Any ideas on when/what for AMD refresh?

[micsaund]

Hi,

I've been itching to pull the trigger on a new build to replace my aged XP2400+ (yep, KT266A mobo, etc.) and am eyeing the X2 series, most likely the 3800+ due to the high prices.

However, it seems that the current line (models/prices) has been out for some time now and I'm worried that as soon as I buy a 3800, AMD will refresh and I'll be able to get the 4200 for the same cost (10% more clock).

I'm not playing the "if you wait long enough, things will always get faster thing" -- I'm just thinking that with as long as the current models have been out, I'm playing with fire buying right now. I'm also not interested in the M2 socket switch at this time, so no biggie missing that.

So, does anyone have any information/hints on when the refresh will happen and roughly what to expect? I'm guessing that the X2 models might all drop-down a notch (become one level cheaper) but that's just my guess.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Unkno]

there'd probably not be anything new (excluding the newer budget line sempron), there shouldn't be any price decreases until AM2 socket...i'd say just buy the X2 or an opteron.

 

[RichUK]

Put it this way, if you purchase a s939 setup now, you must realise that you would be soon buying into an old platform, with regards to processor upgrades down the line, as the FX60 is the end of the line on s939.

If you are in need now for an upgrade then the X2 3800+ is a good processor. The X2 3800+ is not only a good processor that offers good performance at stock, but allows for some very high Overclocks also, on the most 2.6Ghz, which should be a cinch, but guaranteed around 2.4 - 2.5 on near stock volts and heatsink.

The alternative is that you can wait for AM2 which will future proof yourself and setup. Then you can purchase the lower end AM2 processor when released (which will still hold a price tag), stick with that then upgrade further down the line when need be, and only require to upgrade the processor itself and not the whole platform. Going by the current roadmaps and pre-released information on this years AM2 launch, it wouldn?t seem that there is any real performance bump, more like a initial loss in memory performance due to the poor latency of DDR2, but that is a different story altogether.

It is probably best to either wait until AM2 comes out, then purchase an X2 3800+, or just purchase one now. Stick with it and OC when you require more performance. Considering where you are coming from it doesn?t seem like you need to chase the new platform/hardware performance at the highest tier, thus s939 would be the better option.

Basically AM2 isn?t going to be worth the purchase on the level of s939 now, until the beginning of 2007 IMO, or when 65nm fab'ed AMD processors are released. When looking at an overall price performance point of view.

 

[micsaund]

Great, thanks for the input so far. I didn't realize that the 3800 was such an overclocker. I have shyed away from OCing in the past (not really since the heady days of the Celeron 300->450 -- 50% more clock is "worth it" IMO!) as it's generally not been worth it for my needs, but I'd imagine that the A64 core at 2.6GHz would scream. I might give it a try to get another couple hundred MHz with the stock voltages.

If newegg had the Hitachi SATA 250GB drive I'm wanting in-stock, I'd take both your advice and just go ahead and order all the stuff right now

Mike