Which x2 to buy?

[Yucca]

I have an 800 budget for a new pc and was wondering what x2 chip is best bang for buck.

I was looking at the 4400 over the 4200 and the 3800 as it has the 1mb cache. Buy how much real life difference will this make? Is it worth spending £120 more to go from the 2.0gig 3800 to the 2.2 gig and the 1 meg cache?

 

[Dreadi]

i think the extra cache is the same as 100mhz on the clock speed if i remember correctly

have you looked at the opteron 165 and 170's ????

 

[lemonkettaz]

with the X2 range.. personally id say its either the 3800 or the 4400.

if i were your with 800quid id get the x2 3800.. you will get it to the "equivelant" performance of the 4400.. i.e. 2.4ghz.. the extra cahce is supposed to be like an extra 200mhz in speed.

but with the 3800 you can go up to 2.4ghz easily.. probably more depending on the other hardware and the cpu itself. this way you can spend the extra on the rest of your setup.

but if you dont want to overclock and happy spending about £300 on the cpu go for the 4400.. 2.2ghz 1mbx2 stock. i dont think these clock as well as the 3800 though, but you will have the extra cache.

 

[lee87]

Depends on what you will be using the pc for.

If it's for gaming i'd go for a X2 3800+ and clock it. I would spend more money on the graphics card as this will help performance the most. The X2 3800+ is very good and overclocks quite well.
The 1MB cache is the same as an extra 200mhz compared to 512kb.

 

[lemonkettaz]

the 4200 isnt worth it over the 3800.. its just an extra 200mhz above the 3800.. no extra cache.

you only get more cache with the 4400 over the 3800.

 

[spookywillow]

x2 3800 all the way so glad i never spent more on the higher x2's
________
Honda SL125

 

[clv101]

x2 3800 all the way so glad i never spent more on the higher x2's

For sure - the difference between X2 3800 and the higher speed ones are small compared to the price increase. Spending the money on other areas of the system would get much better value for money.

 

[Yucca]

You have all said what i thought you were going to say. But now i have a few follow up questions...

I didnt originally want to overclock but now you have all got the silly idea into my head and i would love to get the 3800 to 4400 speeds. But i was planning on getting 2 gig of corsair value ram and a good mobo but not one especially good for overclocking and i was going to get a retail chip.

But if i am going to clock, what 2 gig ram should i go for and should i get retail or oem and buy a better hsf?

Basically ive decided that 3800's for me and i want to get it to 4400 speeds without problems. What do i need ram, mobo, cooling wise to do so?

 

[vanandjuanunited]

Geil value or similar and use a divider. HSF should be fine. Board wise what budget have you in mind. DFI are highly regarded but expensive.

 

[Yucca]

As you have said, DFI are nice but expencive. I wantgood quality ram/mobo that will clock but also is solid and wont go tts up on me.

Corsair value or geil value and why?

And what other mobo is good, feature packed, solid, and ocable but cheaper than the DFI?