Athlon 64 X2 vs Opteron 180 Socket 939

[richxr7]

I currently have the Asus A8N-SLI mobo with the AMD Athlon 64 3200+ venice socket 939 cpu. I want to upgrade to either the Athlon 64 X2 or the Opteron 180, what is the better of the 2. I'm not a oc'er, so for me I leave it the way I get it.

 

[MarcVenice]

If you can get a similar clocked x2 at 2.4ghz for less money, I'd go for the x2.

Opteron 180 costs 150$ or so on newegg, for 85$ you've got an OEM version of the x2 4200, that runs at 2.2ghz versus the opty's 2.4ghz. So if you've got a cooler, which I suppose you do, you could buy the OEM version, and save half the cash and only lose 200mhz.

I'd buy a cheap x2 3800+ toledo core and oc it to 2.4-2.6ghz though, in fact, I have allready and it hasn't let me down so far

 

[richxr7]

well I have the fan from the 3200, but isn't that kind of a pain especially with the material thats already on the bottom of the fan? I heard its hard to remove the old material and replace it with new. Is the fan enough power 4200?

 

[MarcVenice]

The fan is good enough to cool the x2 4200, and the stuff at the bottom of the fan, lol, is called thermal grease. Some high grade rubbing alcohol or spiritus will get rid of the thermal grease no problem. Rubbing alcahol is a little better though.

You would have to buy some thermal grease, like arctic silver 5, and apply it. There's a detailed guide on their website on how to apply the thermal grease, a kid could do it. http://www.arcticsilver.com/ar...ilver_instructions.htm

 

[richxr7]

The only thing is L2 Cache 512kb on the Athlon and the Opteron L2 Cache is 1mb. how much of a difference can there be

 

[MarcVenice]

There's a little difference, up to 10% I think I read somewhere. But that doesn't nearly justify almost double the price.

 

[Makaveli]

While 1mb cache was mentioned, you guys missed on the overclocking. In general Opterons overclock better than their X2 siblings, and require less voltage to reach the same clock speeds.

However as stated previously if the difference in price is huge go with what suits your budget.

 

[MarcVenice]

He doesn't OC so the point is moot.

 

[alkemyst]

I debated the same thing a bit ago and decided 4000+ single core was better for my needs. Games I play do not use dual core and I rarely do any multiple heavy wieght things at home.

Both your choices above though will run roughly equal in day to day use.