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Opteron 170 or X2 4400?

Jimi

Jimi

Jimi

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Joined
3 Jan 2005
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894
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Isle of Man
Which would be the best CPU to go for?

I was looking at the 3D Mark 06 scores thread in the GPU sub-section and noticed the Opterons score higher.

What would be the benefits and disadvantages using an Opteron?

Cheers

EDIT: I should say, a lot of the Opterons score higher than the X2 4400s with a single X1900.
 
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The first thing you have to realise is that the Dual Core Opterons and Dual Core Athlon64s are exactly the same chip. They both use the Toledo core, which has 1MB of L2 cache per CPU.

Opterons are intended for the server / workstation market, where silence is valued highly. To get silence you need a passive (or very very quiet forced) cooling solution.

For a cooling solution of this nature to be viable the CPU has to generate less heat.

For a CPU to generate less heat, lower voltage operation is a necessity.

To achieve these goals, AMD hand-pick the silicon that will run stable at low voltage from each batch. These are the Opteron CPUs.

Due to their nature, Opteron CPUs tend to overclock better than their Athlon64 couterparts. Where you could probably expect 2.4-2.6GHz from a 4400+, it wouldn't be unreasonble to expect 2.7-2.8GHz from an Opteron 170.

They are like the old socket A Athlon XP Mobiles. Hand picked for low voltage operation equals better overclocking potential.

Hav
 
Wow, didn't realise they're basically just the same processor.
I think I'll go for the Opteron then.

Is the Vapochill Micro cooler any better than the Artic Freezer 64? What's the best air cooler out to buy?
I used to have water cooling but it's a PITA when you change the GFX card or CPU.
 
Personally I'm a big ThermalRight fan, and my cooler at the moment is the SI-120.

However, I think that the Scythe Ninja is supposed to be the best air cooler money can buy.

Hav
 
I'm in the middle of choosing between these two aswell. At first I wanted the 170, but I just don't feel comfortable overclocking a £300+ CPU over 600MHz. It won't be a good few months before I start my new gaming rig, so does anyone think the 4800+ will come down in price significantly with AM2 coming out?
 
Why bother with the 4800+, or don't you want to overclock?

It's only 200MHz faster than the 4400+, and not worth the extra IMHO.

Hav
 
I don't think the 4800+ is worth the extra either...yet, but is it likely it'll come down to 4400+ prices when AM2 comes out? If not, the 4400+ looks like my choice.
 
Havana_UK said:
Why bother with the 4800+, or don't you want to overclock?

It's only 200MHz faster than the 4400+, and not worth the extra IMHO.

Hav
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but can be usefull under phase as for some reason cant seem to hit as high htt's under phase as you can under air or water, so the 12x multi would be handy :D
 
Gaverick said:
the 4400+ will oc to a 4800+ with the stock HSF easily, not worth spending the extra on a 4800+.
Click to expand...
eh? and the 4800+ will clock higher again? so to some people it is worth spending the extra
 
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