AMD Athlon 64 3200+ ClawHammer CG or C0?????

[PhoenixOfWater]

Originally posted by: Scopolamine
I just bought a 3200+ 1mb clawhammer OEM from newegg 2 days ago it was CG.

I know because it says AR at the end and when I use cpu-z it says revision CG.

Same here I order on 8/18/04 and got a CG

 

[Scopolamine]

charloscarlie,

Is this the second CG that you have tried that's a clawhammer? If that's the case, then may be there's something to this speed capping business. Or on a less sinister note, the 1MB cache makes it really hard for the clawhammer to overclock stably over 2.3GHz. The CG newcastle overclocks like a demon even at stock voltage.

Does anybody else have experience on OCing a clawhammer CG?

I can OC my 3200+ clawhammer CG to 2.4GHz but it would fail prime 95 after 10 minutes. It's not the memory because I have tried everything from the fame OCZ 3500EB to the Crucial 3200 8T single sided. But interestingly enough, the crucial is cheaper and performs better than my OCZ in benchmarks. WTF?

My current stable setup right now is 2.31GHz (230 FSB X10) with 1.60 core voltage, 2.8 vdimm, 3x HTT, 1:1 FSB:RAM (running with Crucial 3200 8T). Man, I tell you this crucial ram is great. I bought 2 sticks of crucial for $156 total when newegg had it on sale for $78 each. I got a 4 fps gain in performance in DOOM 3 over the OCZ with the exact same settings. What gives!!!! But I'm happy with crucial nevertheless.

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: Scopolamine
charloscarlie,

Is this the second CG that you have tried that's a clawhammer? If that's the case, then may be there's something to this speed capping business. Or on a less sinister note, the 1MB cache makes it really hard for the clawhammer to overclock stably over 2.3GHz. The CG newcastle overclocks like a demon even at stock voltage.

Does anybody else have experience on OCing a clawhammer CG?

I can OC my 3200+ clawhammer CG to 2.4GHz but it would fail prime 95 after 10 minutes. It's not the memory because I have tried everything from the fame OCZ 3500EB to the Crucial 3200 8T single sided. But interestingly enough, the crucial is cheaper and performs better than my OCZ in benchmarks. WTF?

My current stable setup right now is 2.31GHz (230 FSB X10) with 1.60 core voltage, 2.8 vdimm, 3x HTT, 1:1 FSB:RAM (running with Crucial 3200 8T). Man, I tell you this crucial ram is great. I bought 2 sticks of crucial for $156 total when newegg had it on sale for $78 each. I got a 4 fps gain in performance in DOOM 3 over the OCZ with the exact same settings. What gives!!!! But I'm happy with crucial nevertheless.

Yes it's my second 3200 Clawhammer....both were ordered within a few weeks of each other.

 

[fsstrike]

I have a C0 3400+. I cant OC past 2.3 on stock cooling.

 

[DoobieOnline]

Bob - I got what I ordered but was hoping for the CG revision and that's what I received. Having some trouble finding RAM that will keep up with it, though. So far I'm running 10 x 220, 1:1, 4X and hoping to get more out of it. My board only goes to 2.8V for VDIMM and I think I need 2.9V unless I find some great RAM. 2 x 512MB Ballistix PC4000 wouldn't boot stable past 200MHz with this setup, but my gig Geil Ultra PC4000 runs up to 220MHz stably in this setup. Both of them run 250MHz no problem in my P4 rig, so it's definitely a memory controller issue with the A64. I still need to run tests at 10 x 240 with the RAM set to 166 to make sure the processor is stable at 2.4GHz, though. This Thermalright SLK948U sure keeps it cool. I haven't seen it go over 47C yet under load.

doobie

 

[imported_Smithy]

I'm looking for some advice. ...

I am looking at buying a 3200+ with and Asus K8V-SE Deluxe

From reading this I gather that the 3200+ @ 2.0 w/ 1 Mb L2 ( clawhammer ) is superior to the 3200+ @ 2.2 w/ 512 L2 ( New Castle) , and I am suppose to be trying to get a CG which is the updated clawhammer core.

Am I right or is it more involved? What mobo would you recommened.

 

[InlineFive]

All Newcastles are CG? For a fact?

 

[Goi]

I thought the AX are CG steppings and the AP are C0 steppings?

