Opteron 165/170 or 4400

[Bobthelost]

I'm getting one of the three, all are great CPUs by all accounts, will i see any greater OC potential going with a 4400 or a 170?
Is there any performance difference between the toldeo core and the opteron dual core at the same speeds?
WHERE ON EARTH (in the UK to be more specific) CAN YOU FIND 165s OR 170s IN STOCK?

While i'd take great glee in saving 1/3 of the cost of my cpu by getting a 165 and overclocking it till it glows if i can't get one before christmass then i'm going to have to bite the rather expensive bullet.

 

[SynthDude2001]

At the same speeds there should be no difference at all between the two cores (since each has 1MB of L2 cache per core).

I haven't been keeping track of dual-core Opteron stock lately (since I already have mine), so I don't really know where (or even 'if') you can still get a 165/170 right now, and I'm especially clueless about the UK. Hopefully someone else will chime in with that information, but if you can't find one, the 4400+ (or even 3800+) is still a great CPU :thumbsup:

 

[Bobthelost]

Yeah, i won't be unhappy at all going from a Barton 2500 to an overclocked 4400. But if i save that £100 by going for an OCd 165 (~$150) then i can think about going for a better GPU...

*goes to do some sums*

 

[demonbane23]

I did some research and just bought a opt 170 over the 165,,, mainly just for the 10X multi rather then the 9x that is in the 165,, just for a bit more flexibility,,, also hoping for a good stepping. I ordered from Monarch actually just because thats one of the few places I could find it in stock and it should be here on weds,,,,

but im not sure if they ship to UK,,, as for UK local companies or etailers im not certain,,, you could just do the old stand by search every listing found in froogle, pricegrabber, and cnet to see if you can get a hit,,,

Monarch still has opt 170 for sale at $410 for OEM and its $15 to add 3 year warranty,, not to terrible,,,

good luck

 

[GoodRevrnd]

Has anyone had any experience with the Monarch add-on warranties? I'm normally highly against these sorts of things, but it seems well worth it for an OEM chip and for only $15 on a $400 proc...

 

[Zebo]

Persoanlly I'd buy 3800+.. Sure 165 was the best deal dual core deal.. but 170's price premium is simply not worth it.. Why would you pay $100 more for almost no gain in porformance? More heat and power from 2MB too IMHO makes them more undesirable since a major reason I like AMD stuff is quiet, cool and fast. Not so with 2MB chips.. get really hot when they reach 2600Mhz or so maybe stiffleing your OC. The extra cache is really not worth that much more performance - maybe 3% max on certain things.

*if* you can find a 165 for $300, which I just sold mine for, then it maybe worth it otherwise stick with 3800+.

 

[demonbane23]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Persoanlly I'd buy 3800+.. Sure 165 was the best deal dual core deal.. but 170's price premium is simply not worth it.. Why would you pay $100 more for almost no gain in porformance? More heat and power from 2MB too IMHO makes them more undesirable since a major reason I like AMD stuff is quiet, cool and fast. Not so with 2MB chips.. get really hot when they reach 2600Mhz or so maybe stiffleing your OC. The extra cache is really not worth that much more performance - maybe 3% max on certain things.

*if* you can find a 165 for $300, which I just sold mine for, then it maybe worth it otherwise stick with 3800+.

The only reason to really go with the opt 170 is if you plan on Overclocking and would rather deal with the 10X multi rather then the 9X of the 165... also if you are buying new or OEM you cant get a 165 for $300 even only ones I found in stock were closer to $340 so i opted to go with the 170 at $410.

As for the 3800 x2 and the 2mb cache of the opt I thought about the heat issues but since I already had the top swiftech setup I decided to go with the 170 since cooling wouldnt be an issue. For most people the 3800 x2 would be the best bet though,, especially on a tight budget were you want to spend more on your GPU,,,

zebo what do you have your 4200 running at?

 

[kamranziadar]

If you can find Opteron 165 then it should be your first choice with you eyes close, but if you cannot and you cannot wait then X2 3800 is 2nd choice. There is no reason to spend extra money on those expensive DUAL CORES, when you can have same performance for lot less.