Athlon FX60 Barebone Kit: $399.99 at tigerdirect

[Spurst]

Very quick and easy to setup. The CPU came on backorder, so it arrived the day after the rest of the parts.

The CPU Fan is HUGE with a 120mm fan! I am much more a fan of this than the AMD heatpipe sink. It came with a RPM rheostat, but I plugged in directly to the board, as the 120mm fan is not that loud. Speaking of size - If you have a super tall DDR module in the 4th slot, you'll have issues. Otherwise, you'll just have a tight squeeze adding / removing normal ones. I had 4 banks filled, but it cycled down to 333mhz, so now im at 2 banks of 512 ddr400.

The system runs nice, and I put a 7900GS in it. Audio sounds decent, and has the standard auto sensing jacks, and has an intel gigabit ethernet onboard.

The case is sleek, solid, and well laid out. Overall, I am very happy with this purchase.

 

[Smartazz]

Is this worth getting for my brother? He has a Pentium 4 3GHZ with an 8800GTS and 1.5GB of DDR RAM. I think it would be a lot cheaper for him to upgrade without changing the RAM to DDR2. If this deal is good for him, maybe I should tell him to order it tonight.

 

[VooDooAddict]

Yeah there are better mother boards ... but if it works. I can see it making a nice upgrade system for a few people.

(Even if you only value things at say $50 for the cheep motherboard, $50 case, $50 Power supply... that still leaves the CPU at $250.)

 

[Spurst]

voodoo,

The system works very well. I threw a 7900GS in mine and it works like a champ. The board had issues taking 4 DDR modules at DDR400 speeds. As I mentioned above, it cycled down to 333mhz dual channel. I'm not sure what is better 2 gigs 333 or 1 gig 400. My pairs are matched, but its a matched pair of kingston and a matched pair of ultra.

The board works well, and I dont mind the audio on it. I also like the fact that it is an Asus board, over a PCChips, Machspeed, or some other cheap board. Even if it is an SIS chipset, and a not so popular board, Asus will still RMA it if I have issues.

The case has a high intensity blue power LED and for some people that is bothersome, for others they love it. Overall, I like the case. It feels solid, and is well laid out and is quite roomy. Screwless design and slotted drivebays are nice. Better yet... the slots mechanisms for the drives are also screwless. The rails fit into the screwholes on your drives and then slide right in. Setup was a breeze.

 

[GeezerMan]

Say, I'm going to run PCMark05 today on my Opteron 165 that's at 2.6GHz. If you could run the same benchmark, it would be interesting to see your scores.I only have a 7600GT, so your video score will be better, but the CPU score should be similar

 

[imported_Sinster]

I was impressed with the case.

 

[Spurst]

Your opteron should score slightly better, no? You have the FSB pumped up to make that OC, right? However, the more I read about the FX-60, the easier it seems to hit 3Ghz with these. It sounds like you either win or lose with them. It'll either run ar like 3.1-3.2, or it'll be pressed to run 2.7ghz. heh. With the massive cooler they gave me, i'm going to try for 2.8 or 14x multiplier. Thats all I want. I really rather not deviate from the stock voltage and stability is my main concern. Then again, I say this every time I get a new CPU and always still OC it. =/

I am not all too familiar with the 165. Does it have the same cache sizes, and whatnot?

I'll benchmark it later. The SIS chipset might be a bottleneck, but I'm not sure. I was having trouble really digging up some solid reviews on the chipset. I am also just running whatever stock drivers they sent me. I was going to wait until the weekend when im off to try and tweak it some. I'll post some initial results sometime tonight.

 

[GeezerMan]

My settings: stock vcore, HTT is at 289, HTT multi is at 3, ram divider is at 166, gives me a hypertransport speed of 867
The Opteron 165 is a Toledo core like the FX-60, and has the same cache sizes. One difference is the FX-60 has unlocked multipliers, while the 165 is locked at 9,
so overclocking a FX-60 should be easier to do by just adjusting your multiplier, and probably a voltage bump. When overclocking a Opteron 165, you need a board that
can deliver a higher than stock HTT

 

[Spurst]

Well, the SIS-based Asus board looks to allow multiplier changes, and votage changes. If this chipset isn't half bad, that might be all that is needed as its multiplier unlocked. I'll take a look when I get home.

 

[tbogstad]

i'd rather have the Machspeed motherboard, atleast its a NF4 chipset. and for $100.00 less, with the $100.00 you can get a better PSU and Case, then that ultra crap.
I got the ultra stuff when it was free after rebate it is fine for a average system, but no way i would hook-up a FX-60 and 7900 series or higher video card to it.

 

[Spurst]

You can gripe about Ultra all you want, but personally, I've had more luck with my Ultra crap than my antec true power PSU's.

Now, i'm not sure if i'd rather have the machspeed; I dont know much about the SIS vs a reference design Nforce 4 board's speed. Remember... there was a time long ago when Nvidia and Via were all 2nd rate parts... Machspeed does claim a lifetime warranty, though.

If I could do it all over again, I might buy the FX60 for the $258, the Nforce4 board at Geeks, and a 900 case that is like 70 AR. With this, I could then do the 500 Watt Ultra V PSU (FAR) and then a good HSF (Cooler 64 Pro?). Still, it'll cost more than $100.

Food for thought, I guess.

 

[GeezerMan]

Some of the older Ultra power supplies were not so good, but the X-Finity line is good. I have 3 of them myself, one on a overclocked rig.
I got lucky on my Ultra Ram, 2 sticks I bought came with high quality chips, runs better than my Corsair XMS ram, though you never know what chips you are going to get

 

[jasonja]

Originally posted by: Spurst
You can gripe about Ultra all you want, but personally, I've had more luck with my Ultra crap than my antec true power PSU's.

