Any noticable difference between AMD +3700 & +3800 dual

[rustang351c]

It's like less than 100 more dollars & I was wondering if there would be more of a difference than just a little more clock speed?

Thanks

 

[mdd1963]

The 3700+ is a single core at 2.2 GHz with a 1mb L2 cache; the X2 3800+ is a dual core design, with each core running at only 2 GHz, and each core having a 512k cache...

The 3700+ will be slightly faster than the X2 3800+ at non-threaded applications running individually with little else running in the background, while the X2 3800+ will be faster when running multiple intense applications and /or single apps that are properly SMP threaded on an SMP capable OS (Win2k, XP variants). (Example: A game running with a background virus scan on, while encoding a video and burning a DVD, for instance)

 

[rustang351c]

so if I'm running 2 instances of the same MMO (shadowbane) & teamspeak or mediaplayer, which chip would you go with?

(I'm going to use the same board & video card as you, 1gig ram)

 

[mdd1963]

I'd get the Dually if you can afford the extra $$; a few places are listing the X2-3800 for below $300 now, I hear....check www.newegg.com ......few will beat their prices by more than a dollar or two, I'd bet....

Plus, on a decent mb, you can safely and conservatively reclaim the "lost" 200 MHz (compared to 3700+ ) thru a fairly quick/painless OC, usually at only a 3-4 deg C temp increase and with no Vcore bump necessary; you would then be running essentially an X2 4200+ processor/the equivalent of a pair of SMP 3500+ processors)

There were no "affordable" X2 processors available when I got my 3500+, or I'd have chosen one; the 4200+ arrived on the market with a $570 price point, I believe...

 

[rustang351c]

Does the motherboard manual tell you how to OC? This is my 1st build. My old gigabyte vid card came with V-tuner2. Thats all I've ever done.

 

[chuckshissle]

The mobo manual will only tell you whats the bios porpuse. For example, in the CPU voltage part, the manual would only tell you that this the section which allows increasing/decreasing voltage for the cpu.

Basically it you what the bios can do and as well as don't and do's. The manufacturer doesn't want to responsible for any damage to the mobo and other components due to overclocking mishaps.

I'm sure theres a lot of people here in THG that could help you about overcloking and alike.

Beware of the guy who has the 77 mhz computer. He might tell you to underclock your cpu to 5 mhz. hehehe. Im just joking!!!!!!!

 

[brainysmurf]

I just last weekend upgraded to the X2 3800+ (from a 3000+ Winchester)
I've currently got mine running at 2.2 ghz, using the software that came with my MSI board.
With the big Zalman copper cooler on my CPU, I'm averaging 32C at idle, 35 or 36C at load.
I paid $329 for mine, which was still a good deal as far as I'm concerned. But if you can get the X2 3800+ for $309 or $299 -- even sweeter!

 

[rustang351c]

Awesome, thanks for your post. I'm psyched.

Is this the cooler you used?
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=4422562

 

[mdd1963]

The mb manual might not give detailed tutorials on Ocing, but both Asus and MSI and others offer utilities to OC within Windows, dynamically altering the clockspeeds...

The BIOS adjustments with most modern mainboards are not overly complicated, and one can usually squeeze out another 200-300 MHz with 6-8 keystrokes within the BIOS...

Head over to the OC sections in these forums, there are quite a few knowledgeable folks about....; can assist with explaining mem timings/ ratios, HTT adjust, vcore bumps, FSB impact, stability testing, etc...

Although even if stuck at 2.0G at stock X2-3800 speeds, most users will be quite satisfied..

 

[handym3000]

does anyone have any experiance with nvidia's ntune software?