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what s939 cpu?

skanky

skanky

skanky

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Joined
21 Jul 2005
Posts
1,416
i have an a64 3000+ venice cpu, abit an8 ultra mobo, 1gb ram, geforce 6600gt pci-e. so its not the most recent spec machine but thats alright as i am thinking of turning this machine into a poorman's htpc slash fileserver.

at the moment i am able to play h264 media fairly comfortably with WMP11 but with 100% cpu usage all the time, i think thats more a limitation of my cpu as my core duo/x1400 ati gfx card laptop can play these files with nowhere near 100% uage.

however, this machine will also be used to share files off its hard drives to other machines via a 100mb network and also to enable my 360 to stream HD .ts files off its hdds (using MCE2005 as a OS) but i dont think the 360 streaming is that intensive as i am able to currently do that with a PM1.4/512mb laptop.

so, am i better off going for an X2 of some sort or a cheaper A64? i dont really want to upgrade to a c2d (e4300?) as its likely to mean a new mobo plus ram.
 
Hi skanky,

You're not far off the number of posts required to use the Members Market (250).

Once you have access you should be able to get a little for your a64 3000+ (around £30) and then buy something like a 3800+ X2 for about £60-£70.

That would give you improvements in performance without spending heaps!

They also clock very well at close to stock volts! I have mine clocked from the stock 2ghz up to 2.5ghz @1.4v (1.35 is stock). Which gives it an equivalent performance to something like a 4800+ X2. I got mine about 4 months ago for £77 and have not regretted it one bit!

(Edit: Although i am in the process of getting a DFI board and an Opteron 165 which will offer overclocking up to and hopefully over 2.8ghz) :cool:

gt
 
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If you are at 100% on the CPU when playing H'264 you will be dropping frames. Here are two "relatively cheap" options for upgrade that will give you a big boost in performance.

1). Buy an Opteron 165 for about £100 new and overclock it. This is a dual core 939 chip that offers great performance per pound spent.
2). Buy a C2D E4300 along with an Asrock 4COREDUAL-VSTA mobo. This will cost around £150 all in and will allow you to use your existing DDR ram and graphics. It will be approx 25% faster than option 1.
 
555BUK said:
If you are at 100% on the CPU when playing H'264 you will be dropping frames. Here are two "relatively cheap" options for upgrade that will give you a big boost in performance.

1). Buy an Opteron 165 for about £100 new and overclock it. This is a dual core 939 chip that offers great performance per pound spent.
2). Buy a C2D E4300 along with an Asrock 4COREDUAL-VSTA mobo. This will cost around £150 all in and will allow you to use your existing DDR ram and graphics. It will be approx 25% faster than option 1.
Click to expand...
I agree with 555,

If you can stretch to either you would not be disappointed! :)

gt
 
im really trying (!) not to spend heaps on this pc, i think if i lean towards the cheap c2d upgrade, im going to want to spend more and more to make it my main pc which i need to avoid. :)

what is an operton 165? is that just another name for the X2 cpu?
 
skanky said:
im really trying (!) not to spend heaps on this pc, i think if i lean towards the cheap c2d upgrade, im going to want to spend more and more to make it my main pc which i need to avoid. :)

what is an operton 165? is that just another name for the X2 cpu?
Click to expand...

it's AMD's Server processor but it overclocks like anything.
 
Will_3rd said:
it's AMD's Server processor but it overclocks like anything.
Click to expand...
interesting, what advantages does it have (being a "server processor") over the X2? a quick glance suggests that the X2 has 512kb L2 cache whereas the 165 has 2mb? any disadvantages in things like media playing (not encoding), gaming, general usage for the cpus? ..or a link to a good comparision/review would be appreciated.

any incompatibilities with my an8 ultra mobo?

i think im definately leaning towards just upgrading the cpu rather than c2d, quick google shows that the prices for the 2 AMD cpus are about the same, will see what the members market has when i get in.

edit: i have an enermax psu, 430w i think, will it have problems with either cpu?
 
Generally any X2 compatible mobo will work with an Opteron.

The Opteron has 1mb of L2 cache per core (so 2mb total) just like the upper X2 range:

4400+, 4800+ and FX60

The lower level X2's:

3800+, 4200+ and 4600+

all have 512kb of L2 cache per core (1mb total)

This difference in cache doesn't effect performance much though.

I chose the opteron as it just happened to clock well and is quite cheap - however you need a quite a good board to get the most out of one - unlike my X2 the opteron only has a 9x multiplier so the mobo needs to work harder to overclock it to high levels. My X2 at 2.5ghz only needs a 250mhz fsb as it has a 10x multiplier (10x250=2500) whereas running the opty at 2.5ghz will need nearly 278mhz fsb (9x278=2500)

Luckily your Asus is a good board so should be fine!

Also, you should be ok with that cpu!

gt
 
gt_junkie said:
unlike my X2 the opteron only has a 9x multiplier so the mobo needs to work harder to overclock it to high levels
Click to expand...

Just to clarify gt_junkie's post a bit :

Not all Opteron's have a 9x multi ( I know he didn't mean that, but that's how it might read :) )

An Opteron 165 has a 9x multi. The Opteron 170 has a 10x multi, etc.
 
what is more value for money, a 165 at roughly £105 or a 170 at about £130, from my limited o/c knowledge from way back (celeron 300a days), higher multipliers were not good because it was harder to get a decent o/c because on some processors the multipliers were locked and the fsb wasnt.

is that still the same case with the opty 170 being 10x and the 165 being 9x?
 
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MoodyB said:
Just to clarify gt_junkie's post a bit :

Not all Opteron's have a 9x multi ( I know he didn't mean that, but that's how it might read :) )

An Opteron 165 has a 9x multi. The Opteron 170 has a 10x multi, etc.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's right MoodyB! :)

I could've made it clearer though... sorry! :rolleyes: :D

To skanky: a higher multi makes it a little easier to get high overclocks on slightly more budget mobo's but that's about it. For any dual core amd cpu you choose your Asus motherboard should cope just fine and overclock well regardless of whether it has a 9x, 10x, 11x or 12x multiplier. Just find the best deal you can - you should find that even at stock you will get a real boost in performance!

gt
 
gt_junkie said:
To skanky: a higher multi makes it a little easier to get high overclocks on slightly more budget mobo's but that's about it.
Click to expand...
ah right, totally the other way around to how i remembered it, man i've been out of the game for a while!
 
Word of warning on the opty 165's, i got mine delivered yesterday & the stepping is CCBWE 0633xpmw. From a bit of googling around it seem you would be lucky to reach 2.4 with it so mine is going back to the retailer
 
if i run at stock speeds, is there any real difference between getting a X2 3800 and a 165? both are rated at 1.8ghz right?

not entirely sure if i'll need to be overclocking it as it will be a server i'll need stability more than speed.
 
skanky said:
if i run at stock speeds, is there any real difference between getting a X2 3800 and a 165? both are rated at 1.8ghz right?

not entirely sure if i'll need to be overclocking it as it will be a server i'll need stability more than speed.
Click to expand...


165 has the 1mb cache 3800 has 512 per core, opterons originally were server processors so another plus for the 165.
 
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