939 Athlon 64 X2 or Opteron 165???

anton

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Hi guys

I currently have an Athlon 64 3000+ 939 and watercooling. I want to upgrade my proc, as it's the component most bottlenecking performance in my system (Used mainly for gaming)

I'm looking at two possibilities:

AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX - Retail USD249

OR

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Manchester 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Dual Core Processor - Retail USD247

Both I will be wanting to overclock with my watercooling setup and wonder which would end up most likely giving better performance?
 

k0rn_h0li0

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if i were you i would go for dual processors cause its the latest thing. opterons are eh server stuff you know so its single but later on opterons are going to be used and maybe dual cores and all that will start to stack to duo or wahtever.
 

k0rn_h0li0

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i would go with the AMD athlon 64 x2 4600+ which is what about 2.2ghz and of course both vista ready. hmm its a heard decision cause you can overclock this one to at least 3 keeping the temperature at 40c . for the opteron you can really overclock but then youd have to buy a new heatsink to keep up with the overclocking but it works. whatever works with you. what are you trying to do with an opteron anyways?
 

anton

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Well, I have a watercooling setup (Coolance Exos Al) so cooling is not an issue at all.

So it really is a question of which one will overclock more and give better performance once overclocked.

As I said in my first post, it is for gaming.
 

GherkinPekul

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Of the 2 choices, I would go for the Opty. More cache. I kind of wish I got a 165 instead of the 170- people have had better luck overclocking them.
 

k0rn_h0li0

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i would say the opteron is the easiest it'll probably go to lie 3 ghz and higher but then you might need a cooling system which you already have so the optron is a good idea
 

anton

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Well that's just my problem. The price cuts were mainly on the X2 and not so much the Opty's (If I understand correctly). So now are the X2's relatively better value?

I know that in % terms the Opty will overclock more (Most likely), but don't forget it starts off a much lower base. I want the best 3dmark/bench score out of my processor at its' highest overclock.

Both are the same price. Which do I go for.
 

NEO3

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Yes...the X2 line is cheaper now. I'm happy to see some value added to the Opteron line. Good "investment" IMO. Opterons have a larger cache too (1mb per core) than the X2 you mentioned.
But... it's your pocket who will decide what's best.
 

nottheking

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If they're the same price, then by all means, go with the Opteron; with overclocking, it's potentially the only thing AMD's got that can stand against the higher-end Conroe chips. Current Athlon64 X2s only come with 512KB of L2 cache per core, while the Opterons come with 1024KB of L2 cache per core.

Added bonus: the silicon testing done for the Opterons is significantly more stringent than that done for Athlon64s, as the chips are designed to stand the rigors presented in not just server environments, but super-computing as well; a lot of modern cluster systems, such as those from Cray, use Opterons.

Yes, the 165 may only run at 1.8 or 2.0GHz, (I forgot) compared to the 2.4GHz of the 4600+, but overclocking makes a huge difference; Athlon64 X2s can't be pushed all that far; you might make it to 2.8GHz, on liquid cooling, and keep it stable. For the Opteron, you can easily hit that with just air; with your sort of rig, I wouldn't be suprised if you could keep it well beyond the 3.0GHz mark.
 

x1900xtcooler

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Current Athlon64 X2s only come with 512KB of L2 cache per core, while the Opterons come with 1024KB of L2 cache per core.

Actually the X2 4400 and the X2 4800 both come with 1mb L2 cache per core. They will not be around much longer but they are both still availible on newegg.com. X2 4400 $235 and the X2 4800 $307
 

anton

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USD250 will suit me just fine. I already have 2GB Ram, an Asus 939 mobo, 7900GT (OC'ed and vmodded), so really just looking to upgrade my Athlon 64 3000+ (Which I am running 100% stable at 2450mhz btw).
 

x1900xtcooler

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USD250 will suit me just fine. I already have 2GB Ram, an Asus 939 mobo, 7900GT (OC'ed and vmodded), so really just looking to upgrade my Athlon 64 3000+ (Which I am running 100% stable at 2450mhz btw).


