MSI Neo4 board - multi-core options?

[Jim Bancroft]

I've got an MSI Neo4 Platinum I bought in February 2005. Socket 939, and I was wondering if I can use an X2 chip in there, provided I get the latest BIOS upgrade from MSI?

I've noticed too that the cheapest X2 processors on Newegg for socket 939 start at $189. The AM2 socket chips start at $130, for lower speeds admittedly. Any ideas if there will be slower and cheaper 939 X2 chips coming out?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Sure, I built several systems back in the spring with the Neo4 Platinum boards and X2 4200+ chips.

The 939 X2 chips are already hard to find. Production has pretty much stopped for the 939 platform as AMD is focusing on AM2 (and beyond).

I'm not sure about the prices of the DC 939 Opterons, but that might be a better choice.

 

[imported_stev]

I have that exact mobo and it's running my dual core CPU just fine. MSI's site has a listing of compatible CPUs and I think all of the 939 X2s and Opterons are on that list.

 

[Jim Bancroft]

Thanks for the info...There were some Opterons on Newegg's price list, and they were cheaper than the X2 chips. I wasn't sure however if they were as good as the X2 for multimedia applications specifically (video encoding, gaming etc). If it's close then I have no problem buying one.

What are the main differences between the X2 and the Opteron? I always thought of an Opteron as a "server" chip, without much thinking about it.

 

[aka1nas]

Socket 939 opterons are just regular A64s with the full 1MB of L2 cache per core, like some of the higher-end A64s and the FX series. They tend to overclock slightly better than regular A64s, but otherwise are pretty much identical.