Is the 146 better than the Venice 3200+ on my motherboard (MSI K8NGM2-FID)??

[area123]

Apparently on my mobo, (MSI K8NGM2-FID), the max stable OC for an Opty 146 or Venice 3200 is 2500mhz. I don't completely understand why, something about the max fsb on the msi board is 250mhz and the mulitiplier for the 146 & 3200+ is the same (x10). I'm still a little confused about the whole OC thing.

Not saying this is necessarily true and I could have gotten something wrong as I have zero experience with this. But if it is true, what is the advantage of me even using a 146 over a Venice 3200+? The cost difference on two was about $20+ for the 146.

So far, I have a 3200+ and ordered a 165 & 146 and need to decide which is the best value for me. I'll either be returning or selling the other two.

btw-I don't want to mess around too much w/ raising vcore or extreme OCing because I have quiet components that may not do the best job at cooling, and it is mainly an HTPC so I don't need to go crazy here, just want the best value.

 

[buzzsaw13]

The opteron 146 has 1mb L2 cache so it should technically be a little better, but you probably wont notice it if theyre both clocked at 2.5ghz

 

[area123]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
The opteron 146 has 1mb L2 cache so it should technically be a little better, but you probably wont notice it if theyre both clocked at 2.5ghz

Ok. That's sort of what I was thinking. I guess if I had a better OCing board the 146 would be worth the $20 as the chip is supposed to be great for that. But just the cache I don't think it is worth it for what I am doing.

Also, the 165 will OC to about 2250 on my board so unless I'm doing a lot of multithreaded stuff I think the 3200+ is the way to go, especially since my htpc has its own hardware encoder.

thanks.

 

[furballi]

Lower the HT to 3x and RAM divider to 166 or 5:6. Bump the Vcore up to 1.5 and retest.

 

[area123]

Originally posted by: furballi
Lower the HT to 3x and RAM divider to 166 or 5:6. Bump the Vcore up to 1.5 and retest.

I don't really speak the OC language yet, but I'll definitely try that if it works w/ my board when I start experimenting. Are you referring specifically to this mobo or is that just in general for any mobo?

 

[KBTuning]

since its a HTPC put in the 146 and leave it alone... its going to run the coolest out of those. opterons are "server grade" so they generally run a little cooler and the also overclock better but if you dnt ahve a mobo that overclocks good then it doesnt matter.

 

[area123]

Well, it's not a true HTPC I guess. I may be doing light gaming, definitely video encoding and editing & burning dvd's when not watching tv w/ it. Mainly media stuff & PVR.

 

[furballi]

Use Cool and Quiet to reduce the heat output and noise level.