Still need a Socket 939?

[Hecubus28]

I am currently running a single core FX-55, would I really notice that much of an improvment with this or should I just hold off?

 

[Crass]

Anyone know if a 3000+ oem HSF would work, if at all?

 

[beastyben1]

I'm currently using my 3200+ hsf on a toledo 3800 x2 ( averages low 40s and tops at 60C) and I'm going to try it with the 4800 x2 when I get it.

 

[FP]

Received my 4800+ from TD today.

Installed without a hitch. I was surprised how easy my XP-90 came off of my 3500+. I was expecting a struggle. I did run Prime95 for 20 minutes before I took the HSF off so maybe that helped.

After reading some of the dual core articles online it sounds like I need to apply a Microsoft hotfix, install an AMD dual core driver and also install an AMD dual core optimizer. Is this true?

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=983781

Did any other single-to-dual core converts install these?

 

[Dravic]

Got mine from newegg yesterday. So far i couldn't have asked for a better final upgrade piece for this rig.

asus a8n-3
x2 4800+ @ 3.0G 250x12
1.48v

coming from x2 3800+ @ 2.6

dual pime95s runnning
idle 40c , 41c
load 65c, 75c

 

[FP]

Originally posted by: Dravic

Got mine from newegg yesterday. So far i couldn't have asked for a better final upgrade piece for this rig.

asus a8n-3
x2 4800+ @ 3.0G 250x12
1.48v

coming from x2 3800+ @ 2.6

dual pime95s runnning
idle 40c , 41c
load 65c, 75c

Those load temps seem kind of high. I think the recommended max temp for this processor is 65C.

I am seeing temps of ~55C under full load.

 

[ConstipatedVigilante]

Would it be worth it to buy an Athlon X2 now to replace my 3700+? It's about as good as single cores get, and it's got some room to overclock. My memory kinda sucks too (although I have plenty of it). I'm planning on plopping in an 8800 GT in a month or so and upgrading the PSU. Should I just wait until I really need a dual core to game then upgrade to Core 2 Duo/DDR2 (or whatever is good to buy at the time)?

Keep in mind I'm on a high school budget (don't want to spend more than $80 on the processor alone).

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: freshspace
I need your help in getting one of these. Which one would you buy, and why?

1. $119 for the 4800+ OEM (newegg)
2. $99 + shipping for the 4400+ (TD)
3. $119 for Opteron 170 from zzf
4. $63.50 for the 4200+ (newegg)

I am concerned by the heat output. Opteron 170 supposedly gets hot when OCed; 4800+ doesn't OC as much as Opteron, but is cooler, and is OEM; 4400+ not sure much about it but it is cheaper with full retail warranty (TD charges shipping, but you get the copper pipe cooler and only 200mhz slower than the 4800+; and 4200+ is nice, but only 512k per core L2 cache. I want 1M per core. Not sure if it will truly be faster, but I feel it is better?! Help!!! I want to buy one of these soon, before they run out. Can someone give me a real life answer? Please, no C2D talk. Thank you.

The X2 4200+ (2.2GHz, 512KB L2 per core) is by far the best bang for the buck.
The additional L2 cache of the 4400+, 4800+ and Opterons makes almost no difference at all.

 

[RossMAN]

Which CPU offers the most bang for my buck AMD X2-4800 or Intel E4300 for around $130?

This is for an HTPC and I'll probably pair it with an ATI 2600XT. Also I'm not an OC'er or gamer.

I'd like a CPU which can handle 1080p content and burning DVD's without a sweat.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Which CPU offers the most bang for my buck AMD X2-4800 or Intel E4300 for around $130?

This is for an HTPC and I'll probably pair it with an ATI 2600XT. Also I'm not an OC'er or gamer.

Not an OC'r or gamer... That makes things tougher.
The X2 4800+ running at stock speed, outpaces the E4300, and costs slightly less.
The E4300 is a later generation CPU than the X2 4800+, and leaves more options for upgrading in the future.

Playing field: No OCing or Gaming
If I was building a full system I would build on the E4300 (or even E4500).
If I had a socket 939 setup ready for a CPU upgrade, I'd go with the X2 4800+ (or X2 4200+ to stay on the cheap).

