AMD 64 3500 to Opty?

GreenMint · 20 Dec 2006 at 18:28

Hey guys, just a quick check in, looking around at prices on dual core systems has got my mind running, i'm running a pretty stable system right now and have no massive desire to go the way of the Core2Duo simply cause i can't justify the expense right now and would prefer to get a bit more out of 939 for another 8-12 months, looking around the only Dual Core 939's that are around are the 4200 & 4600 which are the 512k L2 per core versions, i was toying with the idea of an Opty instead? Maybe a 175 or 180? I'm not massively into overclocking, but i run a lot of stuff at once on this system, the only games really played are WoW, and i was really trying to weight up 3500 Vs XP 64 X2's Vs Opty?

Thanks

joeyjojo · 20 Dec 2006 at 19:14

No point really.

Nutbusta · 20 Dec 2006 at 21:19

Well, hang on a minute. I'd seriously look for a second hand 165 as even the bad ones should clock higher than your winnie.

With the added cache and second core it would be faster in every possible situation and sotrm past you winnie in multthreaded apps. Ever do any encoding?

What mobo you got? CPU cooler? Budget?

<edit, just noticed that you have the NEo4 - My MSI's have always been good clockers. My Neo did 290fsb and my Neo1 did 330 :eek:

Nutbusta · 20 Dec 2006 at 21:25

Assuming you can get your mobo to 290 you could look at a 165 with a theoretical top end (with 290fsb) of 2610 or a 170 @ 2900

both available on an auction site for £115 and £145 respectively.

GreenMint · 20 Dec 2006 at 21:37

Nutbusta said:
Well, hang on a minute. I'd seriously look for a second hand 165 as even the bad ones should clock higher than your winnie.

With the added cache and second core it would be faster in every possible situation and sotrm past you winnie in multthreaded apps. Ever do any encoding?

What mobo you got? CPU cooler? Budget?

<edit, just noticed that you have the NEo4 - My MSI's have always been good clockers. My Neo did 290fsb and my Neo1 did 330

Well, as you saw i havew the MSI K8 Neo Platinum4

Cooler is the arctic freezer 64 right now

Not encoding much atm but would rather go dual core to get the most out of the pc+vista etc.. next year without spending a massive amount, hence the hoping to stick with 939 way into 2007

Thanks!

A2Z · 20 Dec 2006 at 22:18

i had a single core then bought a, x2, comparing them both when running at 2.5 i didnt really notice a difference in general windows usage, maybe a bit when raring stuff, but seeing as i dont do any major encoding and only multitasking i do would be doing stuff while im playing cs, and when i do this i find it still lags a bit with dual core like it did with single, im moving back to single core

Killajaz · 21 Dec 2006 at 01:12

You can get the 165 new for £110 from a well known and trusted e-seller. If you look around you will find it in minutes. They have 35+ in stock. 95% of the new retail 165 are late production or end of production and tend to be sick clockers. 2.8ghz on stock voltage is common

DasFruitMachine · 26 Dec 2006 at 22:35

I thought I'd revive this since I'm toying with the idea of buying a new socket 939 processor. I've got a 3200 at the moment but it's just not cutting it when it comes to overclocking (it used to run at 2.4ghz happily, but nowadays it just crashes if I try to OC it). I don't have the cash to get a new motherboard & RAM, so a new processor might be just the ticket.

To be honest, I'm rather unimpressed by the current range of socket 939 Athlons that are available. They've scaled back the single core range (seems that 3700 is the fastest I can find) and the dual cores are quite expensive, but then I started thinking about an Opty instead. I can see the Opty 165 for a shade under £100 and they're awaiting stock. Are these still liable to be good clockers?

locutus12 · 26 Dec 2006 at 23:01

joeyjojo said:
No point really.

well that was useful... care to justify the reasoning ? :confused:

Ivan Drago and DasFruitMachine, i am moving from an opteron 148 to an opteron 170, you can get a brand new RETAIL opteron 170 for about £130 inc postage or a brand new OEM X2 4400 for £125inc+ postage

the problem is most places are out of stock of the 939 range in the UK, which is why ive had to get mine from the USA

however if you dig around you may find a place in the UK with stock.

if youve got a good motherboard, go for the opteron 170 and clock it, it should keep you going for another 12 months. I personally have upgraded mine for Supreme Commander as its extremely CPU intensive

joeyjojo · 26 Dec 2006 at 23:52

Ok loc, for you

Too much money for not enough gain, in my opinion of course.

locutus12 · 27 Dec 2006 at 02:33

joeyjojo said:
Ok loc, for you

Too much money for not enough gain, in my opinion of course.

but he is only spending £130 at the most, he has a good enough pc for the most part, mid range graphics power, 2 gig of good ram, just needs more processor speed. minus the £40 he sells his old chip for and his total investment is only £90, thats £90 for a dual core opteron that will most likely do 2.7Ghz per core at the least.

hardly a small gain.

