CPU Question. Opteron or X2

servin247365

Senior member
Oct 11, 2005
240
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ok i have alot of advice but this is what it comes down to i am eather going to get the Opteron 170 Denmark or the X2 4200+ but someone said the opteron will out perform becuase of the extra 512k cache on each core but the X2 4200+ has a fast core speed??????

im not into overclocking much

What are your recommendations?


any advice would be great.

thanks,

Jordan
 

996GT2

Diamond Member
Jun 23, 2005
5,212
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76
If you plan to OC, an Athlon 64 3800+ will hit 2.4 pretty easily on stock cooling. If you get a 2006 model, you will be able to OC to 2.7+ GHz on a good heatsink, which is equal to (or even better than) the Opteron 165.
If you do not plan to OC, get the 3800+ for its slightly higher clock speed and cheaper price.

The Athlon 64 4000+ is essentially half of a 3800+ when it is OC'd to 2.4 GHz. Though each core of a 3800+ has half the L2 cache of a San-Diego core 4000+, not much of a difference will be noticed, and the 2 cores will be much better at multitasking or in multithreaded apps.
 

Effect

Member
Jan 31, 2006
185
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I'd suggest the dual core, it may be marginally slower for now (at stock speeds), but with more programs utlising the 2nd core (now and into the future), any advantage the 4000+ has now will fade away.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
The cache makes little difference dependent on the application. Most of them will be fine with 512k cache. If your not gonna overclock, get an X2. If you are, get an opteron, you dont have to push the thing to its limits like many so. Just bump it up to 4800+ speeds and be happy with that, or FX-60 if it can go that high (mine didnt).

Personally, im not into overclocking either, but i still got a 170 and clocked it up to 2.5ghz, so ive got an FX 59.5 for less here. Definately worth it, no stability issues, minimal voltage change, and the memory speed is largely irrelivent for A64's. Give ocing a try, you wont be dissapointed, its not all that difficult either unless your pushing limits.