x2 4600 vs FX-57 Keeping my 939 alive.....

[Thanatos421]

Currently running 3800+ San Diego 2.2.

What would be more cost effective? I get decent frames in BF2142 already, but when I turn on Fraps, I drop to single digit frames. Will a dual core help that at all? Will I really only see a 200mhz jump in performance with the x2? Is the FX chip worth the extra cash?

I can get the x2 for 200 bucks, or the FX-57 for 300. If you were trying to squeeze the last drops of performance out of the 939 chipset until the Intel 40nm chips come out......what would you do?

 

[dasickninja]

FX-57's are single core. No use going backwards.

 

[Tostino]

Are you up for some over clocking?

If the answer is "yes" I would suggest getting a Opteron 165/170.
With "okay" cooling, and a good mobo there is no reason you can't hit 2.7/2.9 with either of them.

A dual core will help big time when playing a game and using FRAPS at the same time, go for the dual.

If you don't want to over clock just get the x2 since they are clocked higher stock for the price you pay.

 

[ajfink]

FX-57's are single core. No use going backwards.

I think he's actually in error. He either has a single core 3800+ Venice core or a 3700+ San Diego core. But it is a single core processor.

 

[kona]

2142 is multi threaded so it will help to get a dual core but I would not waste my money on the Fx-59 (57 is not dual core 59 is) . Like the other guy said, get the opty 165/170 and if its still not satisfactory then overclock it a bit. I would say however that XP even with the multi thread patches is not really all that good at multi threading and you should at least try to run it on Vista when the next drivers come out soon. What vid card are you running BTW? That might be a bigger bottleneck than the CPU...just a thought.

 

[m25]

Currently running 3800+ San Diego 2.2.

What would be more cost effective? I get decent frames in BF2142 already, but when I turn on Fraps, I drop to single digit frames. Will a dual core help that at all? Will I really only see a 200mhz jump in performance with the x2? Is the FX chip worth the extra cash?

I can get the x2 for 200 bucks, or the FX-57 for 300. If you were trying to squeeze the last drops of performance out of the 939 chipset until the Intel 40nm chips come out......what would you do?

There's a X2 3800+ on ewiz for $114:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=A64-3800BV

 

[Thanatos421]

It is a San Diego 3700+ sorry.....

As for video card, it's an x850 xl. Stuck with AGP for the moment.

Full system specs....

Asus A8V
AMD 3700+ San Diego 2.2Ghz
2G Corsair XMS DDR400
2x WD Raptor 36G RAID 0
Thermaltake 650w PS
ATI X850 XL AGP 256MB

My frames playing BF are fine until I try to start Fraps. Of course, I knew this would deliver a performance hit, but I had no idea the game would become unplayable.

I'm also noticing the AMD Opteron 185 Denmark 2.6GHz. Wondering why that wasn't mentioned as a possibility. This seems like the best choice. I was willing to spend 300 bucks anyway.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103002&ATT=19-103-002&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch

 

[Tostino]

Because you don't need to spend that much...

Pretty much all AMD cpus have the same clock ceiling (won't easily go over 3.0-3.1 without extreme cooling), so if you are going to over clock at all, it's worth it to go for the cheaper one, because if you can spend 155$ on a 165, and over clock it by 1.2 ghz to 3.0, or spend 300+ on a 185 and over clock it 400 mhz to 3.0.
You will get the same performance either way.

 

[dasickninja]

Like I said, the FX 57 is single core. I'd not recommend getting one over an X2

 

[dj_taboo]

I had this same dilemma a few months ago. I have a socket 939 rig and it used to have a 3800 venice. I had the $$ for a major upgrade and decided to increace its longevity with an upgrade to an X2 processor. This was right before the Egg ran out of the 4600, i think i got one the day before they were gone. I realized it wasn't a major clock increase, but i was certainly able to multitask much easier. Too bad so sad, at the time the 4800 was sold out everywhere and the Fx60 was just out of reach. I'm still satisfied with my 4600 though. It was near top of the line last year (that doesn't say much today). Cross your fingers for an AGP Dx10 card.

 

[gOJDO]

Get an Opteron 170 and overclock it to 2.8GHz. If you don't want to OC then get a X2 4200+. You can waste more money, but you'll not notice any difference in performance at all.

 

[Thanatos421]

Just ordered the 170. Thanks for the tips guys. Hope I get a good stepping!

