Price Drop...Athlon X2 3800 939 now $89.99 Free Shipping

[Kobb]

Finally got around to overclocking mine...
I'm running it in an A8N32-sli dlx w/ Zalaman 9500 cooler
So far, I can get 2.7 with 1.30 vcore Temps are 29 idle / 40 load
@ 2.75 w/ 1.30 vcore I get Prime95 errors. Testing 2.75 w/ 1.3125 vcore.... no need to push it even this far........

Somniferum, too bad to hear about your DOA chip. I know a guy that had to RMA an OEM chip (DOA), it took about a week for him to receive a new one. My experience with newegg's RMA service has been excellent and very quick. :thumbsup:

 

[Squyd]

Mine arrived on Friday and I will put things together on Sunday. I have never have a brand new CPU, retail or OEM, DOA and that's the kind of confidence in my experience that I look for problems elsewhere. However I guess Somniferum must be very unlucky since his other CPU clearly worked ...

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Originally posted by: Somniferum
After several hours toiling over the operating table, his hands covered in Arctic Silver V, the surgeon could only conclude that his patient was DOA. No, this is not the Anna Nicole Smith True Hollywood Story. This is the far more tragic saga of my new x2 3800+

Bottom line, I can't even get it to POST. I flashed my mobo BIOS to the latest version (2.30) several weeks ago without issues, so that is ruled out. I tried resetting CMOS multiple times. I can swap the old CPU back in (3500+) and it works every time -- including the CMOS reset. Swap the new one in, nothing. Well, not exactly nothing -- the LEDs and fans come on, and I can hear some drives spinning, but it never POSTS. Basically, it behaves like a machine with a dead CPU.

What a disappointment. Guess it is RMA time. Does anyone have any experience with RMAs @ NewEgg? What kind of turnaround time am I looking at here?

Sorry to hear about the DOA CPU Somniferum.

I had a fairly crappy experience with The Egg with an RMA, the CPU was DOA, I sent it back to them, called a few days after they had gotten to to check status, they said they were sending out a replacement, then a few days later, I got the same CPU back, stating it had burn marks on it, which it clearly did not.

Luckily, I posted a fairly long, well thought out message on resellerratings.com, and a day later, one of the owners called me and apologized for the problem and sent me out a new CPU that day. That was probably 4-5 years ago.

Since then I've spent well in excess of $30k at Newegg on stuff for myself and for work. Never had any other problems, only have had to RMA one other thing, an open box motherboard that was DOA, and had no problems with the refund.

 

[Somniferum]

Originally posted by: Squyd
Mine arrived on Friday and I will put things together on Sunday. I have never have a brand new CPU, retail or OEM, DOA and that's the kind of confidence in my experience that I look for problems elsewhere. However I guess Somniferum must be very unlucky since his other CPU clearly worked ...

That was my first thought as well -- I've never had a DOA part before either, so I assumed I must have knocked something loose or maybe even damaged the motherboard in some way. But when I put the 3500+ chip back in, it beeped twice and POSTed with the CMOS reset message. I swapped the chips back and forth a few times because I just couldn't believe it. (And what a PITA that was, struggling to get the heatsink off and on, cleaning the CPU and heatsink each time with coffee filters and alcohol, then reapplying AS-5.) I think that's the definition of insanity, trying the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome. But the 3500+ worked every time, and the x2 would never POST.

The only other thing I wish I could try, is installing the x2 in a different system. But unfortunately I don't have access to another 939 board. Other than that, I'm out of ideas.

I just hope Newegg doesn't run out of stock before the RMA process is complete. I'm going to ship it back on Monday.

 

[Somniferum]

Originally posted by: Krakn3Dfx

Sorry to hear about the DOA CPU Somniferum.

I had a fairly crappy experience with The Egg with an RMA, the CPU was DOA, I sent it back to them, called a few days after they had gotten to to check status, they said they were sending out a replacement, then a few days later, I got the same CPU back, stating it had burn marks on it, which it clearly did not.

Luckily, I posted a fairly long, well thought out message on resellerratings.com, and a day later, one of the owners called me and apologized for the problem and sent me out a new CPU that day. That was probably 4-5 years ago.

Since then I've spent well in excess of $30k at Newegg on stuff for myself and for work. Never had any other problems, only have had to RMA one other thing, an open box motherboard that was DOA, and had no problems with the refund.

Yikes, I hope they don't try to pull that on me. Glad to hear you got it straightened out in the end, but how annoying that must have been. Ugh.

Reminds me of the time UPS "lost" a stick of RAM in transit to me from a different retailer in CA. Eventually I got a replacement, but it was a huge inconvenience to get through all the red tape.

 

[Schfifty Five]

Should I jump the gun and buy one now or wait for another price drop?

 

[Zontor]

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five
Should I jump the gun and buy one now or wait for another price drop?

