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Is my money safe with an X2 4200

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The reason i'm thinking 4200 rather than a 3800 is cos I will be using it in an Asrock Dual board which has that 274 (i think) max FSB limit. So i was thinking get the 4200 for the higher multi. It's not that much more money really.

I'd set myself a limit of £150 originally and was going to get a 3700, but after reading a few forums, i'm leaning more towards dual core since it'd probably last longer before it needed upgrading again. I said to myself nah just wait till conroe, then do a big upgrade. Problem is i can't really afford to do it all at once, that and at the weekend i managed to grab a nearly new Asrock Dual for £36, which I thought was a bargain for an already great VFM board. So since i've saved a bit on the board, I can now afford to stretch a bit on the processor.

Bottom line, would a 3800 be enough on an asrock dual board with the lower multi/fsb lock... or should i just say hell with it, 4200 here i come?!
Ideally i'd want a chip that i could run at FX-60 speeds 24x7 (obviously with the help of an artic 64 cooler) without having to spend every day tinkering with volts, ram timings etc just to get it stable...
I read somewhere (can't remember where looked at loads of stuff all over the net these past few weeks planning my upgrade)... so yeah i read that the X2 4200 on the standard heatsink and at 1.4 volts can just plug in and go straight to 240x11 which if im right is FX60 speeds.

Do i get my card and order an X2 4200 now?? you decide... I'll go with the majority.
 
Well obviously you should get the best you can afford, or the best oyu can justify spending.

The 4200 is a sweet spot, but if you are working to a budget (as your post suggests) then going ofr the 3800 and a slightly better graphics card or more ram may be a better way to budget it.
 
I would not worry too much on the coolers mate.

I got an Artic64 and its no different to some of my stock coolers... Well, apart from the sempron ones anyway.

I am running my x2 4400 at stock, but the Winchester and the Newcastle are both clocked a bit and both those have stock coolers, and there is very little temp change going from 200 to 250FSB, or going from 1.4v to 1.6... In fact, when idle, the winnie runs at 28 and goes to 33 loaded, the newcastle is hovering at 32c @ 2.5Ghz and rarely gets to 36 even loaded up!

They are currently both running stock coolers although previously, they had the Artic64 and the FX55 Cooler and will have again, its just that I am messign about with these cheap and nasty coolers for a bit.

I find that case cooling is every bit as vital as the CPU cooler myself.
 
hogfather said:
Well obviously you should get the best you can afford, or the best oyu can justify spending.

The 4200 is a sweet spot, but if you are working to a budget (as your post suggests) then going ofr the 3800 and a slightly better graphics card or more ram may be a better way to budget it.

I know what your saying but i'm talking about only getting a cpu at this stage, and with the £50 i'd have in change with a 3800 as uppose to a 4200, well you don't get much for 50 quid. I'm really holding off with the memory just now, i find 1gb is enough for the games and apps i use. A SATA2 hdd is next on my list, probably a WD 320GB SE 16mb but that'll be probably next month or even the month after. (next quarterly bonus lol)
I'll have to get a sig made up so people know what i have.
 
Sig added

lol, don't laugh too hard at my 3d mark scores!!! the processor is a serious bottleneck since my motherboard stopped letting me run at anything but default settings in bios.
 
I had a gigabyte NF2 Mobo a short while ago.

I also got a couple of Barton 2500's too!

All my bartons do 200FSB

Have you had a go at 200FSB?

The XP @ 3200 is a very capable CPU... My NF7S & Barton @ 2.6 is by far, the most loved system I have.... It must be cos thats the one thats got the 6800GT, when the best I have in my AGP Based A64 PCs are just Rad9800Pro!!!
 
I'm being a pedantic git here, and I'm not offering an opinion (sorry :( ), but would it kill you to use a question mark? I see more and more posts that are in the form of a question, without that all important question mark. Since I am a bit weird I find little things like that niggle at me, so please, for my sake - use a question mark! :)
 
^ yeah thanks for that^ :rolleyes:

Anyways i have a 4200 and is at an easy 2.6 will push it more when i get some more time.

3800 or 4200 really its up to you, the 4200 does give you a 200Mhz head start tho ;)
 
v-zero said:
I'm being a pedantic git here, and I'm not offering an opinion (sorry :( ), but would it kill you to use a question mark? I see more and more posts that are in the form of a question, without that all important question mark. Since I am a bit weird I find little things like that niggle at me, so please, for my sake - use a question mark! :)
Here is a mantra you must keep thinking about until you are cured:

"I stand alone and everyone else can do as they like."

It might help! :)
 
In the x2 range there are two sweet spots:

x2 3800
x2 4400

all the rest are redundant IMO.

3800 will clock the same as 4200 and 4600
4400 has the added cache.
 
Ive got the 4200+ chip. Its an excellent little cpu. On 2.53Ghz at the moment but im sure its got loads left in it yet.

IMO the extra cache of the 4400 dosent justify the extra £100. Im very happy with mine, after the sale of my old SD3700+ it only cost £150. See my benchies in sig, im very happy
 
Hi guys,

Quick question please. I have a 4400+ X2 and just ordered the ninja HSF with an akasa 120mm fan. This will be on a DFI crossfire. Do you think I should be able to get upto FX60 speeds?

Thanks
 
realscot said:
lol, don't laugh too hard at my 3d mark scores!!! the processor is a serious bottleneck since my motherboard stopped letting me run at anything but default settings in bios.
lol My 3d mark05 is around 3000 with the same graphics card :( too bad my cpu is an xp2400 grr oh well thats why im upgrading this summer hopefully to dual core
 
glen8 said:
Hi guys,

Quick question please. I have a 4400+ X2 and just ordered the ninja HSF with an akasa 120mm fan. This will be on a DFI crossfire. Do you think I should be able to get upto FX60 speeds?

Thanks

Which Crossfire board is it? The newest one if having some serious problems with its OCing atm...
 
MeatLoaf said:
Ive got the 4200+ chip. Its an excellent little cpu. On 2.53Ghz at the moment but im sure its got loads left in it yet.

IMO the extra cache of the 4400 dosent justify the extra £100. Im very happy with mine, after the sale of my old SD3700+ it only cost £150. See my benchies in sig, im very happy


The extra £60 for for 200mhz with the 4200 is not worth it IMO as most 3800 will do 4800 speeds.

Rather than spending money on clock speed which you can change its better put towards cache which cannot.
 
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