 

[Tostino]

Glad you listened. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Thanatos421]

These are supposed to be able to be OC'd using stock voltage right? I have a Cooler Master aftermarket CPU cooler, which has done wonders for the 3700+, should be sufficient. I just hate toying with voltages. I've never really tried overclocking (at least not by a few mhz on the FSB just to see what would happen).

Should I be able to hit 2.9/3.0 with the 170 with defaut core voltage? I really would like to try it with this chip since a) it's an interim solution and b) I have a backup if I fry the sucker.

 

[Tostino]

You won't get that high on stock. Most people can get to 2.5/2.6 on stock, above that and you will need to start raising voltages.

You won't fry it unless you go WAY too far with the volts.
Just don't go above 1.50/1.55 and you'll be good.

 

[trinitron64]

lol... replacing a San Diego 3700+ with a San Diego FX57 would be silly

 

[Eviltwin17]

you should consider overclocking... im not going to explain it here but there are some great guides on it all over the internet just do a google search.

Don't downgrade to the fx-57, games are moving to multithreaded gaming so a dual core would be best to keep you going for a while

just as a teaser many people have easily gotten the x2 3800 from 2.0 ghz to 2.6-2.8ghz overclocking, that performance increase makes a huge difference

 

[m25]

you should consider overclocking... im not going to explain it here but there are some great guides on it all over the internet just do a google search.

Don't downgrade to the fx-57, games are moving to multithreaded gaming so a dual core would be best to keep you going for a while

just as a teaser many people have easily gotten the x2 3800 from 2.0 ghz to 2.6-2.8ghz overclocking, that performance increase makes a huge difference

Damn right and Opty 170s like the one he ordered are the perfect ticket for making 2.8GHz, stock voltage on a S939.

 

[PSYCHoHoLiC]

2142 is multi threaded so it will help to get a dual core but I would not waste my money on the Fx-59 (57 is not dual core 59 is) . Like the other guy said, get the opty 165/170 and if its still not satisfactory then overclock it a bit. I would say however that XP even with the multi thread patches is not really all that good at multi threading and you should at least try to run it on Vista when the next drivers come out soon. What vid card are you running BTW? That might be a bigger bottleneck than the CPU...just a thought.

There's no such beast as an FX-59, if there is.. it totally slipped past me somewhere.

I think you're thinking about the FX-60.

 

[gOJDO]

You've made the best choice. I don't believe that you'll be able to hit 2.6GHz+ stable without touching the vCore. But I am sure that it'll run stable 24/7 @ 2.8Ghz(maybe more if you are lucky) with 1.5v.

good luck

 

[Thanatos421]

OK, I got the Opty in and running at 2.73Ghz right now. I stopped there because I'm seeing some high temps from Fanspeed and Core Temp.
I have read that these are not reliable temprature gagues tho...can anyone confirm?

Running two instances of Prime 95, one on each core, the core temp has spiked as high as 70c, but seemed to hover around 65c for the majority of the 30 mins that I ran it. Core voltage is at 1.45

Also, SpeedFan shows my core voltage fluctuating....between 1.41 and 1.49(During Prime 95 stress test, at idle it sits at 1.45 pretty consistantly, still .01 fluctuations). Isn't core voltage supposed to be constant?

On a side note, CPU-z also reports clock speed fluctuations +/- .02 Mhz. Strange? I have no idea what I'm really looking at Never OC'd b4, so I never really checked out CPU-z or speedfan before this point. So I'm not sure what "normal" is.

Idle temp is....between 29 and 31c.

CPU-Z reports 13 x 210, 1050 HT. Is that voltage high for the clock right now?

Honestly, being totally noob here..... What is a good max load temp to expect for this chip?

If you need any other info, let me know. OH YEAH....I should probably mention this. I used the AI overclocking feature of my Asus board for this first part. I wasn't sure what to raise. Could that be contributing to the variance in voltages and clock speed? Should I take note of thsee settings and duplicate them manually?

Thanks again!

 

[Thanatos421]

Bump for a response on temps??

 

[rodney_ws]

FX-57's are single core. No use going backwards.

His current CPU is also a single core processor... so he wouldn't be going backwards... more of a lateral with the FX-57.

Still... it's 2007 and you'd be crazy to buy a single core processor at this point.

 

[Thanatos421]

The debate over what CPU to get is over....need response on thermals!!!

 

[dj_taboo]

Running two instances of Prime 95, one on each core, the core temp has spiked as high as 70c, but seemed to hover around 65c for the majority of the 30 mins that I ran it.

Thats getting pretty toasty.
Are you using the stock cooler with that OC?