s939 X2 3800 and Opteron 165 overclockability

[CheesePoofs]

I have a 939 system running with a DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-D. Currently I have a winchester 3000+ @ 2.45ghz, cooled with an XP-90. I have 2gb of ram, but it's in 4x512 sticks of value ram.

I have a good opportunity to upgrade my processor (someone's going to buy it off me), so I'm looking at getting either an X2 3800 or an Opteron 165 (both being s939, not AM2). How is the overclocking on these lately? I'd be running them on my same board with same 4 sticks of ram and XP-90. Is it worth spending the extra $10 or so and grabbing an opteron rather than the 3800?

Thanks!

Edit: and anyone have an idea how much a s939 3000 would be worth right now?

 

[txtmstrjoe]

Opteron 165s seem to be more plentiful than the X2 3800+s lately, so that may decide for you.

The Opterons also all have more L2 cache (1MB per core) than the X2 3800+s, so depending on your typical usage patterns this could also be a factor in your decision-making.

The dual-core Opterons overclock really well, too; I've got a 165 running at 2.70GHz on air (TR SI-128) with a tiny voltage bump from stock (1.37V per the BIOS). I've never owned a Manchester X2 3800+, so I can't speak from experience about their overclocking potential. I have read that they are also quite good, but these were older chips (the X2 3800+s were out of stock until recently).

Hope that helps!

 

[CheesePoofs]

Well I'd probably be buying it withing the week, so I'm guessing it'd still be in stock (Newegg has both right now with the 3800 being about $8 cheaper than the Opteron).

Anyone else haev ideas on their overclockability (which should be a word if it isn't) and if they'll be fine with 4 sticks of ram?

 

[aka1nas]

Personally I'd favor the 165 as that DFI board can hit fairly high HTT speeds, to the point that you will likely max out the chip before the board. I ran 4x512MB until a few months ago, and it will limit your OC a bit, though only a bit less than 2x1GB.

 

[trOl]

Buy the opteron, with an XP-90 and a good fan you should hit 2.8ghz on air with under 1.5v. You can possibly do 3.0ghz on air (I do 24/7) but it will cost you more voltage and generate a lot more heat.

Your ram will limit your OC more than anything else, make sure you know the proper timings for your ram ICs. When I finally figured out my ram timings I gained 200mhz and dropped my voltage by .05v, I also dropped my ram voltage by .4v.

Good Luck!

 

[Gronich]

18 months and counting...very stable, still very happy with the performance - Don't need a C2D yet. I have just picked up a DFI board and Ultra 120 so I will try an squeeze a little more out of it! (SI120 HS a big disappointment - worse results than the XP90)

 

[deton8]

CheesePoofs, I'd highly recommend the Opteron 165 if you plan to overclock. I have one on a Neo2 Platinum @ 2.8Ghz, 1.45v. I plan to move to the same DFI board you have for PCIe shortly, just need a new HSF to go with.
A bit OT, does anyone know what HSF would be a good upgrade from a Zalman 7000cu? It cools well enough now, but I fear my load temps passing the mid 50s if I shoot for 3GHz.

 

[SlowSpyder]

I have an Opteron 165, I stuck it in the PC and the only time it saw the stock 1.8ghz was when I booted to the bios the frist time with it. I jumped the HTT to 300, pushed the voltage up a tiny bit (1.375 volts), set my memory divider, then saved and exited. I tinkered around a bit later to get more speed, but settled on 2.7ghz as the performance is fine and it runs very cool as is. If I need more out of it later I'll just overclock more. With the retail 4 heat pipe cooler I have yet to see more then 46C (but I am in a cool room, it's probably about 69 degrees). I'm very happy with the Opteron. The only thing I would possibly change is to get an Opteron 170 so I could use the 10x multiplier and see if I could hit 3ghz just as easy, my HTT seems to get flakey somewhere between 320 and 340, I haven't tested too much as I'm happy with the system as is.

 

[Gronich]

Recommend heatsinks:

Thermalright Ultra 120, Tuniq Tower 120 - Two of the best
Thermalright XP90 - no complaints from this Though doesn't touch the above two.

I'll let somebody recommend more current stuff.

 

[deton8]

Thanks Gronich. From your sig, it looks like the XP90 performs pretty similarly to the Zalman 7000 I have (both 92mm fans). Have you ever considered upgrading your cooling, or are you happy as is?

