Opteron or Athlon64?

[paulg]

At present I'm looking to buy the Athlon64 3700 San Diego. However, I keep reading about the opteron and so not sure if I'm making the right choice.

Couple of Questions;

Does the opteron have a dual memory controller like the 64's? I heard not.
I also read somewhere that the opteron has 3 hypertransport links compared to the 64s 1. Is this true and if so what difference will it make? I won't be using it for dual processing.

If I buy the opteron I'll probably get the 148.
I will no doubt overclock at some stage (like we all do! ), although I'll let the System 'bed in' for the 1st few months at stock speeds.
The rig I'm looking to get includes the new MSI Diamond Plus board and 1GB PC4000 crucial ballistix (1 stick - will buy another for dual channel when I get more dosh).

Thanks

 

[Big.Wayne]

Hi,

this is my first post *powered* by an opteron lol

Yes the socket 939 Opterons have an onboard dual-channel memory controller, and the third hyper transport link is unused on the 1-series opterons, it meant for multi-processer set-ups I believe?

 

[vanandjuanunited]

They are basically identical in spec. The opterons are popular because they generally overclock well. Dont think theres much difference between the 3700 and the 148. Identical at stock so its a matter of luck how far each will overclock. If you were going dual core though I would recommend the 165 for £230