BTW, The 2600XT is a good pick for your needs.
If your case has good air flow, I'd go with a...
Gigabyte GV-RX26T256H
MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ
Or the HIS H260XTP256DDN-R, because I likes the quiet.

 

[RossMAN]

If I was building a full system I would build on the E4300 (or even E4500).

This will be a full system build, I haven't decided on a mobo yet

 

[Blain]

If it's going to be a full system, build it on the E4300 or E4500. :laugh:
You'll be using DDR2 which is cheaper than the older DDR. Besides the memory being cheaper, you'll have a platform for upgrading.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Which CPU offers the most bang for my buck AMD X2-4800 or Intel E4300 for around $130?

This is for an HTPC and I'll probably pair it with an ATI 2600XT. Also I'm not an OC'er or gamer.

I'd like a CPU which can handle 1080p content and burning DVD's without a sweat.

First of all, IF it is a HTPC rig - and you are really planning to play no graphically-intensive games on it - it doesn't matter [period] ... your Video card will offload most of the work to itself if you get a decent one - like 2600xt or the 8600GTS. Look for a sale ... especially near the time you are actually planning to buy

This [old - from July] article may help you decide and has generally useful info:

HD Video Decode Quality and Performance Summer '07

For now, we're going to recommend that users interested in HTPC setups stick with the tools that can get the job done best no matter what the source material is. The only options for HD video intensive systems today are the Radeon HD 2600 and GeForce 8600 series cards.

evidently you can even pair one of these cards with a single-core CPU :Q
... so, no problem with either of your CPU choices.... otoh if you were a gamer, i'd have completely different suggestions for you
:evil:

Would it be worth it to buy an Athlon X2 now to replace my 3700+? It's about as good as single cores get, and it's got some room to overclock. My memory kinda sucks too (although I have plenty of it). I'm planning on plopping in an 8800 GT in a month or so and upgrading the PSU. Should I just wait until I really need a dual core to game then upgrade to Core 2 Duo/DDR2 (or whatever is good to buy at the time)?

Dual Core now makes a big difference in new game performance over single core:

Multi-Core Gaming is Upon Us

We don't often look at single-core performance given how cheap dual-core CPUs are today, but it's important to look at where we've come from over the past couple of years.

One to two cores gives us an impressive 60% increase in performance on average, if we look back at our first dual-core processor review none of our gaming tests showed any performance increase from one to two cores. From 0 - 60% in two years isn't bad at all.

 

[Keysplayr]

Athlon X2 4800 has more bang per buck than an Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 when zero overclocking is involved. The X2 4800 outperforms the E4300 and the X2 4800 can be had for about 30.00 cheaper (Newegg $99.00).

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Which CPU offers the most bang for my buck AMD X2-4800 or Intel E4300 for around $130?

This is for an HTPC and I'll probably pair it with an ATI 2600XT. Also I'm not an OC'er or gamer.

I'd like a CPU which can handle 1080p content and burning DVD's without a sweat.

The minimum AMD CPU required for handling all 1080p content (Blu-ray, HD-DVD, HD media file playback) is the 2.4ghz Athlon 4600+. In XP, you'll need a minimum of 1gb of ram and in Vista, 2gb of ram. I would recommend going at least 2gb in XP if you choose to go that route, that way you have some play room (plus ram is really cheap right now, you can get 2 gigs for under $60). Here's a bit of reading to backup my claims:

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/12979

Like keysplayr2003 said, it's about $30 cheaper for the 4800+ than the E4300+. If you are gaming or overclocking, the E4300 is probably a better choice, but for HTPC use focused on media playback and when budget is of concern, the Athlon 4800+ is just great.

Also keep in mind that at the present time, Blu-ray/HD-DVD playback software is NOT integrated into Windows Media Center, so you have to install a script to launch the player separately when a disc is inserted. It's works, it just doesn't use the nice media center interface when playing HD discs.

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Athlon X2 4800 has more bang per buck than an Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 when zero overclocking is involved. The X2 4800 outperforms the E4300 and the X2 4800 can be had for about 30.00 cheaper (Newegg $99.00).

