AMD64 vs FX64

[Xsorovan]

Hey All, I'll be building myself a new machine sometime soon and I KNOW the AMD FX64 chips are better than the AMD 64 chips, and even better than the X2s, but I was curious as to what the technical differences are. I might not seriously need to shell out the 800+ for an FX chip if the AMD64, x2 or otherwise, will do the job.

Technically now, I have seen the benchmarks and I know the processing power difference. Wherein is the technical difference?

 

[kpb]

There isn't much of a difference between a regular socket 939 athlon 64 and an fx.

This isn't hard in stone but typically the fx processors have 1 mb L2 cache where most athlon 64's will only have 512k. That will have an impact on performace at the same clock speed but most testing seems to indicate it's not huge.

The athlon fx also has fully unlocked multipliers so you can turn it up and down where as the regular athlons only can go down.

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: kpb
There isn't much of a difference between a regular socket 939 athlon 64 and an fx.

This isn't hard in stone but typically the fx processors have 1 mb L2 cache where most athlon 64's will only have 512k. That will have an impact on performace at the same clock speed but most testing seems to indicate it's not huge.

The athlon fx also has fully unlocked multipliers so you can turn it up and down where as the regular athlons only can go down.

Yeah the big thing with the FX line is overclocking. Since the CPU multiplier is unlocked, there's a LOT more potential for overclocking. Almost everyone who overclocks their FX processor gets at LEAST a 25% overclock. Some people even been have reported a 100% overclock (FX-55 @ 4GHz), but that's on phase and whatever.

 

[piddlefoot]

l have an fx 55, l preffer the 4400+ duel core, not oced , online gaming is better by miles, l will never buy a single core again, offline in singleplayer fx55 pwns , l recon its just a matter of time until you see the duel core fx range ! mmmmmmmm
get a duel !

 

[icarus4586]

l have an fx 55, l preffer the 4400+ duel core, not oced , online gaming is better by miles, l will never buy a single core again, offline in singleplayer fx55 pwns , l recon its just a matter of time until you see the duel core fx range ! mmmmmmmm
get a duel !

Hmm, not so sure about that. Usually dual core CPUs are at best marginally better than single core CPUs at the same clock speed. If you're running a lot of stuff in the background while playing a game, it could make a huge difference, but, since games aren't designed for multiple cores now, the best I've seen in bencmarks is a few percent at the same clock speed.
Dual Core FX? Sounds like a party to me. An expensive party, but a good time nonetheless.

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: piddlefoot
l have an fx 55, l preffer the 4400+ duel core, not oced , online gaming is better by miles, l will never buy a single core again, offline in singleplayer fx55 pwns , l recon its just a matter of time until you see the duel core fx range ! mmmmmmmm
get a duel !

Maybe the M2 FX series will be dual-core...

 

[Fox5]

The FX line has the highest quality silicon, and the best memory controllers. I've heard they can run 4 DDR sticks at 200mhz with 1t timings.

Anyhow, I'd say the 4800+ X2 is probably the best overall AMD chip right now.(and nvidia's drivers are multithreaded now, and many games, particularly unreal and id software games, offload sound onto a seperate thread) 4800+ may not have the fastest gaming performance, but it'll make the computing experience a lot smoother.

 

[piddlefoot]

well bf2 is really cool on the duel with 120 bots in a small player map, the fx 55 has no hope, but your right there aint many games that can use it , but when online its good to have anything else running , running on the second core, where as there fx55 has to then multi thread, and in a game like bf2 at high settings l just find the 2.2 duel better than the 2.6 single, the fx 55 cant cop 100 bots at all it just gets choppy, so the second core on the 4400+ is being used as it can run 100 bots no worries, and boy is that mad fun , got some funny short movies of it, just crazy stuff.
l prefer the duel 4400+ at 2.2 core clock , over the fx55 2.6 core clock , for everyday net use , encoding , recording using fraps, and gaming, though l still use the fx55 in half life and the like, offline.
The future l believe will be muli cored cpu s , just seems to make sence that a duel core fx chip will come.
l would buy one in a heart beat, and a mobo to go if needed !

 

[Adonix]

Its not "duel" its "dual"

 

[jordanz]

I was actually lucky to get an A64 3400 with a 1MB L2 cache. Runs at 2.2 stock though.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: Adonix
Its not "duel" its "dual"

ill duel you with my dual bastard swords!!

 

[mdchesne]

can't the fx's fsb be unlocked or something?

 

[lowside]

I asked the same question HERE at bit-tech but didn't get much in the way of useful answers either. I'd try posting at forums.amd.com. I've found some good(useful) information there.

 

[Chode Messiah]

go single core right now, you'll get a higher oc. see my sig? im not even done yet. a 4400+ couldn't do go as high as a 4000+ (san diego), because it has an extra core to deal with.