A tale of four AMD CPUs

[Zap]

I had the pleasure of playing around with a few motherboards and CPUs today, both socket 939 and AM2. These are probably the last CPUs I buy for a while - next will be a C2D probably second quarter.

Socket 939
DFI LANPARTY Expert mobo
Geil 2x512MB CAS2 DDR 400

Socket AM2
Abit NF-M2 Nview mobo
Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800

CPU #1 socket 939 FX-55 maxed out around 2.8GHz

CPU #2 socket 939 FX-55 maxed out around 2.9GHz

CPU #3 socket 939 4000+ maxed around 3.18GHz

CPU #4 socket AM2 Sempron 2800+ maxed out around 2.9GHz :shocked:

#4 was the real shocker. Previously I had gotten it to 2.6GHz on a different board/RAM setup. Switching mobo/RAM and I'm pushing 2.88GHz. That's a 1.28GHz overclock from stock 1.6GHz!!! Not bad for a CPU that I bought for $36.

I'm looking forward to an E4300 or E4400 now.

 

[jgigz]

Nice OC on #3

 

[Duvie]

Were those all prime stable or just windows stable to do some benches? that #3 looks awesome...too bad they are all single cores...Dual core AMDs are another beast...

 

[the Chase]

What are your thoughts on the Expert motherboard? Good, great, or?

 

[n7]

Nice results with the 4000+

It's too bad AMD couldn't get the A64 architechture to ramp better, as it was fun for so long.

Just doesn't compare to C2D at all now though.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Zap
Socket 939
DFI LANPARTY Expert mobo
Geil 2x512MB CAS2 DDR 400

CPU #3 socket 939 4000+ maxed around 3.18GHz

You're seriously making me want to open my unopened 4000 that I bought a few months ago, and see what it will do in my Ultra-D.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Nice OCs! You gonna post a quickie review/impression on the NF-M2 Nview in the motherboard forum? Just curious.

oh, and where'd you get an AM2 Sempr0n for $36?

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Were those all prime stable or just windows stable to do some benches?

On the Sempron I used Ultimate Windows Boot CD and ran Prime torture test. Strangely it would not boot from my UBCD 3.4 disc even at completely default speeds. Normally I run UBCD and go into one of the CPU stress tests. Prime is on there, but doesn't seem to do anything. On UBCD 3.3 Prime would print line after line of results, but on 3.4 it just sits there forever. Note that these aren't 24 hour stability runs or anything like that. What I usually do is about a 30 minute run during the quick overclocking phase, then after I find a comfortable speed, run it for several hours.

I don't think I've run any stability test for 24 hours, probably because I shut computers off when I'm done using them.

Also, these days I don't run on the bleeding edge of overclocks. I've found that often a CPU can go up in clocks w/o voltage for a while, then needs a slight bump, then another slight bump... then suddenly to get another few MHz it will need a LOT more voltage. I find where that point is, and then settle on an overclock a bit below that.

Originally posted by: the Chase
What are your thoughts on the Expert motherboard? Good, great, or?

Decent. I just got it Wednesday so haven't "lived" with it. Being that it was essentially $100 after the combo discount, I feel that it was a great value. I just wish it had some kind of passive cooling, so that it'd be a shoe-in for my quiet main rig.

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
where'd you get an AM2 Sempr0n for $36?

It was posted on Hot Deals sometime over summer. Some shop around San Francisco or something, selling these for $35.95 plus shipping for a whole week. I snagged two, for a shipped cost of $41 each. Since then both Club IT and Newegg have briefly had this chip for about the same shipped price.

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
Nice OCs! You gonna post a quickie review/impression on the NF-M2 Nview in the motherboard forum? Just curious.

I was thinking about it, but don't feel like it right now. Right now all I feel like doing is drink something warm and soothing, blow my nose again, and crawl back into bed. Hanging out in the cold garage isn't helping either. Still, not too bad... bundled up to stay warm, set an overclock, get the CPU test going, post on forums and zone out, check stress test results, repeat.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Ah yeah, people everywhere around here seem to be getting the sniffles with the wild temperature shifts we're getting. At least you have the comfort of nice, warm, toasty OCed CPUs to keep you company.

We can all wait patiently for any NF-M2 Nview reviews, especially considering how Brisbane has turned out to be a let-down (for now).

Which 2800+ did you get, btw? I've identified two different procs, one listed as a 1.25-1.40v vcore part with 128k l2 cache and one 1.20-1.25v part with 256k l2 cache. Links:

http://www.shentech.com/amdsda2800cnboxdh.html <-- 256k l2, 1.20/1.25v

http://www.vlp.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1432 128k l2, 1.40v

I'd kinda like to test one of the lower-voltage 256k parts unless that's what you've already tested yourself.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
Which 2800+ did you get, btw? I've identified two different procs, one listed as a 1.25-1.40v vcore part with 128k l2 cache and one 1.20-1.25v part with 256k l2 cache. Links:

http://www.shentech.com/amdsda2800cnboxdh.html <-- 256k l2, 1.20/1.25v

http://www.vlp.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1432 128k l2, 1.40v

Shentech's CPU is not a 2800+. There must be a typo at their site. AMD identifies it as a 3000+ and there are two variants, 62W and 35W.

The 2800+ is only available as a 62W chip. Now, don't let that make you think it can burn 62W. IIRC how they "rate" the wattage is the highest chip on a certain process at the same voltage, meaning if you overclocked to 2.2GHz w/o raising voltage, you can hit 62W at 100% CPU usage. That 2.2GHz is the highest speed Semprons with same wattage.

Alternately, don't overclock and drop the voltage to match the 35W chip, and you will essentially have a 35W chip.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Hmm interesting. Several sites have the 3000+ mislabeled as a 2800+. Thanks.

 

[Zap]

Who knows? Perhaps AMD renamed them? I know that for a while AMD didn't list the 2800+. Also, AMD doesn't list some OEM only chips, such as the socket 939 Semprons, though those chips certainly do exist.

 

[DrMrLordX]

yeah . . . one of the sites advertising the 256k l2 cache 2800+ had it listed in their server CPU section. In fact, I think that was Shen Tech. However, with the low listed vcore, I'm pretty sure it's an EE part either way, i.e. likely not a great overclocker.