Need assistance maxing out a 939 system

[imported_RKA]

Hi guys! I have the following system cobbled together, and I want to get a faster dual core proc. It's the first time I've put together a system, so I'm not sure when I'll get around to learning the in's and out's of OCing, so I think I would like something that's reasonably fast right out of the box. Primary use will be Photoshop CS, not a big gamer, and maybe *a little* video editing.

MB: Asus A8NE
CPU: AMD 3200+ Venice
CPU fan: Zalman 7700
PS: Antec NeoPower (480W)
HD: Raptor 36GB (the old one's); WD 320GB Caviar SE
RAM: Corsair XMS 3200XL 2-2-2-5 (2)x512mb
Video: Matrox P650e
Display: 2407FPW (on the way!)

I was thinking about a 4800+ dual core, but it's hard to find and pricey (~$380). Doing some searching, it seems opterons are plug and play? The equivalent is the opteron 180 I guess...and thats easy to find for around $300 (I'm more comfortable with this price point). Beyond that price point, I'm starting to think it's better to replace the MB and memory (I want another 1GB as it is) with the CPU, and jump to Intel.

So I have two questions:
1. Suggestions for CPU upgrades (or I'm open to general advice since I know little)?
2. What's the story with the opterons? Why so much cheaper? Truly plug and play?

TIA!

 

[imported_RKA]

Okay, I just did some more searching (which inevitably leads to two questions for every answer I find).

Seems the opty 165/170/175 are my best bets. Stock cooler seems better than my existing 7700. Need to update BIOS, and apply windows DC hot fix (need to search for info on that). Need to also search the OC forum to find more info on that before I decide on which chip I want. I'm not sure how easy or difficult it is to OC the optys. Making progress...

 

[myocardia]

The reason the Opterons are cheaper now is twofold: a)they're still being produced, and b)not all motherboards support them. For instance, quite a few of the motherboards that came in pre-built computers, with a single-core processor won't support them. Your board will, with a BIOS update.

You'd more than likely need to upgrade your power supply, though, to run two cores @ 400 Mhz faster each than the processor you're running now. Well, if it's the old NeoPower that I'm thinking of, anyway. Here's how to overclock, if you're interested: link. Also, it works out much better if you reinstall Windows, when upgrading to a dual-core from a single-core, if that makes any difference to you. Oh, and welcome to anandtech.

 

[prosser13]

Welcome

It depends on the stepping of the processor really - everytime AMD make a revision to the processor, they release a new 'stepping' with a new code, and each stepping overclocks differently from the last. With Opterons, its very hit and miss - you may get a very overclockable stepping and hit 3ghz or you may only be able to get to 2.4ghz.

Opteron 165s are the ones I've seen most of.

 

[Ayah]

Opteron 165/170, overclock like a mad.
And upgrade to 2GB of memory.

 

[customcoms]

Get an Opteron 165. No DESPERATE need to pick up 2gb of memory until Vista comes out, and by then DDR prices could be even higher as joe user rushes out to BB and buys memory at 400% over cost. I rarely see memory usage eat into that other GB, unless I'm playing FSX (and I need a new GPU for that....).