Opteron for gaming?

[pdxgamer1]

I resently had a post asking how I should handle an upgrade for my socket 940 GAMING system. Here's the stats:
450Watts
ASUS SK8V Mobo
Opteron 140
1GIG Corsair XMS
Geforce FX5600 256MB

I'm currently planning on upgrading the video card first. Deciding between putting all my money in a 6800 or 6800GT, or splitting my money between an ATI 9800Pro and a faster Opteron chip.

One question I have is why the Opterons arent even covered in the CPU buyers guide. When I suggested Ebaying off my socket 940 hardware and going 939, I was told to just keep my socket 940 hardware and go with a faster Opteron chip because they were high quality chips, but they arent even mentioned in the buyer guide. Is there anything I'm missing here?

 

[ChipDeath]

[EDIT]
Talking crap. ignore this one!
[/EDIT]

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Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ChipDeath on 10/06/04 04:38 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[ChipDeath]

oops, sorry... Mis-read and went off at a tangent there :redface: . disregard that post.

I would just get the better Vid card, it'd make more of a difference.

A replacement Opteron would cost a similar amount to buying a 939 mobo and an equivalent A64 (I'll check that, it's a bit of a guess)... For a gaming rig I'd rather have a 939 Mobo, mostly because they'll be kinder to overclockers like me

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[ChipDeath]

hmm.. looking at it, it would cost more to go for the 939 Solution, as the slowest/cheapest currently available (at newegg, anyway) is the 3500+ 2.2Ghz Chip ($319), and a <i>roughly</i> equivalent Opteron, the 146, is $292. It won't quite perform as well as the 3500+ though. (2.0Ghz with 1Mb L2 cache (opteron) Vs. 2.2Ghz with 512Kb L2).

However, if you consider moving to a Socket 754 System, you could get a good gaming system for less - there is virtually no performance difference between 754 and 939.

In terms of 'quality' there is no difference between the Opteron and the 'Clawhammer' core A64 chips really.

They will allegedly soon release some lower speed chips for the 939 platform, so it might be worth waiting a couple of months.

If I were you right now, I'd get the 6800GT and leave the rest for a little while to see what happens, as your Graphics card is currently the largest bottleneck for new games IMO.

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[DonnieDarko]

Well his gfx card maybe a big bottleneck, but so is his cpu. the 140 only runs at 1.4ghz. Which is probably comparable to an xp2200+. So I would try to go for an x700xt or 6600gt and get an opteron 146. That would be a 500$ upgrade, comparable to buying a 6800ultra or x800xt, and would probably yeild better proformance all around.

Watch out for the <b><font color=red>bloody</font color=red></b> Fanboys!

AMD64 2800+ :: MSI Neo-Fis2r :: 1024mb Kingmax ddr400 :: Sapphire 9800pro 128mb :: 10K WD Raptor

Addicted, finally.

 

[TheRod]

You should change your GPU first! The FX5600 is not a good 3d card for today's gaming. If you can affor the 6800GT, it's a very good choice. Of course, ATI X800 PRO is good too, but the 6800GT is SM3.0 ready, the X800 series is not!

Your CPU will then become you bottleneck, if you can afford a faster Opteron, get one! The Opteron 146 and the Athlon 64 3400+ are tagged at the same price, but the Opteron is 200MHz but have a bigger cache. In many apps a fester CPU is better than more cache. The Opteron 146 is probably a bit slower overall copared to the Athlon 64 3400+.

--
A7N8X / <font color=green><b>AMD Sempron 2800+</b></font color=green> <-- <i>Is this affecting my credibility???</i>
Kingston DDR333 2x256Megs
<font color=red>Radeon 8500 128Megs</font color=red> @ C:275/M:290

 

[pdxgamer1]

hmm...well, im not sure I'm going to be able to spring for the 6800 GT, its kinda pricey. I may have to go with an ATI 9800Pro, but if that is around $200, for $80 more i can probably get a regular NV 6800...im torn...

Also, Opteron is my only affordable choice for Socket 940 right? The Athlon 64 3400+ isnt 940 is it?

 

[endyen]

The A64 3400 is s754, not even close to 940.
From what I've seen, the 9800pro is better than the 6800nu. Hype seems to be pushing nvidia's new cards, more than actual performance. Sure Doom3 does great on Nvidia, but they were made for each other. Your best bet would be to ask in the graphics forum, they know better.

 

[raretech]

One question I have is why the Opterons arent even covered in the CPU buyers guide.

I suspect because they are targeted more towards the workstation and server markets. I haven't checked if they cover the Xeons, but if they have, then I don't know why they haven't covered the Opterons.

When I suggested Ebaying off my socket 940 hardware and going 939, I was told to just keep my socket 940 hardware and go with a faster Opteron chip because they were high quality chips, but they arent even mentioned in the buyer guide. Is there anything I'm missing here?

The Opterons are high quality chips. Because they are targeted towards Workstations and Servers, you can bet AMD wants those chips to be reliable. While a gamer can go a few days with a chip failure without losing money, if a server or workstation goes down because of chip failure, it costs people money. AMD can't risk that for their reputations sake.

The main reason I said you were better off going with Opteron, was because you mentioned you wanted an FX chip.

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