Good question. I think it will be supply and demand -- if you look at the new bulk AMD price list
you'll notice that there aren't any X2 939's listed.

On the one hand some of the AM2's have gotten really cheap. This would fuel people to upgrade and lower the demand for the 939's. On the other hand, they're not making 939's any more.

My best guess would be that you won't see any lower prices on the 939's in demand for a few months. Just a guess though...

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: Zontor

Originally posted by: Schfifty Five
Should I jump the gun and buy one now or wait for another price drop?

Good question. I think it will be supply and demand -- if you look at the new bulk AMD price list
you'll notice that there aren't any X2 939's listed.

On the one hand some of the AM2's have gotten really cheap. This would fuel people to upgrade and lower the demand for the 939's. On the other hand, they're not making 939's any more.

My best guess would be that you won't see any lower prices on the 939's in demand for a few months. Just a guess though...

Hardware is funny that way... It is like a bell curve. The first year, it is expensive, second year it hits the buttom and the third year it goes back up. It is quote retarded, honestly. For instance, why would someone pay $400 for an nVidia 7800 GTX when you could buy a 7900 GT (slightly faster) for $200? But that doesn't stop retailings from pricing their 7800 GTX at $400. I would think getting some money would be better than getting none...

 

[Squyd]

I had time since weekend to put together my 939 rig, with surprisingly little hassle (I totally skipped the A64 generation and last AMD I oc'ed were mobile bartons).

Here are results: 2.8GHz stable with a pair of ancient BH5 sticks and XP-90 (which I didn't get around to open the box for two years! ) Not sure which temp is which in Speedfan but temp1 and temp2 are 24C idle and 38C load. I can boot into windows at 3.0GHz and browsing is fine but Othos would give an error right away.

CPU core voltage is 1.40v but for now I don't have the experience or confidence to jump to 1.55v whereabouts. Anyway, I'm happy (or even jubilant). I recently went with an "economy" Conroe package with E6300 which does 3.3GHz (on an enormous Scythe Infinity HSF), this AMD 3800 is also dual core, (almost) similar oc, and at only HALF price. Considering I also saved money for new memory, this is absolutely a blockbuster.

 

[beastyben1]

Don't worry about the temps, those are great considering the overclock. I asked that question on the CPU forum and people replied that AMD stated their sensor could be off by 15C. Core Temp and other utilities display a huge temp. range. It doesn't matter.

At idle mine is like 42C and 20C but when running benchies and such it gets close to like 58/53 (with a stock AMD Athlon 64 3200+ cooler ahaha). Glad your over clocking went well. My system is greeaaat now, well great for me.

 

[beastyben1]

Not on this subject but just fyi for you guys reading this I found a quirky thing with O&O defrag if you need a good utitily.

Install the utility and set it do its thing when the screen saver comes on. When the trial period runs out, the defragger continues to work when the screensaver comes on. Money saved! Been working for me for like 2 months. Anyway, have a good one.

 

[snowdogg187]

would I have to reinstall windows when going from a opty 146 to this cpu?

Thanks!

 

[Schfifty Five]

Originally posted by: snowdogg187
would I have to reinstall windows when going from a opty 146 to this cpu?

Thanks!

shouldn't need to...just pop in the new CPU and let everything auto detect.

 

[RobsTV]

Just replaced an Opteron 144 with this.

Opteron was running safe speed of 283x9 = 2.55GHz, vcore @1.5v. (300x9 capable).
Now, 3800 X2 at same 283x9 = 2.55GHz, vcore @ 1.375v.
I guess 2.55GHz would be about the same as an X2 5000+, if they made one (939).
Didn't push things by testing how far it can go yet.
Both cores passed 20 hours of Prime 95.

WinXP and WinXP x64 (Dual Boot) installed mulitprocesser stuff on boot, and that was it.
All works great.
My primary app, MyTheatre DVB-S, was using 45% CPU resources with HDTV.
Now it is 20%!!!!
X2 was a huge performace gain over Opteron, even though it only has 1/2 the cache.

EDIT: All this in a mATX case with 300w power supply, Jetway ATi motherboard, and ATi x1900 GT video!

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Well, I've gotten 2 of these now, both OC'd to 2.5GHz at 1.3v flawlessly and dual primed out for 15+ hours at 10 priority. One I pushed to 2.7GHz @ 1.325v and it dual primed out at 15+ hours as well, haven't had a chance to test the other one any higher. These are AMAZING CPUs for existing single core 939 systems. I can't say enough about how much they've improved system performance on the systems I've installed them into.

 

[GeezerMan]

I see guys still buying 2.6 GHz FX-60 for 400.00. Now, you get a bigger cache with the FX-60, but that's not that much of a big deal. Not a bad deal.

