Choice of 3 AMD's

[fenderbass86]

Which of these three would be best for a gaming pc? I've never overclocked a CPU before but would like to get as much out of the chip as possible.

1) 3700+ San Diego OEM (£140.94 inc VAT)
2) X2 4400+ Dual Core (£334.82 inc VAT)
3) Opteron 170 San Diego (£317.19 inc VAT)

 

[Dureth]

Have you considered a 3800 X2 or a 4200 X2?

They would be my recomendations to you even if your not overclocking.

 

[Jamie1984]

You aint overclocked before, but im guessing with a bit of reading on these boards you'll probably get more from the opty 170 with less need for adjusting voltages...may be simpler and faster in the end

 

[Soul Rider]

If your willing to spend £300+ on a chip for the dual core's, why are you considering the 3700+ You should at least look at the high end single cores - 4000+ and so on if you have that much money to spend.

The 3700+ is just not in the same league as the other chips, plus the current OEM 3700 chips don't seem to be clocking too well, although the retail ones are.

 

[ACESHIGH]

Would say go for the Opteron 170 San Diego

 

[fenderbass86]

Thanks for the help guys, Opy 170 it is. What sort of clock speeds should I get when it's fitted with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro?

 

[ted34]

If your willing to spend £300+ on a chip for the duel core's, why are you considering the 3700+ You should at least look at the high end single cores - 4000+ and so on if you have that much money to spend.

The 3700+ is just not in the same league as the other chips, plus the current OEM 3700 chips don't seem to be clocking too well, although the retail ones are.

Id go for the 3700 over the 4000. It nearly always clocks better and is far better value for the money.

Thanks for the help guys, Opy 170 it is. What sort of clock speeds should I get when it's fitted with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro?

Depends on the stepping. I just upgraded to a 170 from a 3700 that was clocked at 3ghz. At 2.9ghz superpi 1mb was 2 seconds slower but the comp was noticeably quicker. I now got the 170 at 3ghz but its a CCB1E 0550 stepping. Id expect 2.6ghz from the 0551 steppings that overclockers are selling at the moment

 

[Explicit]

Yeah, you can expect about 2.6Ghz out of the 170.
If you're not overclocking and don't wish to, the 4400+ is faster at stock.

 

[fenderbass86]

Even though the 170 is 2.0GHz at stock, will it be faster than my 3.0GHz P4 if overclocked to about 2.6Ghz? Will I notice a decent change?

 

[Explicit]

Even though the 170 is 2.0GHz at stock, will it be faster than my 3.0GHz P4 if overclocked to about 2.6Ghz? Will I notice a decent change?

An opty [email protected] will blow away the [email protected]

 

[Squidge]

An opty [email protected] will blow away the [email protected]

An opty 170 @ 2.6Ghz will blow away (as in, at least twice as fast) a p4 @ 3.8ghz

After a lot of fiddling, my 170 is now happily stable @ 2.65Ghz (was only stable at 2.6Ghz before )

 

[Explicit]

An opty 170 @ 2.6Ghz will blow away (as in, at least twice as fast) a p4 @ 3.8ghz

lol, the more the merrier! I was simply referring to the P4 he has in his sig

 

[Soul Rider]

Id go for the 3700 over the 4000. It nearly always clocks better and is far better value for the money.

He put on there the OEM 3700+ - Current steppings are not clocking very well maxing out around 2.7-2.8 with 1.55v and above.

 

[mj3zero]

He put on there the OEM 3700+ - Current steppings are not clocking very well maxing out around 2.7-2.8 with 1.55v and above.

I had the same quandry last week and went for an even cheaper option - the OEM Opty 146. Got it at 2.8 right now, been bumping it up 100 a day and not had to tweak the volts from standard (Bios 1.425 - actual 1.465). Going for that allowed me to stretch my vga budget.

When dual cores come down in price I may upgrade, but this thing is flippin fast as it is and it's not peaked yet.

mj

 

[Xionic]

ive got 0551 (current OcUk stepping)

CPU @ 2650Mhz (265x10) 1.37v
RAM @ 265Mhz (520DDR)
Air cooled on a Zalman 9500

4 hour dual prime. (didnt have time for a longer one)

Temps
(Idle temps are not cold boot)
CPU - Idle: 25*C | Load: 40*C
PWMIC - Idle: 40*C | Load: 50*C