get the 3800

 

[ribbon13]

If you spent all time you're reposting the same dilemma over and over working extra hours you wouldn't have any problems. Have you considered trying to get a newegg preferred account? Then you could just get the Opteron 175 for $520 and have 6 months to pay before interest. Can you come up with the extra $200 within 6 months?

 

[harobikes333]

yes I can get 200 in 6 months lol

But why should I save 200 bucks more for that 175? Is it that great of a performance difference?

 

[Lasthitlarry]

Get an Opteron 165... or are they out?

 

[harobikes333]

the price of an opteron 165 is quite high right now:\

 

[harobikes333]

Hmm the Opteron 170, that may be an option... ==> Opteron 170

opteron 165--- but is out of stock...

3800 X2


AMD CPUs

 

[harobikes333]

bump

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Okay, here's what I've heard. Keep in mind this information is somewhat unconfirmed, but with a little research I bet you could verify every word of what I'm about to write.

The X2 3800+ is fine if you don't have the money for anything better. However, MonarchComputer.com has the Opteron 165 retail for $367. What's different? Well, the official spec is that the 3800+ runs at 2.0 GHz/core, with 512KB L2/core. The 165 runs at 1.8GHz/core, but has 1MB L2/core. No biggie, right?

Here's another difference: When overclocking, the 3800+ maxes out at about 2.3-2.4 GHz. The 165 goes all the way up to 2.4-2.5 GHz on stock cooling. So, not only are the Opteron's L2 caches bigger, but its core clocks are about 100MHz faster when overclocked. And that's why a lot of people fork over the extra ~$85.

 

[coomar]

i thought people were getting good overclocks from the 3800

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: coomar
i thought people were getting good overclocks from the 3800

Well, they overclock to about 2.4 GHz on a good day, and that's a solid 20% step. It's not that the 3800+ doesn't overclock well, but the 165 just overclocks better.

 

[GML3G0]

Well, Monarch has the 165 OEM in stock for about the same price as the 3800 X2.

Link

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou When overclocking, the 3800+ maxes out at about 2.3-2.4 GHz.

Ummm, huh.

My X2 3800+ does 2.4 easily on stock voltage, and runs cool. I have seen several people around here with oc's in the 2.5-2.7 range, and even some up to 2.9

I know you are trying to make a comparison, but lets be accurate.

 

[harobikes333]

hmm nice I'm getting the 3800 X2 unless .... do you think its worth the extra 100 bucks to get a 170 opteron..?:\

 

[Arcanedeath]

This totaly depends on how long your keeping the processor and what software your using keep in mind if your using WinXp64bit the 1mb of cache is gonna help more than the 200mhz in many cases and on average the optys overclock better than the x2s so you tend to be better off getting an opty since similary priced optys tend to go higher than the equivlant X2

 

[harobikes333]

thanks for all these replies!!! A greatly appreciate them!

I'm going to be running winXP home version 32bit retail<--its what I have right now and I'm going to transfer the license<--aka this computer im posting from will be either shot up or mabe kept for a server or something

 

[harobikes333]

bump:\

 

[harobikes333]

bump.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: MrPickins

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou When overclocking, the 3800+ maxes out at about 2.3-2.4 GHz.

Ummm, huh.

My X2 3800+ does 2.4 easily on stock voltage, and runs cool. I have seen several people around here with oc's in the 2.5-2.7 range, and even some up to 2.9

I know you are trying to make a comparison, but lets be accurate.

I don't think you could get an X2 to 2.9GHz even with a liquid cooler. Whoever told you they had done so was almost certainly lying.

As for 2.5-2.7, well, was it stable? Probably not. Did they use a retail cooler? Again, probably not.

You've gotten your X2 up to 2.4 GHz, and that's great. I'm a bit surprised you didn't have to raise the voltage, though. Are you using a third-party cooler? In some cases an 3800+ can get to 2.5 GHz stable on retail cooling, but that doesn't seem to be the norm. Most reach the wall at 2.3-2.4 GHz, like I said before.