gonna buy this week BUT...

[alimoalem]

i would get the ASRock mobo. it has both AGP and PCI-e slots and is a pretty solid board and good OCer. get the amd 3700 instead of 3500 or 3800

 

[Soric]

now why would you say the 3700 over those or opterons?

 

[Crescent13]

Originally posted by: Soric
now why would you say the 3700 over those or opterons?

I don't think this guy has heard of opterons before. A 3700+ is just the same as an opteron 148 (same cache, clock speed, everything), however, if you wish to overclock later, the opteron would be MUCH better. I would go opteron whether you OC or not, because believe me, down the road, you will want to. (It was excactly the same with me, now I regret getting a motherboard with no overclocking options)

 

[Soric]

thanks cresent thats what I am asking though they may be close which is the best bang for the price 10 bucks doesnt matter much but I want the work horse of the bunch, yet still getting optimal performance at stock speeds.

besides having a xp 2500 I surely am gaining with any of these.

 

[Crescent13]

This might be completely useless, but here is a list of the specs of the 90nm AMD procs. (there are more, I am just listing the 90nm parts, there is really no reason to get a 130nm part anyway)

Single Core

Opteron
144 = 1.8GHz, 1MB Cache
146 = 2.0GHz, 1MB Cache
148 = 2.2GHz, 1MB Cache
150 = 2.4GHz, 1MB Cache
152 = 2.6GHz, 1MB Cache
154 = 2.8GHz, 1MB Cache

A64
3000+ = 1.8GHz, 512KB Cache
3200+ = 2.0GHz, 512KB Cache
3500+ = 2.2GHz, 512KB Cache
3700+ = 2.2GHz, 1MB Cache
3800+ = 2.4GHz, 512KB Cache
4000+ = 2.4GHz, 1MB Cache
FX-55 = 2.6GHz, 1MB Cache
FX-57 = 2.8GHz, 1MB Cache

Dual Core

Opteron
165 = 1.8GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)
170 = 2.0GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)
175 = 2.2GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)
180 = 2.4GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)

A64
3800+ = 2.0GHz, 1MB Cache (512KB per core)
4200+ = 2.2GHz, 1MB Cache (512KB per core)
4400+ = 2.2GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)
4600+ = 2.4GHz, 1MB Cache (512KB per core)
4800+ = 2.4GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)
FX-60 = 2.6GHz, 2MB Cache (1MB per core)*

*The FX-60 is planned to be released sometime in the first half of this year AFAIK, but it's not out yet

The FX processors are just like all the others except they have an unlocked multiplier, that makes overclocking easier. (It may be EASIER, but nobody ever said they would overclock higher than the opterons)

 

[Crescent13]

Forgot to mention that I have an opteron 144. I overclocked it to 2.7GHz with no problems. I tried for 2.8GHz, but the amount I had to raise the voltage to get it stable made the extra 100MHz not worth it.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Crescent13
Forgot to mention that I have an opteron 144. I overclocked it to 2.7GHz with no problems. I tried for 2.8GHz, but the amount I had to raise the voltage to get it stable made the extra 100MHz not worth it.

what m/b are you running? ram?

 

[Crescent13]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Crescent13
Forgot to mention that I have an opteron 144. I overclocked it to 2.7GHz with no problems. I tried for 2.8GHz, but the amount I had to raise the voltage to get it stable made the extra 100MHz not worth it.

what m/b are you running? ram?

EPoX EP-9NPA+Ultra, 2GB Corsair VS @ 200MHz (with divider), 2.5-3-3-7 1T.

 

[Soric]

again I will not be overclocking now or in a year I dont like to fool around with that stuff.

I am simply lookign for the best CPU for what my need is which is gaming, I named the ones I was looking at and someone mentioned the opterons which I hadnt looked at at the time so I asked those questions and it always seems to get back to OC'ing which Im not going to be doing at any time.

with that said I still want to buy the best of the 3, A-64, X2, or Opteron.
my decision wont be based on the easaability to over clock one over the other.

 

[SynthDude2001]

How much are you looking to spend on the CPU? And do you do anything else besides gaming? Dual-core CPU's don't help a whole lot for gaming yet, but they will in the future (although there are drivers available from both ATI and Nvidia that do give small boosts to dual-core computers, a patch for Quake4 to enable SMP, etc.). If you do anything like video encoding or rendering, those are usually helped out quite a bit by dual-core CPU's (of course depending on the software you use).

