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A cheap upgrade for my 939 - Opteron or X2

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yao
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Yao

Yao

Yao

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I've got an Abit AV8 3RD EYE mobo I'm troubleshooting in the other forum.

I'm getting a new PSU for it and in the process I thought I might pick up a new CPU for it as well.

Since 939 is on it's way out I thought I could get a cheap upgrade. BUFF kindly pointed me at :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=6&subid=567

Should I get an Opteron or X2? I vaguely remember reading somewhere that although Opteron's are more complex and technically better for most things they don't perform with games as well. Is this true? It's actually not an issue for me, but if that's the only downside I might go for one.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Yao

ps. I would search the forums, but it seems disabled for my account.
 
HSF?

BUFFY mentioned that because it's OEM I'll need a HSF.

Can someone enlighten me as to what HSF stands for?

Thanks,

Yao
 
Heat Sink and Fan

There is no difference in gaming on a 939 Opteron compared to a X2. Its the older 940 socket opterons that need ECC memory that are not so good for gaming.

The 170 will be good chip and should be able to clock quite nicely up to 2.4Ghz at least on the stock cooler.

Or you could go with the 3800+ but you will need a cooler (HSF) for it, something like this would do the job perfectly. And is pretty cheap.
 
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BUFF will disagree in the economics of it, but I'm tempted to go for the Opteron now. Just need another hour to consider this.
 
The overclocking capabilities will barely differ. All X2's and Opteron's being produced at the moment are LCBxx Toledo Cored CPU's. You'd expect 2.6-2.9GHz out of any of them right now. Only difference is the X2 3800+ will have less L2 cache. Certainly not worth the price difference though.

At the end of the day, you're trying to update a dying AGP/939 platform, so the best form of action is to grab what gives you the biggest performance increase for the money. In my opinion, it's the X2 3800+ that'll get you that.

The Athlon 64 X2 3800+ shouldn't have a problem running with the stock cooler that comes with a single core chip but if you plan to do any serious overclocking, buy the Arctic Freezer 64 Pro that Biffa mentioned. Excellent for the cost of it. :)

Mul
 
Mul said:
All X2's and Opteron's being produced at the moment are LCBxx Toledo Cored CPU's.
Click to expand...
they stopped making 939s lat December ...

You'd expect 2.6-2.9GHz out of any of them right now. Only difference is the X2 3800+ will have less L2 cache. Certainly not worth the price difference though.
Click to expand...
on an AV8 you're looking realistically at ~250-260fsb max (yes, some get more but most don't) so 10 x multi gives you 2.5-2.6GHz & 11x gives you 2.75 - 2.86GHz.

The 4200 might give you a higher core clock but the x2 3800+ wins in the bang for a buck stakes.
& yes the AC Freezer Pro is a good HSF for the money too.
 
Toledo™ 3800+ X2 @2600MHz (LCB9E 0632DPMW)
toledo3800x22600mhz130vnk9.jpg

1.30vCore (BIOS) - ASUS A8N-SLI Premium - Thermalright XP120 + 120mm Sharkoon 2000

So far I have done this testing:

2000 (200x10) 12 hours small FFTs-test passed – 1.30vCore

2400 (240x10) 12 hours small FFTs-test passed – 1.30vCore
2500 (250x10) 24 hours small FFTs-test passed – 1.30vCore
2600 (260x10) 24 hours small FFTs-test passed – 1.30vCore

2700 (270x10) 16 mins small FFTs-test FAILED! – 1.30vCore
2700 (270x10) 34 mins small FFTs-test FAILED! – 1.325vCore
2700 (270x10) 09 hours small FFT test FAILED! – 1.350vCore

2700 (270x10) Testing now - - - - - - - - - - - – 1.3625vCore

The 3800+ X2 is an affordable upgrade for anyone still using a mono-core CPU, the difference in gaming is not amazing for me, I think thats because I play FPS games (not RTS), however for things like Video editing the difference is night and day! I can't preview the video properly when using a single core, the CPU goes to 100% load and the playback is stuttery and out of sync.

When I plugged in the 3800+ X2 the CPU still went to 100% load (both cores) but the preview is smooth and the sound is in sync!

With a bit of luck I may get 2800MHz (24hr) Stable but that will involve some added vCore, however I have swapped out the 'stock' Opteron 170 heatpipe cooler for a 2nd hand Thermalright XP-120, this has dropped the temps by a good 10°C-15°C over the stock cooler so I can highly recommend you invest in a decent cooler also, hopefully you can get something a bit better than the Arctic cooling Freezer 64 Pro! ;)

stockvspremiumvu4.jpg

Stock Speeds - Standard Cooling vs. Premium Cooling - Early results while still using 1.35vCore
 
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they stopped making 939s lat December ...
Click to expand...

Hence why there's been CPU's for sale with batch numbers as late as the 11th week of 2007? Anyway, my only point was that the Opteron isn't worth the £80 price tag.

Though, I do agree that the X2 4200 will give more overclocking potential due to the limitations of the KT800 (If I remember correctly?) chipset. If I remember right, initial revisions of this chipset didn't even have a PCI/AGP lock?

Mul
 
it's a KT800 Pro which should have locks (although iirc the original Asus A8V didn't have them properly implemented?).
 
Thanks all. I've made the order. I love how helpful this forum is.

Let's just hope the PSU I also ordered fixes the motherboard issue. Fingers crossed.
 
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