AMD Processors not supporting DD2, and Memory question

[Griffin1373]

I'm looking to purchase an AMD 64 X2 3800 Manchester core; however I've heard that AMD doesn't support DDR2. Is that true? I hear 6 one way and 6 the other, so I'm just trying to get some clearing up before I purchase. I see a lot of people's rigs and they do run it.

Also, what's the difference between the 3800 and the 4200 in terms of overclocking?

I also want to go for the fastest memory possible. I was looking at the Corsair 3200 XMS 2Gig matched pair, with the lowest latency possible. I'm going to run the Asus A8N-SLI mobo so I know it can support dual channel.

I'm not a computer expert, so I'm looking for suggestions and can use as much information as possible, as well as suggestions on fast low latency memory that would work with AMD.

Thanks again!

 

[SunnyD]

Current AMD processors in the Socket A, Socket 754, Socket 939 and Socket 940 flavors do not support DDR2.

AMD Processors for Socket AM2 do support DDR2.

Right now, there is no difference in performance to justify DDR2 over DDR.

 

[Noubourne]

Right. AMD does support DDR2, just not all AMD chips. The difference between the X2 3800 and the X2 4200 in overclocking is that neither is as good a deal as a Socket 939 Opty 165, which uses the same kind of motherboard as the two processors you're looking at: Socket 939. More specifically, the 3800 and 4200 both have the same overclocking potential, only the 4200 will cost you more. If you really do plan to overclock, it's just plain silly to get the 4200 over the 3800. You MIGHT be able to argue that the 4400 would be a better option because it has more cache, but the 3800 and 4200 both have the same cache, so buying a 4200 to overclock is just a waste of cash. Now if you tried to argue the 4400 was a better option because of having more cache, then you're back to the Opteron 165 which costs only $50 more than the 3800, and has the same amount of cache as the 4400.

Bottom line; for a DDR1 Athlon 64 overclocking rig, the ONLY dual core option is the Opteron 165. Anything other than that, for overclocking purposes, is a waste of cash, and anything less (ie: the 3800) is a waste of cache. It's $50 for double the L2 cache; there's really no decision to make.

I use OCZ PC3200 EL Plat. Revision 2 for my setup. It's regular DDR, not DDR2 (Socket 939 chips don't support DDR2). It's 2-2-2-5; quite frankly, it's arguably the best 2x512 RAM on the market - certainly the best for a novice overclocker, since it requires little voltage adjustments to hit DDR600. If you wanted to do 2x1GB, well, based on my love of the 2x512 kit I'd have to recommend OCZ to you. I believe their 2x1GB kit is 2-3-2-5 (VERY good for a 2GB kit), is currently selling for $150 at Newegg. I'm not sure it gets much better than that.

 

[JPH1121]

Beyond that fact that Anand posted an article saying that AM2 chips on ATI RD580+SB600 motherboards overclock like a dream, the only other advantages to the AM2 w/DDR2 platform is lower power consumption and higher memory bandwidth...not particularly any significant performance advantage.