confused? keep my x2 4400+ or not?

[MichaelHo]

Im confused
I have recently bought a new rig, arrived and assembled on thursday.
The specs are:
CPU: amd x2 4400+
Mobo: Sapphire PURE Innovation Gruper Radeon Xpress 200P
Memory: G.Skill 2GB DDR ZX PC3200 (2x1GB) CAS2 Dual Channel Kit
Gfx card: HIS Excalibur ATI Radeon X1900 XT-X 512MB GDDR3
Case: lian-li v1000+
PSU: Seasonic S12 600W Silent ATX2.0

When i was researching what processor to buy i got the impression that the opty 170 was bees knees. So i was searching for that one but couldnt find it, settled for the x2 4400+ instead.
Now OcUK has the opty 170 in stock and im thinking to order one and sell my x2 4400+.
But then some threads here are saying that the 4400+ is just as good?
I would like to overclock, aiming to get over 3.0gigz after a while, but for now 2.2 or 2.4 will be fast enough for me, only when the m2 comes out then i will consider overclocking it more.
Shall i stick with my x2 4400+ OR go for the opty 170?

cheers.

 

[lemonkettaz]

i think you should sell me your x2 4400 and you buy the opteron 170

i dont see what would be different or better to be honest, not unless your really diehard overclocking

 

[MichaelHo]

hmm i wouldnt say diehard.
I did love the fact that my amd xp 2500+ (barton) overclocked to a amd xp 3200+ so easily!
how easy is it to o/c these chips? i dont really know much about it. It involves changing the voltage and stuff like that?

 

[lemonkettaz]

which chip.

they both will overclock well the 4400 and the oppy170

the 170 will overclock better. there are loads of factors to take into account when overclocking..

motherboard/memory/mem speed, timings, voltages, the htt link on the motherboard... cpu temp/mulitplier/voltage.... the fsb... COOLING.

just faff about with all them settings until it runs better... but dont go crazy at first, small changes each time then test it using a benchmark program of some kind.

my next plan is to get the x2 4400 .. i want dual core

 

[lemonkettaz]

best thing to do though is to spend a good deal searching each bit to learn it.. i.e. research all your components you have and check several reviews on each component you have... so you get a general idea what it can withstand.

like read a few reviews on your cpu, then mobo, then ram... as long as you understand what you have you can alter the settings without killing it

 

[easyrider]

I would just keep your 4400 if you have ordered it.

You will need water cooling to get 3gig on air out of either chip.

the 4400 are great cpus and you say you will only be overclocking 400 mhz or so .

so i wouldnt worry about it.