An Opteron is almost identical to an Athlon. See, Opterons are targeted at professional computers, such as servers or business workstations. They have slightly different architecture, but for the most part they are the same as Athlons.
For a while, Opterons were only available as socket-940. That means each Opteron chip had 940 pins, and required a socket-940 motherboard to operate. Since socket-940 motherboards are very expensive, buying an Opteron wasn't a good idea for the common consumer. Recently, though, AMD started shipping Opterons with 939 pins, which can be installed in a standard socket-939 motherboard. And here's were things got interesting...
The latest line of AMD processors, which are characterized by "E" stepping (usually E3, E4 or E6), have four basic flavors:
>>"Venice" single core with 512KB L2 cache
>>"San Diego" or "Venus" single core with 1MB L2 cache
>>"Manchester" dual core with 512KB L2 cacher per core
>>"Toledo" or "Denmark" dual core with 1MB L2 cache per core
Here's a price list for all these CPUs. Keep in mind these prices are a few days old, and may have changed slightly....
$141.00 Athlon 64 3000+ (NewEgg) 1.8GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.6GHz)
$152.00 Athlon 64 3200+ (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.7GHz)
$201.00 Athlon 64 3500+ (NewEgg) 2.2GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.7GHz)
$282.00 Athlon 64 3800+ (NewEgg) 2.4GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.7GHz)
$208.43 Opteron 146 (Monarch) 2.0GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.7GHz)
$233.00 Athlon 64 3700+ (Monarch) 2.2GHz, 1MB, San Diego (OC ~2.7GHz)
$338.43 Opteron 150 (Monarch) 2.4GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.7GHz)
$799.00 Opteron 152 (NewEgg) 2.6GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.8GHz)
$1,011.00 Athlon 64 FX-57 (Monarch) 2.8GHz, 1MB, San Diego (OC ~2.9GHz)
$322.00 Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.4GHz)
$400.00 Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Monarch) 2.2GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.5GHz)
$630.00 Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (Monarch) 2.4GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.6GHz)
$372.43 Opteron 165 (Monarch) 1.8GHz, 1MB, Denmark (OC ~2.4GHz)
$418.99 Opteron 170 (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 1MB, Denmark (OC ~2.4GHz)
$497.00 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (Monarch) 2.2GHz, 1MB, Toledo (OC ~2.5GHz)
$787.00 Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (Monarch) 2.4GHz, 1MB, Toledo (OC ~2.6GHz)
Keep in mind the OC values are very much a matter of luck. For example, some 3000+s can't get past 2.5GHz, while others beat 2.7GHz. But even with such variance, it's still not a big difference. Do you really want to, say, spend $787 for an X2 4800+ when it's probably only a little bit faster than the $373 Opteron 165? Or would you spend $1,011 for an Athlon 64 FX-57 when it can't go much faster than a $209 Opteron 146?
But L2 caches cannot be changed. Since they cost little more than 512KB chips, most people like to try to get CPUs with 1MB L2 (or 1MB per core). That means, you have four ideal choices...
141.00 Athlon 64 3000+ (NewEgg) 1.8GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.6GHz)
$208.43 Opteron 146 (Monarch) 2.0GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.7GHz)
$322.00 Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.4GHz)
$372.43 Opteron 165 (Monarch) 1.8GHz, 1MB, Denmark (OC ~2.4GHz)
This isn't to say getting anything else is unwise, but those four CPUs are very popular.
For a while, Opterons were only available as socket-940. That means each Opteron chip had 940 pins, and required a socket-940 motherboard to operate. Since socket-940 motherboards are very expensive, buying an Opteron wasn't a good idea for the common consumer. Recently, though, AMD started shipping Opterons with 939 pins, which can be installed in a standard socket-939 motherboard. And here's were things got interesting...
The latest line of AMD processors, which are characterized by "E" stepping (usually E3, E4 or E6), have four basic flavors:
>>"Venice" single core with 512KB L2 cache
>>"San Diego" or "Venus" single core with 1MB L2 cache
>>"Manchester" dual core with 512KB L2 cacher per core
>>"Toledo" or "Denmark" dual core with 1MB L2 cache per core
Here's a price list for all these CPUs. Keep in mind these prices are a few days old, and may have changed slightly....
$141.00 Athlon 64 3000+ (NewEgg) 1.8GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.6GHz)
$152.00 Athlon 64 3200+ (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.7GHz)
$201.00 Athlon 64 3500+ (NewEgg) 2.2GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.7GHz)
$282.00 Athlon 64 3800+ (NewEgg) 2.4GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.7GHz)
$208.43 Opteron 146 (Monarch) 2.0GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.7GHz)
$233.00 Athlon 64 3700+ (Monarch) 2.2GHz, 1MB, San Diego (OC ~2.7GHz)
$338.43 Opteron 150 (Monarch) 2.4GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.7GHz)
$799.00 Opteron 152 (NewEgg) 2.6GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.8GHz)
$1,011.00 Athlon 64 FX-57 (Monarch) 2.8GHz, 1MB, San Diego (OC ~2.9GHz)
$322.00 Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.4GHz)
$400.00 Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Monarch) 2.2GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.5GHz)
$630.00 Athlon 64 X2 4600+ (Monarch) 2.4GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.6GHz)
$372.43 Opteron 165 (Monarch) 1.8GHz, 1MB, Denmark (OC ~2.4GHz)
$418.99 Opteron 170 (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 1MB, Denmark (OC ~2.4GHz)
$497.00 Athlon 64 X2 4400+ (Monarch) 2.2GHz, 1MB, Toledo (OC ~2.5GHz)
$787.00 Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (Monarch) 2.4GHz, 1MB, Toledo (OC ~2.6GHz)
Keep in mind the OC values are very much a matter of luck. For example, some 3000+s can't get past 2.5GHz, while others beat 2.7GHz. But even with such variance, it's still not a big difference. Do you really want to, say, spend $787 for an X2 4800+ when it's probably only a little bit faster than the $373 Opteron 165? Or would you spend $1,011 for an Athlon 64 FX-57 when it can't go much faster than a $209 Opteron 146?
But L2 caches cannot be changed. Since they cost little more than 512KB chips, most people like to try to get CPUs with 1MB L2 (or 1MB per core). That means, you have four ideal choices...
141.00 Athlon 64 3000+ (NewEgg) 1.8GHz, 512KB, Venice (OC ~2.6GHz)
$208.43 Opteron 146 (Monarch) 2.0GHz, 1MB, Venus (OC ~2.7GHz)
$322.00 Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (NewEgg) 2.0GHz, 512KB, Manchester (OC ~2.4GHz)
$372.43 Opteron 165 (Monarch) 1.8GHz, 1MB, Denmark (OC ~2.4GHz)
This isn't to say getting anything else is unwise, but those four CPUs are very popular.
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