S939 Final Upgrade to Opty165?

[johnjk]

Hey all,

So here are the vital stats on my machine.

I have a max HTT of 325. I have a max HT Link of 1060. Both have been tested for 8 hours with prime95.

I can get my RAM to a max of 235MHz (480MHz) at 2.5-3-3-7, stable for 8 hours on memtest.

Here is my question. Should I install an opteron 165 or try for the 175?

Am I crazy for thinking that the 2925 (9 x 325) max of the opty 165 is too low?

I know the low multi on the Opty165 will inhibit my ram and HT Link overclock, but is this going to make a big difference?

Will I see a performance boost in gaming over my X64 4000+ @ 2.84?

I currently have a Zalman CPS9500 installed. I am hoping this can last me until summer or christmas of 08. I am a light gamer of strategy and RTS titles. I play civ4, rise of legends, and company of heroes, and am looking forward to C&C3 and Worold in Conflict (hopefully they don't suck). I am in grad school right now and on a tight budget so this is all I can spare except money for a graphics card upgrade this summer.

Also my sister said she would by me anything off newegg that didn't more than cost $200 bucks and I said I want a raptor. Is that worth it or a waste given my setup?

Thanks, I know there are a ton of questions. Trying to figure this out as my Opty 165 arrives on Wednesday and I'd like to know if I should RMA it or not.

 

[johnjk]

Come'on guys, 122 views and not a single response.

Here is some more info, top row is opty 165 and bottom is opty 175:

If the chips can both reach 3.0 GHz:

HTT / CPU / Memory / Hypertransport
325 / 9 x 325 = 2925 / 2:3, 133, DDR266 = 208.92 (DDR418) / 3 x 325 = 975
285 / 10.5 x 285 = 2992.5 / 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 230.19 (DDR460) / 3 x 285 = 855

If the chip can both reach 2.9GHz:

HTT / CPU / Memory / Hypertransport
322 / 9 x 322 = 2898 / 2:3, 133, DDR266 = 207 (DDR414) / 3 x 322 = 966
276 / 10.5 x 276 = 2898 / 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 222.92 (DDR446) / 3 x 276 = 828

Given this, what are your thoughts?

 

[ZozZoz]

well i suppose dual core is better than single (provided games are optimized for it), but even your old processor can load a very good videocard well.

 

[chenBrazil]

I testes my opty 165 and it can runs stable only at 2915, but I choose to be more conservative as performance at this level were not valuable enough to use my tuniq 120 at maximum speed and noise...
Some opty 175 can cross 3.1 frontier according some reports ... but maybe a better VGA as 8800 GTS would be more valuable than spending extra 100 on an opty 175 over opty 165....

 

[johnjk]

It seems to me there will be at least a small benefit in gaming from going to the opty165 @2.9 vs the AMD64 4000+ @ 2.8, and will give me more time before I need to upgrade. Am I wrong about this?

Am I just tossing $150 down the drain?

I know a new vid card will help a ton and I plan to buy one this summer. I am hoping to get a new DX10 card if they have dropped enough otherwise I'll go with the x1950xtx and use that for asymetric physics if need be later on.

If I don't get the raptor from my sister for christmas, I need to figure out something else under $200 that she can buy me. Money or a gift card doesn't count. Any ideas?

 

[ZozZoz]

Perhaps more ram for your opteron-based computer?

 

[johnjk]

That is a great thought, I never thought of ram. However, I am hoping not to invest a lot of money into something that I can not take to the next system. I know that may seem cheap, but I don't have a ton of money while in grad school.

 

[PizzaFTW]

HTT / CPU / Memory / Hypertransport
325 / 9 x 325 = 2925 / 2:3, 133, DDR266 = 208.92 (DDR418) / 3 x 325 = 975
285 / 10.5 x 285 = 2992.5 / 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 230.19 (DDR460) / 3 x 285 = 855

If the chip can both reach 2.9GHz:

HTT / CPU / Memory / Hypertransport
322 / 9 x 322 = 2898 / 2:3, 133, DDR266 = 207 (DDR414) / 3 x 322 = 966
276 / 10.5 x 276 = 2898 / 5:6, 166, DDR333 = 222.92 (DDR446) / 3 x 276 = 828

Given this, what are your thoughts?

Usually, opteron 165's do not like dividers less than 150 (3:4). Mine will not boot past 2.4ghz on a 133 divider. I know of people on other forums that have experienced the same issue with their opterons.

 

[johnjk]

Really, that is very concerning as that would seriously limit my overclock. I have not read this anywhere. Do you have any links?

If that is the case, with my ram's max speed, it seems that I definately need to go with the opty 175. Would that be your opinion as well?

Please respond as quick as possible as the 165 just arrived. I'm not sure is newegg will allow you to return for refund if opened.

 

[PizzaFTW]

Sorry, pal. The other people I saw that had the same issue were at DFI-Street. DFI-Street is down right now, so I don't know if I can give you any links. I'll look for some. I think newegg will allow you to return an opened item, but I'm not 100% sure. Lemme check..

 

[johnjk]

Can any one else confirm this?

The opty just arrived and I have a CCBBE 0616XPMW.

I am hoping I can get a great overclock on this, but if I am limited to RAM divider of 166 (since my mobo does not have a 150 divider), then I think I should send it back.

Any thoughts?

 

[johnjk]

I actually found a post online about the opteron 165 having problems with the 166 divider. Any thoughts?

Also from neweggs website, "Buyers requesting a refund may have to pay a 15% restocking fee." What does "may" mean?

Anyone have any experience with newegg in returning a cpu that doesn't "work well" or "crashes and sometimes fails to boot for some wierd reason"?

 

[PizzaFTW]

Hmm, I haven't been able to find much information on it. In my case, and the other cases that I saw, the problem could've been caused by the picky DFI boards. Here's an example:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:62wjK-mCSYAJ:dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D62679%26page%3D2+opteron+165+divider+site:dfi-street.com+picky&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=30
(You have to click on the cancel button a bunch of times in order to get the pop-up to go away. It's not a virus pop-up or anything like that.)

I have seen some cases where people have achieved successful overclocks with opterons on 133 dividers, usually with loose memory timings.

Looks like newegg allows returns after 7 days, so my advice to you would be to do some research. I could be wrong about the entire divider issue. I hope that I am, and that somebody with more knowledge will correct me.

Edit: Also, check to see if there are BIOS updates for you motherboard that would allow you to set the divider to 150.

 

[DD_Jay_AZ]

I actually found a post online about the opteron 165 having problems with the 166 divider. Any thoughts?

Also from neweggs website, "Buyers requesting a refund may have to pay a 15% restocking fee." What does "may" mean?

Anyone have any experience with newegg in returning a cpu that doesn't "work well" or "crashes and sometimes fails to boot for some wierd reason"?

If you return it because of an improper listing, the fee is waived.
If you return it because of a product defect, the fee is usually waived.
If you return it because you don't like the product.. probably 50/50

If you return it because you screwed up somehow, you pay the 15%