 

[imported_nocturne]

keep an eye on slickdeals, cause thisn't isn't that hot...

the other day I saw a x2 4200 for this price (am2, I believe), and i've seen this core for around $85 plenty of times

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: nocturne
keep an eye on slickdeals, cause thisn't isn't that hot...

the other day I saw a x2 4200 for this price (am2, I believe), and i've seen this core for around $85 plenty of times

If you use AM2 as a price guide, you might as well compare this to a P4.
This is about 939, and please show a link when a 3800+ X2 939 Toledo was ever below $90 (shipped). Should be no problem if it was seen "plenty of times for around $85" (shipped?). (edit, saw it for $85 at ewiz plus lowest cost shipping, postal mail, of $6.00).

This is hot due to the fact that it is the much desired Toledo OC, 939 is no longer produced, so no price breaks, and get them while they are still available.

 

[jrenna]

For 939 MB, Newegg has X2 3800 Toledo OEM $96, X2 3800 Manchester Retail $129, while TigerDirect has X2 3800 Manchester $100 OEM $110 Retail. Tiger also has X2 4200 for $130 Retail. (Same price as Newegg X2 3800 Retail). I am inclined to get the X2 4200 Retail from TigerDirect and would like to know if this is the way to go.

Thanks.

 

[blckgrffn]

Originally posted by: jrenna
For 939 MB, Newegg has X2 3800 Toledo OEM $96, X2 3800 Manchester Retail $129, while TigerDirect has X2 3800 Manchester $100 OEM $110 Retail. Tiger also has X2 4200 for $130 Retail. (Same price as Newegg X2 3800 Retail). I am inclined to get the X2 4200 Retail from TigerDirect and would like to know if this is the way to go.

Thanks.

I would hit the 4200+ for the higher multiplier and higher stock speed, but that's just my opinion.

Nat

 

[Kobb]

Originally posted by: jrenna
For 939 MB, Newegg has X2 3800 Toledo OEM $96, X2 3800 Manchester Retail $129, while TigerDirect has X2 3800 Manchester $100 OEM $110 Retail. Tiger also has X2 4200 for $130 Retail. (Same price as Newegg X2 3800 Retail). I am inclined to get the X2 4200 Retail from TigerDirect and would like to know if this is the way to go.

Thanks.

These 3800s are amazing and oc very well!!! I can get 2.7Ghz at 1.3V (note, I have no heat increase with the oc), I have not tried to push it any further since I have no need to.

Do you plan to oc?
Do you need a HS?
What MB will you use? If you have one that can oc well, there is no need to go to the 4200 unless you want the stock hs and 1MB L2 Cache for the extra ~$40 from TD.

 

[GeezerMan]

The 3800+ X2 and the 4200+ X2 both have a 2 x 512KB L2 cache

 

[Kobb]

Originally posted by: GeezerMan
The 3800+ X2 and the 4200+ X2 both have a 2 x 512KB L2 cache

Nice catch! Thanks, Tiger Direct's listing is a little misleading:"AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ / 1MB Cache / 2000MHz FSB / Socket 939 / Dual-Core / Processor with Fan"

Compared to Newegg: "AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Toledo 2.0GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - OEM"

 

[freshspace]

Originally posted by: Krakn3Dfx

Originally posted by: hoss
I'm currently running a 3200+ Venice and use it mostly for photoshop and imaging programs and some gaming. I've been reading that most software doesn't take advantage of the dual core. My question is, would the 4000+ San Diego going for $69.99 be a better upgrade for me. At some point I will upgrage to some multi core platform when it becomes compelling. For now I just want something to get me through a couple more years.

Link to San Diego
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103037

Personally, regardless of whether or not your apps natively support multiple cores, I think the dual core option is the best. It's going to offer faster load times, faster boot times, more responsiveness, and just an overall better experience. If you're running either XP Pro or Vista Business or above, there's no reason not to make the jump to a multi-core CPU. Buying a single core processor at this point makes absolutely no sense IMO.

I have the 4000+ OCed to 3.0ghz stable. I have it oced just to say that I did it..., just the bragging rights. It seems really really fast. Some other folks have said that 4000+ oced to 3gig runs faster than a dually oced to 2.5 or 2.6. If your programs don't take advantage of a dual core process, then why not 4000+? It is cheaper, it has 1 meg cache. The 3800+ has the 2 x 512. I don't know. With 939 dying the way it is, even if single core is not the way to go, it would be a really good upgrade until the newer stuff drops in price. I like this chip because it has the same core as those fx chips. Just my two cents. Actually, I am contemplating getting a dual core..., maybe Opty 170 or x2 4400+. They both have 2 x 1 meg cache. If you are going to go dual core, either of these is what you should get.

 

[ShreddedWheat]

Yes, you would have to reinstall windows. I went from an opty 146 to this and windows only sees one core. When you install windows for the first time HAL (hardware abstraction layer) will only see 1 processor with opty 146 though bios will see 2 cores. That is what I have read and noticed after much time running various programs (ie coretemp only showed 1 temp until reinstall and task mgr showed 1 proc until reinstal)