Which cpu..

[Nazbit]

Ok, the time has come to ugrade my a643500 newcastle so I am looking for a new socket 939 AMD CPU.

Im stuck between the x2 range and the opterons.

My main use is gaming besides all the usual windows based stuff but I want to be able to overclock the cpu well, I intend to invest in some heavy cooling at the same time (although lets leave the cooling out of the budget for now) so I want something that can go pretty high and give good performance.

Budget is £290

I have been looking at:
AMD Opteron UP 165 Dual Core San Diego 1.8GHz 2MB Cache £264
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ £258

Could someone please talk me through the pros and cons of both of these and an other cpu suggestions are more than welcome

Thanks

 

[vanandjuanunited]

4200 has 512 cache 11 multi
Opty 165 1 meg 9 multi

3800 is meant to be a good clocker. Any reason why you want dual core at the moment? Could go for an opty 146? £120

 

[geeza]

4200 has 512 cache 11 multi
Opty 165 1 meg 9 multi

Could go for an opty 146? £120

£113 then could get watercooling with the left over money

 

[Nazbit]

Any reason why you want dual core at the moment?

Well I want something thats going to have a good performance/capability increase over my last cpu, and im hitting uni next year so I want to be able to keep it for a couple of years and it still be relativley capable, so I decided that getting a dual core now might be a better option, is it not?

Can you explain/compare the performance of the 146 and 165 for me please?

Cheers

£113 then could get watercooling with the left over money

.......tempting

 

[vanandjuanunited]

165 comes into its own when multitasking. Games will also probably start using both cores very soon. Some have limited use at the moment - Quake 4 i think. 146 should get to about 2.7 or 2.8 if you get a good stepping. 165 multi is holding me back on my board. the opty 170 would be a better bet if you could afford it.

 

[Nazbit]

Ok so lets consider the opteron 170 (I can afford it) and the 146.

Can anybody compare them to each other in terms of clock speeds and how much of a performance/benchmark increase I will gain from my 3500 newcastle?

Thanks