Opteron 165 vs. A64 3700+(San Diego) both OC'd in Gaming?

[vtohthree]

Hey guys, I've been wanting to do a new build for the longest time, but I keep putting it off(not a bad thing, prices continue to lower, and better stuff keeps on rolling out) but... I was wondering, which of the two processors are better for gaming? Many say that a single core cpu is better for gaming, but... once the power churns out of a Dual core, surely it can surpass??

So I'm wondering, given the same setup(I've been pondering between a 7800GT, X800xl, or now even a 6800GS, all depends on bang per buck...with about a gig of ram), hypothetically, which one is better, or if in fact some one from either party has a benchmark, or a logical explanation, then please give light to this subject.

The Opteron 165 is probably the better buy(for less than a hundred dollars more) you get dual core power to run more things at once...but I'm sure the 3700+ San diego can handle quite a bit too..so if both were OC'd to the max(with air cooling only, not going to bother with water coolers), which performs better for gaming?

I don't actually play any games right now, my latest card is a Nvidia GeForce 5200, but I'd like to see the splendor and marvels of the latest gen games on some of the latest equiptment.

 

[vtohthree]

hmm... maybe the 3700+ should be eliminated if the Opteron 146 owns it.. I just saw it on the HD thread for only $160, they were saying it was basically a San Diego, stock its a few notches below the A64 3700+ but if it overclocks to the same amounts(can someone confirm?), then the topic could be revised to Opteron 146 vs. Opteron 165 OC'd to the max for gaming.

 

[Reiniku]

The 146's are known to clock around the 3ghz range. In terms of single threaded performance and gaming I do think it will still have the advantage. The 165 are also great oc'ers but I don't recall seeing an oc higher than 2.8ish.

 

[vtohthree]

I suppose that makes sense if the 165 hasn't reached to such clock speeds, but I still won't take it out of the picture, I consider myself a multitasker, or at least I'd like to have the power to do so.

hmm, I see, what about the san diego 3700+? Has anyone overclocked to such amounts(3.0 take some)? So is the 146 better than the San Diego?

Any other speculations or thoughts?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

SD 3700+'s hit 2.8ghz pretty routinely on good air, a very few can hit 2.9. On phase 3.1-3.5mhz is possible. My 3700+ runs 24/7 at 2805mhz with 1.55v

 

[tealk]

bump for a cool A$$ thread....hehe

 

[Elfear]

I'm also curious to hear people's opinions on this subject. I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying a Opteron 165 over my 3700+ for gaming.

 

[vtohthree]

oh wow, that's a nice overclock elfear, 2.85!

 

[Regulator07]

is there anything different between and athlon64 and an opteron? i am under the assumption that they are different in some way that would make per say, the athlon64 better at gaming and opteron better at applications and more bussiness oriented processes, am i wrong?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: Elfear
I'm also curious to hear people's opinions on this subject. I'm trying to decide if it's worth buying a Opteron 165 over my 3700+ for gaming.

Why do people keep asking about dualcore and gaming? The obvious answer is NO. Do not spend $300 on a CPU that is not going to be better than your current one for gaming. If you want an excuse to go dualcore, come up with something better than gaming.

Chances are you are not going to match 2.85GHz with a 165, although its not impossible with your water cooling. Obviously it won't be much worse for gaming, but you seem only to be concerned with gaming, so I'd say don't waste your money unless you could come up with true reasons to go to dualcore - gaming alone isn't just not enough, it isn't a reason at all.

 

[foogles]

Oblivion will be the first PC game to not only be truly multi-threaded, but actually see a real benefit from it. It will be out within the next few months.

With the Xbox 360 having three cores, I think it's reasonable to assume that within six months at least a few major A-list PC games will at least partially use dual-core or dual-CPU setups.