Now, i'm not sure if i'd rather have the machspeed; I dont know much about the SIS vs a reference design Nforce 4 board's speed. Remember... there was a time long ago when Nvidia and Via were all 2nd rate parts... Machspeed does claim a lifetime warranty, though.

If I could do it all over again, I might buy the FX60 for the $258, the Nforce4 board at Geeks, and a 900 case that is like 70 AR. With this, I could then do the 500 Watt Ultra V PSU (FAR) and then a good HSF (Cooler 64 Pro?). Still, it'll cost more than $100.

Food for thought, I guess.

Where can you get the FX60 for $258?

 

[Spurst]

they shipped the processor late with my order (1 day). I might be missing something, but for some reason I think it recorded the receipt as 258 or 278 or something for the processor alone. Don't quote me on it, because I am at work and dont have it in front of me. Good luck trying to buy it like that, because it actually itemized the entire purchase with prices that added up to the actual bundle deal.

 

[videopho]

The FX60 price has me drooling...
Going from x2 3800+ to this (FX60), would it be a 20-25% gain in performance (non-gaming apps)?

 

[jasonja]

Originally posted by: Spurst
they shipped the processor late with my order (1 day). I might be missing something, but for some reason I think it recorded the receipt as 258 or 278 or something for the processor alone. Don't quote me on it, because I am at work and dont have it in front of me. Good luck trying to buy it like that, because it actually itemized the entire purchase with prices that added up to the actual bundle deal.

Okay, yeah I'm sure that's only a bundle price, no way to get that alone. Unless maybe you returned everything else?

 

[GeezerMan]

 

[GeezerMan]

Originally posted by: videopho
The FX60 price has me drooling...
Going from x2 3800+ to this (FX60), would it be a 20-25% gain in performance (non-gaming apps)?

I ran my Opteron 165, overclocked to FX-60 speeds, today through some benchmarks. It performs as a FX-60 does.
Video encoding is extremely fast. I love that. Multitasking is faster. Have you tried to overclock your 3800+ X2?

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: GeezerMan

Originally posted by: videopho
The FX60 price has me drooling...
Going from x2 3800+ to this (FX60), would it be a 20-25% gain in performance (non-gaming apps)?

I ran my Opteron 165, overclocked to FX-60 speeds, today through some benchmarks. It performs as a FX-60 does.
Video encoding is extremely fast. I love that. Multitasking is faster. Have you tried to overclock your 3800+ X2?

The mobo (ECS) is a poor one to begin with. That being said, the most oc'ed I could manage was 2.35ghz on the 3800.
I am trying for another upgrade for my rig that may last well into early 2008, then I'd be happy.

 

[Spurst]

5299 PCmark 05 CPU Score @ 2.6Ghz. 1.35v
5699 PCmark 05 CPU Score @ 2.8Ghz. 1.35v

Prime95 results.
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 FX-60 Dual Core Processor
CPU speed: 2800.00 MHz
CPU features: RDTSC, CMOV, Prefetch, 3DNow!, MMX, SSE, SSE2
L1 cache size: 64 KB
L2 cache size: 1024 KB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
L1 TLBS: 32
L2 TLBS: 512
Prime95 32-bit version 24.14, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 512K FFT length: 16.291 ms.
Best time for 640K FFT length: 21.449 ms.
Best time for 768K FFT length: 26.211 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 31.339 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 35.213 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 44.794 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 54.855 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 66.426 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 74.233 ms.
Best time for 2560K FFT length: 97.252 ms.
Best time for 3072K FFT length: 118.995 ms.
Best time for 3584K FFT length: 143.338 ms.
Best time for 4096K FFT length: 160.138 ms.
Best time for 58 bit trial factors: 4.267 ms.
Best time for 59 bit trial factors: 4.266 ms.
Best time for 60 bit trial factors: 4.259 ms.
Best time for 61 bit trial factors: 4.264 ms.
Best time for 62 bit trial factors: 7.645 ms.
Best time for 63 bit trial factors: 7.681 ms.
Best time for 64 bit trial factors: 9.896 ms.

I am currently running 2.8Ghz stable at stock voltage on air. Prime Stable for at least 2 hrs. I'll continue to let it run.

 

[videopho]

Can you run Super Pi (32m) and post the run-time result?

My result = 34m 06.312s [ 32M]
(AMD x2 3800+)

 

[supaidaaman]

I think im going to jump on the fx60 and give my dad the x2 4200 ive got now.

Could someone tell me what the difference is between these 2?

CP2-A64-FX60

and

CP2-A64-FX60 AV

They are both OEM 349.99

EDIT: Id rather buy this from newegg. Does anyone know if they will catch on with the price drops?

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: videopho
The FX60 price has me drooling...
Going from x2 3800+ to this (FX60), would it be a 20-25% gain in performance (non-gaming apps)?

Sell me your x2 3800

 

[videopho]

Originally posted by: jjmIII

Originally posted by: videopho
The FX60 price has me drooling...
Going from x2 3800+ to this (FX60), would it be a 20-25% gain in performance (non-gaming apps)?

Sell me your x2 3800

you're serious?

 

[Spurst]

Super Pi = 1m 15.781S
I'm not sitting through 32M... lol.


for the 3800 x2.. post it in the FST forums. you'll sell it quickly over there. x2 3800 isnt a bad processor to have.