Which AMD cpu?

[Muzzy]

First, what's the different between the Opteron and the X2? They're both duo core. Which one is the better choice? The price is about the same right now, well actually the 4400+ cost more since it's oem and there's a $5 shipping. For gaming, which one would you choose? Thank.

 

[j00fek]

opteron has a better memory controller and is usually better at ocing. but if your not o/c id just get the x2

 

[Muzzy]

Oh I will be ocing this baby. I'll try with the stock HSF first to see how far I can get. Oh yeah, I'm building this rig for somebody else.

 

[Noubourne]

Opty 165. It will overclock the same as a 170.

 

[tallman45]

Take the 170. It comes with a very good Heatpipe/Fan cooler

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
Opty 165. It will overclock the same as a 170.

Except the 170 has a 10x multiplier, and can be used with cheaper motherboards, that can't do 300+ HTT sustained, like an Ultra-D can do. With a 170, he'd only need a motherboard that will do 280 HTT to hit the same overclock as your 165, which requires a 312 HTT.

 

[KarenMarie]

I am pretty clueless about this and was wondering the same thing.

I was told that the Opteron was a more stable chip.

I am still unsure why the 939's are so expensive, since they are doing away with them. A 939 is more expensive than the AM2. I hope they go down.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
I am pretty clueless about this and was wondering the same thing.

I was told that the Opteron was a more stable chip.

I am still unsure why the 939's are so expensive, since they are doing away with them. A 939 is more expensive than the AM2. I hope they go down.

The 939 chips are more expensive because AMD no longer makes them and yet the demand is still quite high.

 

[nJett]

I had to make a similar choice recently, I went with the Opteron 170. I'm happy with the choice, the HSF is actually really good and has heatpipes built in. I OC'd it to 2.5ghz without issue right off the bat. I haven't tried to really push it yet either so I'm sure I can get a lot more out of it. It's running cooler than my A64 3000+ did at 2.4ghz.

re: 939's being expensive - they're being phased out for the AM2's. They are only going to continue getting more expensive as the supply diminishes. The reason I bought now was because of this - I was happy with my A64 but wanted a faster dual core chip before prices get outrageous.

 

[aelfwyne]

939 chips are in demand due to people who are wanting to upgrade yet not ditch their DDR memory for DDR2, and/or don't want to lose their AGP video cards. Socket AM2 requires DDR2, which is a significant cost difference if you're upgrading, and DDR2 offers ABSOLUTELY no performance advantage, nor does Socket AM2.

Because of this, anyone upgrading a single-core A64 system that already has good memory would needlessly spend easily $100 to $400 extra (depending on how much memory they have) to go to AM2 rather than 939 and get no benefit. Better to spend just a few bucks extra, and get the 939 dual core rather than AM2.

AM2 doesn't really future-proof you either, since there will be no truly revolutionary chips on AM2. AM2+ will support some future chips, but will be limited. The next socket type will come out before the revolutionary chips do - so AM2 isn't even an advantage for FUTURE upgradability.

Simple - if you're buying all new, AM2 is okay. If you're upgrading, 939 all the way.

Oh, and the opty is the better buy.

 

[tallman45]

A great many users of 939 sockets are not just gamers, they are companies that find it not cost effective to have to start replacing entire PC's in order to get a significant performance boost of x2 processing.

Aside from the harware issues, who really knows where all they OS, and program Cd's are and who wants to take the time to reinstall everything ? Not a company thats for sure.

Never before in the history of computing could a system be running a single core processor in the 3000+, 3200+ class of performance, then get a 5 minute upgrade to an FX-60 class processor. That will make 939 X2 prices sykrocket as they dimish in availability

 

[KarenMarie]

Originally posted by: aelfwyne
939 chips are in demand due to people who are wanting to upgrade yet not ditch their DDR memory for DDR2, and/or don't want to lose their AGP video cards. Socket AM2 requires DDR2, which is a significant cost difference if you're upgrading, and DDR2 offers ABSOLUTELY no performance advantage, nor does Socket AM2.

Because of this, anyone upgrading a single-core A64 system that already has good memory would needlessly spend easily $100 to $400 extra (depending on how much memory they have) to go to AM2 rather than 939 and get no benefit. Better to spend just a few bucks extra, and get the 939 dual core rather than AM2.

AM2 doesn't really future-proof you either, since there will be no truly revolutionary chips on AM2. AM2+ will support some future chips, but will be limited. The next socket type will come out before the revolutionary chips do - so AM2 isn't even an advantage for FUTURE upgradability.

Simple - if you're buying all new, AM2 is okay. If you're upgrading, 939 all the way.

Oh, and the opty is the better buy.

Thank you very much for posting that. It makes sense to me now!

I am quite happy with my current set up (see rig in sig) although I do recognize it is all it is ever gonna be.

I have a fairly decent 939 board sitting here, doing nothing and I have a spare gig of ram. So, I bought a video card on the AT FS/T forum and I was going to use it to build a server, as I am sick of duplicate files, emails and being forced to have the laptop on to access files and etc. Plus when my daughter comes homes from college, she bring her laptop with her.

Anyway... it was my intention to get a NAS external drive, but it was suggested that I just use the spare and picked up parts to build a server. It was really confusing to be how discontinued CPUs could cost more than the new technology, but now that you have explained it so well... I get it.

Thanks!

 

[Midnight Rambler]

Another vote for the Opty 170. And as noted, the stock HSF is quite adequate.

If you have quality RAM and Power Supply, slap one on a DFI LANParty Ultra D (~$105 US) motherboard and you should be quite pleased with the results !

Note : The DFI mobo is not for newbies, you'll need to do some tweaking to get the best results. But then that is exactly what this mobo is meant for and it comes loaded with all the options.