I would also recommend the ASRock AGP/PCI-E board, especially if you have no interest in overclocking. I'm running an AGP 6800GT in mine (along with an Opteron 170) and performance is great. I think I'd recommend the A64 X2 3800+ overall - it's more or less two 3200+ single cores together (2x 2.0GHz 512k L2). Single-threaded performance would be a little lower than the 3500+ (2.2GHz) or 3800+ single-core (2.4GHz), but there are potentially huge performance gains once more and more software starts to make use of multiple CPU's.

If you don't want to spend that much on the CPU (the X2 3800+ is still just over $300 as far as I know), then any single core A64 or Opteron will be fine.

 

[Soric]

Thanks thats the info I am looking for, Price wise Ill be where you are speaking of.

Not much video stuff, about 80% will be gaming.
So I want the best I can get out of stock speeds, but as you said if there is no real need for dual core as far as gaming goes then that helps me very much in my decision.
My cost range probably will top out around $ 350.00 by choice. and do I need spend this much to get great gaming performance.?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Soric
Thanks thats the info I am looking for, Price wise Ill be where you are speaking of.

Not much video stuff, about 80% will be gaming.
So I want the best I can get out of stock speeds, but as you said if there is no real need for dual core as far as gaming goes then that helps me very much in my decision.
My cost range probably will top out around $ 350.00 by choice. and do I need spend this much to get great gaming performance.?

Nope - since for now games do not really make use of multiple CPU's, you can still get great gaming performance with a single core CPU. For $150ish you can get a 3200+/Opteron 144 and have great performance; games these days tend to be more GPU-limited unless you're running at really low resolutions. My line of thinking is that if you were going to spend $300+ on a CPU anyway (3800+ single core or whatever), IMO it makes more sense to have a whole second CPU core instead of 200MHz more on a single core. However if you didn't necessarily want to spend that much unless you had to, then you can spend about half that and still get a fast processor.

 

[Soric]

I see your point there with the extra cpu.

So basically the A XP 3800 is $222.00 (newegg prices), the X2 3800 is $ 322.00 and the Opteron I was looking at the 165 is $ 333.00.
now its up to me to decide if I want to spend the extra hundred, the extra 10 isnt a big deal to me.

in terms of performance for games would the X2 or Opteron be a better chip?

again not going to be OC'ing.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Soric
I see your point there with the extra cpu.

So basically the A XP 3800 is $222.00 (newegg prices), the X2 3800 is $ 322.00 and the Opteron I was looking at the 165 is $ 333.00.
now its up to me to decide if I want to spend the extra hundred, the extra 10 isnt a big deal to me.

in terms of performance for games would the X2 or Opteron be a better chip?

again not going to be OC'ing.

since you are not o/cing i would still go the opteron for resale value. but, i would move on it if you have one for the that price because there is skepticism as to whether or not the 939opterons are going to be continued to be in retail packaging.

the reason being is that the a single 144 opteron for $150 runs at 1.8GHz and has 1MB of cache, but can usually be pushed safely to 2.5-2.6Ghz which is basically the same speed and cache as a fx-55, which is a $800 cpu. the 146s went a little higher. the 165/170 opteron dc could be pushed high too, to the point of the 4800.

like i said, i understand that you are not going to o/c but i would still get a 165 if the price is right for resale later, as it will be a gem and the extremely small performance difference between it and a 3800 will probably not noticeable.

the otperons are running out of stock with no eta in sight for most places. i had a 146 on order for 3 days, excalburepc told me everything was good, but then cancelled my order. luckily i found a 144 at tankguys.biz and it should be here tomorrow or the next day.

so for you between a 165 and 3800 the performance will be pretty equal, but resale on the 165 will be better, especially since they are both roughly the same price atm.

 

[BFG10K]

Go with PCIe and upgrade your video card too. It's better to leave your upgrade options open for the future and those hybrid AGP/PCIe motherboards can have problems.

 

[Soric]

thing is my vid card is still a very good one, I would rather wait for the newer cards and upgrade then, even if it means getting a new MB the ASrock is 75 at newegg which is hardly alot of cash.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Soric
thing is my vid card is still a very good one, I would rather wait for the newer cards and upgrade then, even if it means getting a new MB the ASrock is 75 at newegg which is hardly alot of cash.

i am with you on this one beging that our gpus are in the same family of performance, even to the fact that i picked up a nf3 board for the opteron 144 that should be here today or tomorrow. when my gpu is not doing its job, i wil then pick up a new pci-e board and gpu, and by then we may be at nf5....who knows. and since i just switched to a 17" lcd, it is 1280x1024 for me now, and my gpu does it good, i dont think i would notice the difference between my x800xtpe and a 7800gt at this resolution as i have most items on high anyway (a benchmark would see it, but my eye can't)

 

[jc9970]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: 007ELmO
Is the Opteron stlil a good choice if he won't be OC'ing?

