X2 3800

Dwbreeze1982 · 9 Feb 2007 at 21:04

wow i have recently upgraded to this chip from a 3700 and it is fantastic at multithreading aplications. it is deffinatly worth the upgrade for all you 939 ners that have not yet uipgraded.

The chip its self dosent overclock very much but it is efficient and quick enough that i dont think you would see that much of an increase any way.

DJKahuna · 9 Feb 2007 at 21:24

Yeah, temps on these chips are pretty good as well. To improve it even more, enable CNQ/PowerNow in BIOS, install the AMD Power monitor, and select the portable/laptop power scheme. With my 4600+, i've had temps as low as 26° with a cool breeze into my room, or 31°C under normal circumstances.

The only reason to upgrade to a better dual-core is to show how much your OC pwns, how much money you have, because you want to, or because you need to. I only chose the 4600+ over something lower because of the higher multiplier, and they were the only ones available in the UK at that time. Plus i wanted to show my mates that i was more "insane" than them

shortone · 9 Feb 2007 at 22:25

I was all set for a full rig upgrade to C2duo but with the new 8800GTS 320mb cards coming out I might just opt for a 939 chip and the vid card for the moment and see if that gets me by for a while I am too running a 3700 at the moment. I really wanted a 4400 for the higher cache but they seem to be harder to find than rocking horse droppings.

DJKahuna · 9 Feb 2007 at 23:34

shortone said:
I was all set for a full rig upgrade to C2duo but with the new 8800GTS 320mb cards coming out I might just opt for a 939 chip and the vid card for the moment and see if that gets me by for a while I am too running a 3700 at the moment. I really wanted a 4400 for the higher cache but they seem to be harder to find than rocking horse droppings.

Try for a 4600+ or a 4200+. The difference between the 2 will be negligable. And a graphics card would give you more gaming performance than a new CPU whereas a new CPU would give you more video and audio encoding performance than a new graphics card.

If you are going for a 8800, make sure you can fit it in your case, they are really large (but they're no where nearly as big as the ATi/AMD R600's (AOAForums have more news and pics on this story)).

Dwbreeze1982 · 10 Feb 2007 at 06:59

i agree with him , i was thinking of an upgrade to c2d but i thought i have a good 939 rig so i just upgraded the cpu and it was wlll worth it.

As for a 440 ocuk had some in stock last week for peanuts compared to what they were worth when new.

i also have a c2d in a lappy and the amd can handle more in my opinion. i do have different amounts of ram in my main system so i will acept that a little but i love amds. sory all u intel guys.

alexisonfire · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:02

Im currently running the spec in my sig, and im trying to upgrade on a budget. I just bought a x1900xt 512mb and am looking to upgrade the cpu. Im going to keep the ram and motherboard, and flash the bios to make X2's work on it.
But which X2 is going to compliment the x1900xt? Is the X2 3800 gonna make a noticeable difference over the 3200 single core, or should i be looking at a 4400-4600? Im looking for the best bang for buck.

Thanks and sorry to hog the thread

Dwbreeze1982 · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:25

i would personally go for a 44000 but i couldnt track one down when i had the money so i bouight a 3800 but no regrets to be honest. Yep you would see a better cpu over yourew 3200 + :cool:

squiffy · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:33

Dual core is HUGE upgrade, I have a 3700+ and you can see what's in my sig. When I'm doing heavy CPU processes the 3700+ grinds to halt, quite disappointing really as my last PC was a P3 1ghz and expect it to be smoother than that.

On the X2 I can re-shrink a DVD and play a game at the same time, with no slowdown. If I did that on the 3700 the game would take ten minutes to load, and framerate would be a slideshow.

I wouldn't buy a dual core if it's just a normal windows machine ie opera/email/music playback. Do get one if you encode music/videos, oh and use Photoshop too.

Dwbreeze1982 · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:34

totaaly i agree thats what i do with mine and it handles it all day long.

alexisonfire · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:43

I do a lot of gaming and image/video editing. Some times i even alt tab between games and msn/firefox while playing music. If i get the 3800 am i gonna be wishing i went for the 4400/4600 all the time? The £40 difference between the 3800 and the 4600 isn't exactly bank breaking but is it worth it?

Dwbreeze1982 · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:45

i would say yes, at the time i bought mine there were none around and i didnt have mm so yes go for it.

How many sata ports does youre board have ?

squiffy · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:47

alexisonfire said:
I do a lot of gaming and image/video editing. Some times i even alt tab between games and msn/firefox while playing music. If i get the 3800 am i gonna be wishing i went for the 4400/4600 all the time? The £40 difference between the 3800 and the 4600 isn't exactly bank breaking but is it worth it?

You should be able to overclock the 3800 to stock 4400 stock speeds. 4400 overclocks to 2.5/2.6 at stock. Depending on board of course. Apparently people have got it at 2.7/2.8 at stock volts :confused:

Dwbreeze1982 · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:50

i heard about people being able to overclock there cpus that high but my 3800 is stable at 2.4 but dont want to go any higher as my temps at the mo are 50 under full load and i dont want to kill my cpu. Done that before on a 3500

alexisonfire · 10 Feb 2007 at 23:58

I don't overclock

Dwbreeze1982 · 11 Feb 2007 at 00:10

then buy the 4400 or higher depending on what you can afford.

ichabod crane · 11 Feb 2007 at 11:35

another option is a dual core opty, i had a 3700 and was looking to get an X2 in the huge price drops that have occured but couldnt find an X2 with a 2mb cache anywhere, but i did find somewhere stocking a opty 175 which is 2.2ghz x 2 with a 2mb cache and its rocking. as for overclockig ive only had a quick play as only got it recently but had it at 2.8 with no problems

i highly recommend if you cant find an X2

panthro · 11 Feb 2007 at 12:02

I have a Manchester core x2 3800 and its a pretty good chip.

I left the core volts stock, and just set the CPU speed to 2400 and left the multiplier at 10x. It runs 2.4Ghz no problem at all under stock cooling, running about 31deg idle.

Im planning to buy a better cooler and push for a bit more.

Dwbreeze1982 · 11 Feb 2007 at 12:43

i dont no what optys are like , they are supposed to be good quality chips as they are made for servers not normal desktops but its ure cool , they are both gonna be better than a 3200

Gashman · 11 Feb 2007 at 12:44

alexisonfire said:
I don't overclock

you being sarcastic? you have DFI board, the overclockers board

some X2s overclock really well, while some overclock terrible, its all luck of the draw really

alexisonfire · 11 Feb 2007 at 15:51

Gashman said:
you being sarcastic? you have DFI board, the overclockers board some X2s overclock really well, while some overclock terrible, its all luck of the draw really

Wasn't being sarcastic, i don't overclock because i don't know how (apart from graphics cards). I bought the dfi because it seemed like the best board available at the time. Also for some reason my bedroom gets REALLY HOT in the summer, so my cpu would probably burn out if i o/c. Im bidding for a 4400 on a well known site at the moment because ocuk don't sell them

Hopefully i'll win, wish me luck