Opteron vs Athlon X2

[nanaki333]

Sorry if this was asked. I searched for operton vs athlon and turned up nothing. Anyway, what's the difference between the dual core AM2 opteron and the X2 AM2 processors? Like, a 2.6ghz 5600 costs as much as a 2.2ghz opteron. What's that extra money going to exactly? Looks like they both have the same cache according to the egg.

Do they run cooler? Better for overclocking? I don't get it. You get less speed for more money.

 

[bryanW1995]

I got an opteron 180 for my skt 939 board b/c I couldn't find an x2 4800+ skt 939. cpu-z shows the opty as a toledo core, same as the x2 4800+. Also, on 939 the prices are pretty close. I am not aware of any differences other than marketing mumbo-jumbo in 939 or am2 opterons vs x2 64's.

 

[lyssword]

http://developer.amd.com/articlex.jsp?id=49 supposedly they can access more memory and they have virtualization technology, which is not available on Athlon 64 X2, and can access ecc and non ecc memory

Also 5600+ is 2.8 not 2.6 : )

 

[lopri]

If you're interested in clock-for-clock performance difference - I have a (almost) 3 year old screenshot.

http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=lol2ph4.jpg

 

[Lord Banshee]

I am pretty sure the Opterons on the 939 do not have the Virtualization settings. It is the AM2 processors that have this.

From wiki:

AMD virtualization (AMD-V)

AMD's virtualization extensions to the 64-bit x86 architecture is named AMD Virtualization, abbreviated AMD-V. It is still referred to as "Pacifica", the AMD internal project code name.

AMD-V is present in all K8 AMD (Athlon 64) processors from stepping "F" and all newer processors support AMD-V technology. This applies for all current Socket AM2 and Socket F processors.

 

[lyssword]

He was asking about am2. Like 1218 SE vs 5200+. And you're right about virtualization thing, I looked at the specs of new am2 and they do have em.