Get the X2 4400 from newegg.com. Its only $235 runs at stock 2.2ghz and has the 1mb L2 cache on both cores.
 

YO_KID37

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USD250 will suit me just fine. I already have 2GB Ram, an Asus 939 mobo, 7900GT (OC'ed and vmodded), so really just looking to upgrade my Athlon 64 3000+ (Which I am running 100% stable at 2450mhz btw).


Get the X2 4400 from newegg.com. Its only $235 runs at stock 2.2ghz and has the 1mb L2 cache on both cores.

But can Anybody Wink and say they have Overclocked 4400X 2 running almost a 1000Mhz Overclock I don't think they can, But Quite a few Opty 165 to 175 owners have it overclocked from 1.8-2.0-2.2Ghz all the way to 2.8-3.0 to even 3.1or 3.2 at rare instances
 

x1900xtcooler

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USD250 will suit me just fine. I already have 2GB Ram, an Asus 939 mobo, 7900GT (OC'ed and vmodded), so really just looking to upgrade my Athlon 64 3000+ (Which I am running 100% stable at 2450mhz btw).


Get the X2 4400 from newegg.com. Its only $235 runs at stock 2.2ghz and has the 1mb L2 cache on both cores.

But can Anybody Wink and say they have Overclocked 4400X 2 running almost a 1000Mhz Overclock I don't think they can, But Quite a few Opty 165 to 175 owners have it overclocked from 1.8-2.0-2.2Ghz all the way to 2.8-3.0 to even 3.1or 3.2 at rare instances


Thats not really a fair comparison as the X2 4400 is already clocked 400mhz higher out of the box than the opty 165. Overclocking is not a guarenteed thing anyway but atleast with the X2 4400 he is getting decent speed out of the box vs 1.8ghz from the opty 165. The opty 175 is null because its out of his price range anyway.

Oc for Oc you can get the X2 4400 up to 2.7ghz or so on air cooling pretty easily as you dont have to push it as far as the opty. Also the higher Multiplyer in the X2 4400 is a nice added bonus over the lower 9X multiplyer in the opt 165.
 

nottheking

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Actually the X2 4400 and the X2 4800 both come with 1mb L2 cache per core. They will not be around much longer but they are both still availible on newegg.com. X2 4400 $235 and the X2 4800 $307
Hence why my key word was "current," though I obviously wasn't clear enough; AMD no longer makes the Toledo-core Atholon64 X2s, (Toledos are FX-only now) even if the aforementioned 4400+ and 4800+ are still availible for purchase at NewEgg. I apologize for any confusion I may have caused.
 

anton

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OK... this may be a stupid question... but is the Opty 165 EXACTLY the same architecture (Ie the identical chip) as the X2 with 1mb L2 cache per core??

Is it only a harsher testbed which makes it an Opty?

Will equivalently clocked Opty 165 and X2 with 1mb L2 cache per core perform identically?
 

x1900xtcooler

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OK... this may be a stupid question... but is the Opty 165 EXACTLY the same architecture (Ie the identical chip) as the X2 with 1mb L2 cache per core??

Is it only a harsher testbed which makes it an Opty?

Will equivalently clocked Opty 165 and X2 with 1mb L2 cache per core perform identically?

Im not sure about the same architecture but I know for a fact that if they are equivalently clocked they will perform exactlyt the same.
 

Boggerslosh

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Opty is definitely the best for overclocking. I just got an Opty 144 and am running it at 2.5GHz

You need to remember that overclocking may require a RAM divider. In hindsight I wish I had purchased an Athlon 939 4000+ instead since it runs at 2.4GHz stock. The extra 100MHz isn't worth it for me since I have to run my RAM at 139MHz for the Opty overclock :(

I do have 2x512MB Corsair XMS and 2x512MB Corsair Value Select so that might be holding me back...

Anyway, the Opteron is best for sure!!!