Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > CPUs > AMD Opteron 170 vs AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

AMD Opteron 170 vs AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - AMD Opteron 170 vs AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+

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tehlexinator   09-26-2007 at 12:32:17 AM

Hi guys,

A friend still has a socket 939 mobo and does not want to upgrade untill the X48's come out...

So he wants to buy a CPU.
Which one would be a better buy? He can get the 170 for about 20 bucks more then the 4200+ so the price does not matter to him.

He is pretty much a gamer, so that is all he plans on doing with the system. He is getting it to get a boost in WoW FPS. His current CPU is the 3500+ and it gets hit pretty bad when he is in a large raid and running some plugins.

Which one would you suggest for gaming? The mobo he is using is the GA-K8NXP-SLI.

I told him to just get the cheaper one (4200+) since its clocked higher... But it does have less cache.
Thoughts?

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justinmcg67   09-26-2007 at 01:06:35 AM
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I just bought the X2 4200+ yesterday. I chose it over the Opteron 165 and 3800+, so, I'd say get the 4200+. :)

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tehlexinator   09-26-2007 at 01:11:04 AM
- 0 +

But why did you choose it over the Opteron 165?

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ethel   09-26-2007 at 01:18:25 AM
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Out of the box they are very similar in performance - the 170 has lower clock speed but more cache.

It's all about your position vis-a-vis overclocking. If you intend to overclock, get the 170 - it's a much better bet.

Reply to ethel
tehlexinator   09-26-2007 at 01:46:08 AM
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What if he doesn't intend to OC, or only OC very slightly.
I know the XP 4200+ should run cooler (only 512 vs 1mb right?)

He is anal about OCing If we OC it will be a very small OC.

Thanks for the responses guys, keep them coming.

Reply to tehlexinator
Gravemind123   09-26-2007 at 02:16:38 AM
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A 4200+ should be good for a small overclock no matter what, but the Opterons are overclocking beasts. The L2 Cache difference depends on the apps you are going to be using it for, but is going to overall be relatively small.

Reply to Gravemind123
nrn9520   09-26-2007 at 02:30:47 AM
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I agree with ethel. The Opteron 170 is definitely a good overclocker.

I have a 170 running @2.8GHz on air with stock Vcore.

Reply to nrn9520
reynod   09-26-2007 at 05:37:00 PM
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I like the 4400+ or 4800+ ... the extra cache is a plus.

The 4400 (2.2Ghz) runs well at 4800 speed (2.4Ghz) (220 FSB and std voltage here with top cooling).

Hard to find an FX 60 .. .which is the fastest (2.6Ghz and EXPENSIVE) but who wants to pay triple for 200Mhz.

Teh Opty's are also better silicon as they have been rigorously tested ...

If you don't plan to OC the chip much then look for a 170 - 185 ... in that range.

Post something when you have it up and running !!

Have fun :)

------------------------------ Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds

 

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ethel   09-30-2007 at 01:41:21 PM
- 0 +

If you're not going to overclock then get the cheaper one, as they have similar performance.

Reply to ethel
double_helix   09-30-2007 at 03:33:34 PM
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Bought a Opteron 180 and was able to go from 2.4Ghz up to 3.0Ghz w/o any problems using some OCZ Platinum memory... which now runs at 250Mhz (DDR500)

Reply to double_helix
justinmcg67   09-30-2007 at 04:31:43 PM
- 0 +

I have been messing aroudn with my X2 4200+ and I got it to overclock to 2.64GHz very easily. I just looked at an Anandtech article on the CPU and used the voltage they used and what not, and no problems at all.

One issue is that the 4200+ will not come with a Heat Sink and Fan, the Opteron 170 will. So if he doesn't want to buy a new HSF, than get the Opteron. Either way he'll get a performance boost. ALSO!!! Make sure you download the Dual Core Optimizer. Very important.

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