It's assumed that RossMAN was referring to a socket 939 X2 4800+ rather than the $100 AM2 version that Newegg sells.
It was assumed because RossMAN asked in a "Socket 939" thread about an X2 4800+ vs. the E4300.

Newegg doesn't have any "socket 939" X2 4800+ CPU's.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Athlon X2 4800 has more bang per buck than an Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 when zero overclocking is involved. The X2 4800 outperforms the E4300 and the X2 4800 can be had for about 30.00 cheaper (Newegg $99.00).

It's assumed that RossMAN was referring to a socket 939 X2 4800+ rather than the $100 AM2 version that Newegg sells.
It was assumed because RossMAN asked in a "Socket 939" thread about an X2 4800+ vs. the E4300.

Newegg doesn't have any "socket 939" X2 4800+ CPU's.

If he indeed was talking about a 939 system, we would be trying to stop him from doing so anyway as we would all tell him to go AM2, for many reasons.. Correct? Got to steer each other in the right direction.

939's are few and far between these days. And more money.

 

[Old Hippie]

If he indeed was talking about a 939 system, we would be trying to stop him from doing so anyway as we would all tell him to go AM2, for many reasons.. Correct? Got to steer each other in the right direction.

Very True. But ya know, after re-reading a little, I'll bet RossMAN didn't know which socket he was talking about either.....Or even that there is a difference! :laugh:

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

If he indeed was talking about a 939 system, we would be trying to stop him from doing so anyway as we would all tell him to go AM2, for many reasons.. Correct? Got to steer each other in the right direction.

Very True. But ya know, after re-reading a little, I'll bet RossMAN didn't know which socket he was talking about either.....Or even that there is a difference! :laugh:

Quite true ... Ross is just looking for a [great bang-for-buck] HTPC box for X-mas, i guess
-my advice is to wait to the last minute and see what Santa - and new products - do to pricing
[--and in the meantime, work on his unjustified fear of OverClocking]

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

If he indeed was talking about a 939 system, we would be trying to stop him from doing so anyway as we would all tell him to go AM2, for many reasons.. Correct? Got to steer each other in the right direction.

Very True. But ya know, after re-reading a little, I'll bet RossMAN didn't know which socket he was talking about either.....Or even that there is a difference! :laugh:

Sad but true :laugh:

So I want AM2 not S939, right? Which one for around $100? Link?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

If he indeed was talking about a 939 system, we would be trying to stop him from doing so anyway as we would all tell him to go AM2, for many reasons.. Correct? Got to steer each other in the right direction.

Very True. But ya know, after re-reading a little, I'll bet RossMAN didn't know which socket he was talking about either.....Or even that there is a difference! :laugh:

Sad but true :laugh:

So I want AM2 not S939, right? Which one for around $100? Link?

Yup, you want AM2. The 4800+ is a great chip to go with for around $100:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819103778

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: Blain

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
Athlon X2 4800 has more bang per buck than an Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 when zero overclocking is involved. The X2 4800 outperforms the E4300 and the X2 4800 can be had for about 30.00 cheaper (Newegg $99.00).

It's assumed that RossMAN was referring to a socket 939 X2 4800+ rather than the $100 AM2 version that Newegg sells.
It was assumed because RossMAN asked in a "Socket 939" thread about an X2 4800+ vs. the E4300.

Newegg doesn't have any "socket 939" X2 4800+ CPU's.

$100 for a Socket 939 Athlon X2 4800? For a couple moments there you guys had me excited.

Anyhoo, I've been very pleasantly surprised with my Opteron 148 had been able to handle the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo albeit at 1024 x 768 with a Radeon x800xt. After seeing the Anandtech study about the importance of level 2 cache for the Intel CPUs, I think I'm going to hold out for a good deal on either an Opteron (If there are any left) or a 4800, or perhaps I'll just keep my lowly single core and upgrade the video card.

 

[Old Hippie]

$100 for a Socket 939 Athlon X2 4800? For a couple moments there you guys had me excited.

You might, or might not, want to start at the beginning of this thread. See what happens when you don't come here everyday?

 

[mejum]

The egg has the X2 5000+ for $130 shipped.

 

[spittledip]

Originally posted by: mejum
The egg has the X2 5000+ for $130 shipped.

That's AM2