Nutbusta · 27 Dec 2006 at 08:03

All of the last cores are from a very mature manufacturing process and I should think that they will, pretty much all do 3GHz !

If I had a 3200 system with desent graphics and ram, thats totally the upgrade I would make.

However, my system was rather old: S754 Semtpron, 1Gb ram and AGP, hence I decided to upgrade the whole system.

I think an Opteron 170 at £130 is great value if your upgrading an old system. If your building a new one then think again

deadeyedic30 · 27 Dec 2006 at 17:51

Get the Opteron.

locutus12 · 27 Dec 2006 at 18:14

Nutbusta said:
I think an Opteron 170 at £130 is great value if your upgrading an old system. If your building a new one then think again

yup!

if he was building a new system id probably think twice about it, but for an upgrade and as skt 939 is still powerful, and DDR2 makes little difference for AMD at present, go with the opty 170

GreenMint · 27 Dec 2006 at 18:55

Thanks for the info guys, very helpful indeed

I know it seems a strange question on these boards, but how would i go about OC'ing the Opteron with my current mobo, not 100% sure as i haven't really OC'ed anything at all apart from an old GF2 video card

Also would i be best to look for an opty 165 or 170?

Thanks!

Nutbusta · 27 Dec 2006 at 20:09

for easier overclocking and a better overall speed get the 170 as it has a higher multi.

Multi's: 165= 9x, 170= 10x

This means you will be able to acheive a higher overclock with the 170 without havinng to push your mobo/ram as high. This will make things easier in terms of the number of settings you will need to adjust and mean that your mobo's overall top fsb should be less of a problem.

If the price difference is minimal then deffo go for the 170. If you can grab a 165 at an extra special bargain price then thats good too.

I have a friend with an older [email protected]. I can't remember what volts he is using but it's running 24/7 perfectly.

As regards to how to overclock, I find there are 3 golden rules:

1) Locate the cmos reset jumper (near the battery) just incase
2) have a machine with internet setup just incase you need to get help
3) Baby steps. Small incriments, lots of tress testing inbetween and most of all be patient

It's all about pushing one component whilst leaving the others in a zone you know they can handle in order to find each components maximum.

Best thing to do is when you get the new chip, read the faq's, post again and by all means mail me.

Good luck and enjoy

GreenMint · 27 Dec 2006 at 20:13

Nutbusta said:
for easier overclocking and a better overall speed get the 170 as it has a higher multi.

Multi's: 165= 9x, 170= 10x

This means you will be able to acheive a higher overclock with the 170 without havinng to push your mobo/ram as high. This will make things easier in terms of the number of settings you will need to adjust and mean that your mobo's overall top fsb should be less of a problem.

If the price difference is minimal then deffo go for the 170. If you can grab a 165 at an extra special bargain price then thats good too.

I have a friend with an older [email protected]. I can't remember what volts he is using but it's running 24/7 perfectly.

As regards to how to overclock, I find there are 3 golden rules:

1) Locate the cmos reset jumper (near the battery) just incase
2) have a machine with internet setup just incase you need to get help
3) Baby steps. Small incriments, lots of tress testing inbetween and most of all be patient

It's all about pushing one component whilst leaving the others in a zone you know they can handle in order to find each components maximum.

Best thing to do is when you get the new chip, read the faq's, post again and by all means mail me.

Good luck and enjoy

Thanks very much, i may end up taking you up on that and pestering you on mail/msn

hehe

I have the lappy & 2nd PC set up here which are (fingers crossed) in perfect working order so shouldn't be a problem in that area, would you suggest maybe a 100mhz step every day if the pc is used a lot? If i can get a 170 running at 2.3-2.5 that would be fine, knowing both cores are running faster than my current would give me a happy sense

Nutbusta · 27 Dec 2006 at 20:21

You'll have to drop me an email first as I don't tend to fire up msn unless I'm expecting someone. If you put "For Dan" in the subject I should actually read it too

You should easily be able to hit 2.8+ as you have a good mobo and these will be well capable end of line chips

GreenMint · 27 Dec 2006 at 20:24

Nutbusta said:
You'll have to drop me an email first as I don't tend to fire up msn unless I'm expecting someone. If you put "For Dan" in the subject I should actually read it too

You should easily be able to hit 2.8+ as you have a good mobo and these will be well capable end of line chips

hehe ok, thanks bud, will maybe fire you a mail over this evening if thats cool if you have a spam filter it may filter it through as i use my own domain, so keep an eye out! lol

fanks!

DasFruitMachine · 28 Dec 2006 at 11:19

Just ordered a 170 but I'm not holding my breath. The Internet store in question says it's in stock and there are 3 processors available, but after my order the stock didn't move, so I would imagine several other people have ordered from them and, when the orders are processed most people won't get theirs.