 

[Scopolamine]

Just to reiterate the facts:

-All newcastle's are CG revisions.
-NOT all clawhammer's are CG. Depending on where you get your CPU's, you might get a CO clawhammer.
-Your best bet is to buy a clawhammer from Newegg. Their stock is pretty new and I got a CG clawhammer from them.
-Although, in hindsight, I would not have gotten the CG clawhammer if I knew that it wouldn't go beyond 2.3 w/o crashing in prime 95. I'd rather get the newcastle. They're much better overclockers. You are more likely to get to 2.4 at stock voltage easily.

Smithy, I would forget about the Asus and get an Epox 8KDA3J or the 8KDA3+. The 3+ has more onboard stuff on it. Epox boards are great and they overclock really well compared to other ones. I recommend not upgrading the Epox to the 7/16 bios as it has core undervoltage issue. try to get the May date bios instead. This is what I'm using and the core voltage is always at ~1.6

 

[Zebo]

So we are all looking for a chip that will have a hard time hitting 2.4 on air when almost every 2800AXBOX and 3000AXBOX does so on the stock HSF and costs almost half... does'nt sound to wise when the speed differances will not be noticable 2.4 CH vs. 2.5 NC, assuming you can even hit 2.4 with the CH. And yes I've been to many forums, from xtreme to AMD forums and all these AX NC seem to hit it. Mines at 2630 but that's not fair since I'm on water...but still...I don't understand this clawhammer fever. Most claws are hard pressed to see 2.4 unless you get a CG (AR) and even then it's no where close to guanteed.

If you gamble with a mobile or DTR you introduce a whole new set of problems I don't care to go into.

My feeling is more cache makes it harder to overclock...much like the t-bred vs bartons in the old days before superior barton steppings came along.

Anyway I would'nt toss $250 in hopes for one, I'd get a $150 retail boxed AX 2800 from pricewatch and watch a 700 mhz OC.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: Smithy
I'm looking for some advice. ...

I am looking at buying a 3200+ with and Asus K8V-SE Deluxe

From reading this I gather that the 3200+ @ 2.0 w/ 1 Mb L2 ( clawhammer ) is superior to the 3200+ @ 2.2 w/ 512 L2 ( New Castle) , and I am suppose to be trying to get a CG which is the updated clawhammer core.

Am I right or is it more involved? What mobo would you recommened.

No. Clawhammer is better but not 200 mhz better but in a couple tests which like cache. Certainly not worth the price increase or losing in other tests because it has 200mhz less speed. If you can get a good deal on that NC setup buy it... Is this an ebay deal? I sold a couple combos like this at ebay... Anyway if you overclock, you do not want that mobo because it has no locks, otherwise it's great!

 

[imported_Smithy]

Zebo, Thx for pointing me in the right direction.

This is what I gather from a day of off and on reading.

NForce3 chipset has nothing on the latest SiS except for the internet features ( which is very bennificial to me ). Both the Nvidia and the SiS performed essentially the same with the Nvidia winning a couple more benchmarks ( not significatly ).

So Nforce it is ( because of the Gb and the fw )

The latest from ASUS, the K8N-E Deluxe (NForce 3) is appearently a POS board and, from what I read, people are dissappointed in its stability.

This leaves the MSI K8N Neo Platinum, and the Epox EP-8KDA3+. The VIA K8T800 PRO (1ghz) wasnt significant from what I read. Anandtech likes Epox anyone else care to comment?


Zebo ... where was the commparasion of the 2 types of 3200+ A64s.

 

[Zebo]

Smithy are you going to overclock? If so wait for the DFI board, as I don't like any NF3 skt 754 board very much. But the Epox seems to have awesome bang for the buck... NF3 250 GB found on highend boards and it costs less than $100. Epox has niggling issues...only 2 phase power design which is not very robust and cheap ICs... I am having problems with it above 290 HTT which the dfi is reported to see 340+ w/o problems.

If you're not going to overclock heavy the best board is the sis board by asrock. way superior bus and PCI handling and is built by asus.


Here's your review, sort of, Pay attention to the http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2038

AMD Athlon 64 3200 = Full clawhammer at 2.0
vs.
AMD Athlon 64 3000 (512K clawhammer)= Old stepping newcastle at 2.0


Notice at the same speed they are practically identical in every test with the full clawhammer coming out on top, but not by any margin I'd call conclusive... add 200 more mhz for the real 3200 NC and it would win and is cheaper.

