Decisions, decisions...

[MoodyB]

Hey all,

Currently have an X2 4200+ that's at 2.4ghz, mainly because of the slightly hotter weather outside, that's being cooled by a Scythe Mine with a 80cfm 120mm fan.

Since the games I play the most - rFactor, GTR2 and GTL - seem to be cpu limited on my system ( I gain around 5fps when running at 1280x720 / 4xaa / 8xaf instead of 1600x900 / 4xaa / 8xaf with an overclocked 7900GS ) a few more mhz from the cpu wouldn't go amiss.

So I'm unsure whether to look for a 2nd hand Opteron 170 ( a 165 has too low a multi for my board - A8N-SLI SE - as it won't do 300fsb+ ) and hope it does 2.8ghz at around 1.4v, or get a Titan Amanda and hope that it will keep the 4200+ cool at 2.75-2.8ghz / 1.45v. I had the 4200+ at 2.75ghz a few months ago to test, but the 2nd core was hitting 60c+ under load so I was reluctant to keep it at that.

Any thoughts ?

P.S Please no ' go C2D ' posts I'm well aware how good they are and that I'm wasting a bit of money considering this, but I've a limited budget and can't afford to buy a C2D+motherboard+DDR2 then hope that my current X2 X2 4200+A8N-SLI SE+DDR sells for a decent price

 

[w3bbo]

What temps are you getting @2.4? Will it not go higher?

 

[SiriusB]

I think a Titan Amanda would be properly overkill! Why not try one of the Tuniq Towers or Thermalright Ultras. There is also the new Noctua.

All of them out-perform the Mine, so you can't really go wrong

 

[MoodyB]

w3bbo - temps at 2.4 are around 47'ish under full load on the 2nd core, that's at stock vcore ( 1.35v ). For 2.5ghz, it needs 1.375vcore to be stable, which means a temp of 52-53c on the 2nd core in the current weather ( 2nd core runs on average 10c higher than the 1st core under full load )

SiriusB - I'd love a Ultra120 eXtreme or a IFX-14, but nowhere has them in stock at the moment. I didn't think the TT or Ultra 120 would drop the temps enough on the hottest core, considering the Mine is using an uprated fan so it's closer to the performance of the Ninja, give or take 2c, and I have a 60cfm 120mm fan sucking air into the case, and the 120mm psu fan + 120mm Delta blowing it out.