I only have one HSF between 2 rigs so I need another anyway. I like the Zalman, good and quiet, just figured I may as well get whatever the best bang for the buck is these days.

 

[aka1nas]

The other thing to keep in mind is that the 165 and the 3800+ X2 will probably hit similar clockspeeds in the end with that board. The 165 has more cache though. You can always try to OC the chip a bit higher, but you can't magically add more cache that wasn't ever there.

 

[CheesePoofs]

Mk, I'll probably go for the 165, then. Is the DFI Lanparty UT nF4 Ultra-d still the best overclocking s939 board for the price ($80), or has something come out that can top it and is cheaper?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Another vote for the 165. I have one and I'm at 2.81GHz with stock volts

A good stepping to get is CCBBE 0617FPMW (what I have), CCBWE 0551 is one to avoid. List of good/bad steppings here

 

[CheesePoofs]

Oh, forgot about steppings. I was planning on ordering from newegg, where you just get whatever they have, but are there ways to buy that would let me choose which stepping I get? Is the man still around who sold them himself off of the forums (forget his name, it's been a while)?

 

[SparkyJJO]

I got my CPU from ebay, that way I knew what stepping I got. It was worth the extra $10 to me to make sure I got a good stepping. People on XS have found that lately newegg has been handing out some good ones, of course no guarantees though.

 

[Noubourne]

THE ULTRA 120 CANNOT BE MOUNTED ON A DFI Ultra D without extra parts!!!

I know, because I bought one, and the instructions say to install a metal backplate. Well, I don't have one (that works). The mounting method for the 939 boards pretty much REQUIRES a proprietary mounting plate with screw holes that stand a couple mm above the mobo (because it is square, wide, and flat, and made of metal that would scrape on the board if it was mounted flush). If your backplate, like mine, provided by DFI, is flush with the mobo (because the large square riser needs it that way), then you cannot install this cooler with the parts included in the retail package. They include this backplate for s775 boards. THEY DO NOT INCLUDE IT FOR DFI (and I think Gigabyte) s939 BOARDS.

Do not buy the Ultra 120 for an Ultra D unless you want to do some fancy modding, or happen to have a stockpile of metal backplates for s939.

I had 3 other backplates laying around for other s939 boards, and not a ONE of them was of any help.

This is what I get for not looking it up before my purchase. It's upsetting, because the Ultra 120 is smaller than my infinity, and supposedly responds well to high CFM (which is why I bought it) and I am actually able to MOUNT my 38mm-deep 114CFM Panaflo onto it. Due to SIMILAR shoddy engineering/moronic oversight, it is not possible to mount anything but 25mm-deep fans on an Infinity.

2 great coolers, 2 huge glaring engineering defects.

Why make an enthusiast cooler that is not compatible with some of the most popular enthusiast kit?

/end rant.

 

[benrico]

I just got my Opt 165 CCBBE 0615EPMW from newegg today for my nf4 ultra-d . Im ready to start overclocking it but Im trying to remember what you are supposed to do to stress it...something about running two instances of super pi, or something like that. I will let you know how it turns out.

 

[Painman]

I'd also recommend the 165 (even though mine was a bit of a dud - still hit 2.5 though, I just kept it, and I can't complain about the performance).

I've got mine on H2O and it will break the 40º C mark (probably the ~1.5 voltage) with a STORM Rev. 2 block, so I kinda wonder if an XP-90 is truly up to the task of cooling it if it turns out to be a screamer. Maybe in the cool months, but it's those hot summer days that'll kill you unless you have AC.

I reckon the DFI NF4 Ultra-D/SLI-D is still the board to go for if you want the most out of the 165.

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: benrico
I just got my Opt 165 CCBBE 0615EPMW from newegg today for my nf4 ultra-d . Im ready to start overclocking it but Im trying to remember what you are supposed to do to stress it...something about running two instances of super pi, or something like that. I will let you know how it turns out.

Use orthos

It automatically runs multiple threads to stress all the cores of the CPU. Also puts more stress on the CPU than sPi does, partly because you run it a lot longer.

 

[CheesePoofs]

I'm going to be using a nf4 ultra-d for the opteron 165. But I'm going to be giving my brother my Winchester 3000+ which is currently running at 2.45. I want to try and overclock it at least to 2.3 for him, but want to do it on as cheap a board as possible. Any recommendations on super cheap overclocking boards that will hit a 260-270HTT? I'd love to be able to beat the ultra-d's price of $88

 

[aka1nas]

Does he need AGP or PCI-E?