Yeah, actually, since he's not planning to OC, i'd suggest the X2 3800+

IIRC, they are barely more expensive, & they are faster at stock speeds.

/agree, he'll definitely be good with the X2 3800+ , its a fast chip.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: jc9970

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: 007ELmO
Is the Opteron stlil a good choice if he won't be OC'ing?

Yeah, actually, since he's not planning to OC, i'd suggest the X2 3800+

IIRC, they are barely more expensive, & they are faster at stock speeds.

/agree, he'll definitely be good with the X2 3800+ , its a fast chip.

without a benchmark in front of you you couldn't tell if it was a 3800 or 165...

 

[Mavrick007]

If you don't want to overclock, and you want to game, I would go for a faster single core chip, like the 3800+ (single core) at 2.4Ghz with 512k cache or the Opteron 150 at 2.4Ghz and 1meg cache. I would get a good AGP board like a cheap NF3 250GB such as the Gigabyte at $63 on Newegg and then later if you decide, you could sell this machine and probably buy a newer one if you want for a good return.

I'm actually at the point of upgrading too, but I think I'm going all in and getting one of each (dual core and single core), find out which overclocks and performs better, keep that and sell the other as a new machine.

 

[BOLt]

Originally posted by: cpacini

Originally posted by: Opteron Guy
I would get a Opteron 148 instead of the 3500 or 3800 and get a ASRock ULi motherboard it has both AGP and PCI-E so once you save enough money for a 7800GTX or next gen card you can swap out your 6800GT for that. 😀

:thumbsup:

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Mavrick007
If you don't want to overclock, and you want to game, I would go for a faster single core chip, like the 3800+ (single core) at 2.4Ghz with 512k cache or the Opteron 150 at 2.4Ghz and 1meg cache. I would get a good AGP board like a cheap NF3 250GB such as the Gigabyte at $63 on Newegg and then later if you decide, you could sell this machine and probably buy a newer one if you want for a good return.

I'm actually at the point of upgrading too, but I think I'm going all in and getting one of each (dual core and single core), find out which overclocks and performs better, keep that and sell the other as a new machine.

that is the board i bought, i will let you know how it works when my f*cking cpu arrives........

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Mavrick007
If you don't want to overclock, and you want to game, I would go for a faster single core chip, like the 3800+ (single core) at 2.4Ghz with 512k cache or the Opteron 150 at 2.4Ghz and 1meg cache. I would get a good AGP board like a cheap NF3 250GB such as the Gigabyte at $63 on Newegg and then later if you decide, you could sell this machine and probably buy a newer one if you want for a good return.

I'm actually at the point of upgrading too, but I think I'm going all in and getting one of each (dual core and single core), find out which overclocks and performs better, keep that and sell the other as a new machine.

that is the board i bought, i will let you know how it works when my f*cking cpu arrives........

Cool, that's good to know cause from what it looks like, it seems to be a decent board and I was going to buy it as a cheap AGP board since it has the 939pin socket too.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: Mavrick007

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: Mavrick007
If you don't want to overclock, and you want to game, I would go for a faster single core chip, like the 3800+ (single core) at 2.4Ghz with 512k cache or the Opteron 150 at 2.4Ghz and 1meg cache. I would get a good AGP board like a cheap NF3 250GB such as the Gigabyte at $63 on Newegg and then later if you decide, you could sell this machine and probably buy a newer one if you want for a good return.

I'm actually at the point of upgrading too, but I think I'm going all in and getting one of each (dual core and single core), find out which overclocks and performs better, keep that and sell the other as a new machine.

that is the board i bought, i will let you know how it works when my f*cking cpu arrives........

Cool, that's good to know cause from what it looks like, it seems to be a decent board and I was going to buy it as a cheap AGP board since it has the 939pin socket too.

so far, since my cpu hasn't arrived yet, i have found that my ram modules have not problems in it. if you look at the newegg reviews, a lot of people say the ram area is a little tight, and they area because the dimm slots are butted right up against each other (don't understand why because they could have put 1/2mm in between them...), but i have ocz pc3200 performance rev3 dimms which have heatsinks on them and they fit no problem, don't even touch.

i should get my cpu today and when i add the ram, i will take a couple of pics so you can see how close they are and if your modules will work.

 

[Mavrick007]

Great, can't wait. I will probably put my Corsair XMS modules in if I get the board since I have a gig of it now in my AXP nf2 board.