FX-60 vs X2 5000+++ (Including mobo/ram purchasing)?

[solarus]

Alright, so I have been running the same OC'ed Winnie 939 3000+ and evga 6800GT now for a few years. I am a Linux gamer now, so I really just stick to my Quake 4 and Unreal type games, but now that Enemy Quake Wars and Unreal Tourney 3 (or w/e) are on the cusp of release, I feel responsible for ensuring the survival of my favorite hobby

I have just bought an eVGA 8800GTS and I couldn't be happier with the performance boost, but If i want to use that graphics card to it's maximum possible with my current system, I can't have music playing or anything really because song loading and other hard drive access causes the game to hiccup, so I feel it's time to turn this old chip into a file server and finally upgrade to a beautiful performance AMD dual core. I am very happy with the ram and motherboard I have now and want to continue using them without the burden of switching to yet another socket type yet. But, that said I am trying to decide between swapping out all my RAM, mobo, everything to go with an AM2-socket chip (X2 5000+ or higher) or the AthlonFX 60, which is the best available chip for 939 and essentually 2 FX-55's. I think I am going to get the FX60 unless somebody thinks I should switch to AM2 and DDR2. My buddy just made the switch and got the 5000+, but the FX60 is pretty even with it in every benchmark. You also have to consider I am getting a Flagship chip with the FX and a mid-range and generic-core chip with the 5000+++

Thanks for input!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I'm new, HOWDY!

 

[akahuddy]

Welcome to the forums! If you want a top of the line 939 dualie go for an Opty 185. It's a higher binned FX60 basically.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103002

or the highly OC'able 170:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103586

You'll notice a difference.

 

[Craxbax]

I did roughly the same thing a while ago and have the FX 60 mildly OC with the 8800 GTS (640). No complaints and it is a very competitive setup for gaming at present. I think given your situation it is more a matter of availability and price that should determine your decision. If your staying with a 939 then a 4400 - 4800 x2 can be easily approximate the FX60 in real world and gaming performance with little effort OCing. Depending on your cooling RAM/MB and skill you might even get a 3800x2 there. Upgrading to AM2 means cpu/MB/RAM upgrade. So at a certain $ threshold you will find a C2D upgrade may be the way to proceed.

 

[solarus]

Welcome to the forums! If you want a top of the line 939 dualie go for an Opty 185. It's a higher binned FX60 basically.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103002

or the highly OC'able 170:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103586

You'll notice a difference.

Would you say that performance in gaming is equivilent between the two, or how do they stack up against each other in the arena (Fx60, Opteron185, 5000+, 5200+)?

I'm having a hard time finding benchmarking comparisons between these chips.


EDIT: I did a little of poking around on these forums and found an identical question to mine. I think I am going in for the Opteron185 due to it's savings over the impossible-to-find FX60. I am still curious though how the Opty stacks up to other popular chips on the AM2 systems at this point around the 5XXX+ level

ALSO, for the foreseeable future I won't really be over clocking the Opty OR FX until the speed of my CPU becomes a problem for me in-game. Any upgrade at this point is going to be a severe performance increase over my 3000+ OC, and I hope to maximize the life of any chip I buy. That said, I will OC like mad when the time is right. My 3000+ is from stock 1.8 to 2.2 under air cooling right now.

 

[Craxbax]

Some say the opty is a little faster and some say th FX 60. Depending on stepping the Opty may or may not OC as well but I think it has a slightly lower voltage. The AM2 will be slightly faster as they use faster RAM. The Brisbanes tend to be a little slower than the Windsor chips. they are all pretty fast and you will notice improvement. Just consider the cost of buying a MB and additional RAM in your figuring. The Optys sound like a good option for now.

 

[Craxbax]

BTW, Tom's CPU charts have the FX60 and 5000+ listed for comparison.

 

[solarus]

yeah, i've looked at those comparisons, I would just love to see some Opty competitive comparisons made to some existing AMD best-sellers and best-products. I have oficially decided on the Opty, as I purchased it from Newegg this morning. Thanks for the help, guys, I would have made an overly-expensive choice had I not come here first. I am happy I made an account here and look forward to becoming a voice of "Linux and Reason" within the community!

 

[Craxbax]

Good choice! I doubt you will be disappointed.

 

[deceneu]

FX 60 is crap

 

[akahuddy]

FX 60 is crap

FX60's aren't crap... they're merely overpriced.

You will be very glad to have the 185. It is a nice chip!