 

[LocutusX]

Originally posted by: Smithy
I'm looking for some advice. ...

I am looking at buying a 3200+ with and Asus K8V-SE Deluxe

Ewww... the K8N-E Deluxe is what you should be going for.


And no, it's not a "POS board". Just a lot of bad press from Trans-Am's review...

 

[imported_Smithy]

Well LocutusX you'd be the first I have read that would recommend the board and the first I have read to have success with it.

LocutusX

I am no longer considering the VIA chipset ( nor the VIA pro) beacause I am after the Gb features on the NF3Gb. I would also like the firewall feature since when I'm at college, I am on a very active infested network.

Zebo,

I will be OCing on air.

I found that DTI board thread but couldnt find it again. I am looking for the Lanparty UT NF3Gb board due to arrive end of August?

You've been tons of help, just wanted to say thatnks again.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

i would go for the newcastle anyday........the 1mb cache wasnt really needed on the clawhammer, and for most situations the 512kb cache will do.....plus its already clocked 200mhz faster, so in somethings it shold be faster.

 

[LocutusX]

Smithy,

There are a ton of people who have had success with the K8N-E. Look in the K8N-E thread here at Anandtech (Motherboards forum) or in the 64-bit forum over at forums.pcper.com.

The very first reviews (note that they were USER reviews; hasn't been a professional review of this board yet) were a bit disapointing; some early production problems combined with the poor first BIOS (1001). The current BIOS (1004) is excellent, and there are a number of things now that the Asus can do that very few other NF3 boards can also do - especially with regards to stability, etc.

I think you need to read up on chipsets again - the most highly-touted feature of the NF3-250gb was the integrated Gigabit ethernet which bypassed the PCI bus. NV-Firewall? LOL, that's just a gimmick. And a really badly implemented gimmick at that.

The ASRock (SiS) is a solid board for the budget/value-conscious-never-gonna-overclock. By that same token, it's pretty limited.

 

[DoobieOnline]

After trying out the 3200+ 1MB Clawhammer CG and then trying a 3000+ Newcastle CG for grins, I'd have to recommend the 3000+ simply because it's much cheaper and OC's much better. I've decided to keep the 3000+ because it hit 2.5GHz, air-cooled, 10 x 250, 4X HT, 1.525V on the Soltek SL-K8AN2E-GR. I'm using a gig of Ballistix PC4000 (had to use the 166 setting in bios) and with the 10X multiplier giving me a divider of 12 it's running at 208MHz using 2.8V. If I could find a gig of memory that would run 1:1 with only 2.8V, this would be the perfect setup.

Get yourself a Newcastle and have LOTS of fun overclocking!

doobie

 

[imported_Smithy]

Thanks I'll check it out.

Originally posted by: LocutusX

I think you need to read up on chipsets again - the most highly-touted feature of the NF3-250gb was the integrated Gigabit ethernet which bypassed the PCI bus. NV-Firewall? LOL, that's just a gimmick. And a really badly implemented gimmick at that.

I've already stated this but thanks for reiterating. Also, I will be OCing so the SiS is out.

 

[Mustanggb659]

Glad to know how to tell the newcastles any idea what the product ID for the CG Clawhammer would be or how I can find this info?

 

[DoobieOnline]

Check out The Digerati.

doobie

 

[whitelight]

^ for the digerati link. great resource.

 

[TonyBob]

I just bought me an A64 3200+ CG from newegg.com as well. I got me an Asus K8v SE Deluxe for a motherboard *yea I know that MB is having overclock problem atm, but thats not my problem, read on*. Anyway, I got me a nice heatsink designed for A64s from newegg as well. Yet, im not getting CPU contact with the heatsink. Could somoene tell me how to correct this? What would I have to buy etc.

That is granted, Asus can help me with my "System Failed CPU Test" error. Thats when i noticed the heatsink wasn't making much contact. Do you think that could be causing the error? Again, How can i get contact...is there a smaller heatsink I would have to get or something?

Anyway, thanks for reading. Links would be appreciated if you suggest something for me to buy.

Thanks.