Switch Venice to Opty worth it?

[Mattd46612]

I can overclock my venice to 2.8, but am itching for a change but dont want to spend a fortune. Is a single or dual core opty worth it for me?

 

[stevty2889]

Dual core might be worth it depending on what you do, but you kinda left out any of the useful information...

 

[Captante]

If your already getting 2.8ghz from your Venice, a single core Opteron would be a waste of time since the odds of getting it any higher are pretty slim, a dual-core on the other hand would be totally worth it even if it won't OC as high because it will make your system more future-proof. I just went from an Winny 3200+ (not OC'ed) to an Opteron 170 dual-core & even though I'm running it at default 2ghz right now, my system feels considerably more responsive... can't wait to try some overclocking after I re-install XP tomorrow!

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Captante
If your already getting 2.8ghz from your Venice, a single core Opteron would be a waste of time since the odds of getting it any higher are pretty slim, a dual-core on the other hand would be totally worth it even if it won't OC as high because it will make your system more future-proof. I just went from an Winny 3200+ (not OC'ed) to an Opteron 170 dual-core & even though I'm running it at default 2ghz right now, my system feels considerably more responsive... can't wait to try some overclocking after I re-install XP tomorrow!

I agree, if you just have the money and want to spend it. Apps that are SMP-capable sometimes get dramatic performance increases with dual core, and responsiveness will usually be better too. If you just do gaming you may not see any big performance increases, but you've gotten basically all you can from the single core world at this point. Don't feel like you have to upgrade now, but since it sounds like you want to get something new anyway, an Opteron 165/170 is definitely where it's at...

 

[Mattd46612]

planning a new rig in the next month or 2. Not going to wait for M2 cuz I dont want to be invovled in the first generation problems and feel good quality 939 with dual will last quite a while. Not really that Im unhappy with my Venice just always itching to change something, will probably go with dual core opty and atleast 2gb of ram. Do you think the Asrock board with the M2 upgrade path is a worthwhile thing or just go with another higher quality o/c board like a DFI SLI or something?

 

[Mattd46612]

is there even a gurantee that the Asrock boards upgrade path will work and if it does work will it be as efficient as a real M2 board?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Mattd46612
planning a new rig in the next month or 2. Not going to wait for M2 cuz I dont want to be invovled in the first generation problems and feel good quality 939 with dual will last quite a while. Not really that Im unhappy with my Venice just always itching to change something, will probably go with dual core opty and atleast 2gb of ram. Do you think the Asrock board with the M2 upgrade path is a worthwhile thing or just go with another higher quality o/c board like a DFI SLI or something?

I think the ASRock board, while not without its problems (check out my near 1000-post thread on it in the Motherboards forum), is great if you still have an AGP video card you want to keep. If you don't need the AGP, then there are definitely better overclocking boards out there, but with a pretty simple voltmod you can increase the available Vcore to 1.55V, which is usually quite sufficient for a nice overclock. To be honest I'm not particularly excited about the M2 upgradeability since I'm more than happy with my Opteron 170, but it is interesting at least. When I was looking up info about the board several months back, I found that the upgrade riser cards for their older motherboards only cost $30-35, and performance seemed to be as good as a "real" motherboard with that socket. I think it's a nice option to have, it's inexpensive (the card anyway; the CPU's and having to replace your RAM will be another issue...), and it's somewhat unique.

If you're planning on getting a 939 CPU right now and are only slightly interested in M2 for the distant future, especially if you have an AGP video card you want to use, I think the ASRock board is a solid choice. If you're looking for the best overclocking board out there, this probably wouldn't be your first choice. (I am getting 2.6-2.7GHz out of my opty on it though...)

 

[Mattd46612]

Really undecided right now as to what I will get I dont have any desire for SLI or Crossfire, I MAY keep my 6800GT but PCI-X is the future so that is nice too. And this seems like a popular board for use with the Opty, the M2 upgrade path has me licking my chops. But really if you put a great 939 system together by the time your system will lag behind you might as well just buy a whole new system and M2 will be well established and cheaper. lol I can talk myself in and out of something 100x before I decide.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Mattd46612
Really undecided right now as to what I will get I dont have any desire for SLI or Crossfire, I MAY keep my 6800GT but PCI-X is the future so that is nice too. And this seems like a popular board for use with the Opty, the M2 upgrade path has me licking my chops. But really if you put a great 939 system together by the time your system will lag behind you might as well just buy a whole new system and M2 will be well established and cheaper. lol I can talk myself in and out of something 100x before I decide.

I know what you mean.

I'm not very optimistic that M2 will bring anything much more compelling than the current 939 opty's (at any reasonable price) any time in the near future. I could be wrong of course, but their roadmaps (the last that I'd seen) show basically just another speed bump if that. It sounds like they won't have 65nm ready for quite a while (almost certainly not this year).

It's true that 939 is sort of on its way out, at least as far as new CPU's go, but unless M2 brings a lot more performance than I think it will...meh. Grab a 939 Opty (if you can find one at a good price) and call it a day, IMO.

But also since the system you have right now isn't in any need of an upgrade, you could always just wait a few months and see what happens. To be honest, unless I just had a lot of money to throw around (I usually don't), I'd stick with the madly overclocked Venice for a while unless you think you'll get big gains from dual core right now. I came from an Athlon XP before my Opteron so it was at least somewhat justifiable to me to spend the money.

 

[nealh]

I went from a 3200@2750 to opty 165@2610, then tried like a fool for more and got an opty 170@2700(mainly becasue monarch seemed to have a large number of 0530 but guess what I got 0546 )....do not waste your time on dual core...I see no real worthwhile differences..some things are a touch faster but not worth the cost(unless you really mutlitask)

Get a DFI sli dr if you want an ocing mobo..it is very nice but ram picky and has some issues like all hardware

I think you are better off waiting...why do you need to upgrade

Hopefully not like me becuase it looks tempting and it seems everyone is doing it

The added cost was not worth it

I still need to see one of my dual core cpus becasue I am a fool...

 

[Yianaki]

Don't get a dual core at ALL if you plan on using NVIDIA. Their newer 8x.xx series doesn't work correctly with dual core systems something no review has mentioned. You must use the 78.01 drivers if you don't want blue screens of fun. Yes this is with the newest drivers WHQL cert and with all betas... Try to run paint shop pro x trial or full a garanteed crash every time. As well as the random ones that don't EVER occur with the 78's. Even though it says in the nvidia fix list that PAINT SHOP X is fixed. HAH! So pretty much no game fixes or 7800gtx or whatnot.

Read the horror stories
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?s=b3...b4a29727c04b0836088101b5b&showforum=33

I remeber when sites like ANADS, HARD OCP, and TOMS actually wrote about issues like this. The good ole days. And I have never bought a ATI card used NVIDIA since riva 128 only. Use(d) Nvidia suprisingly because of ati stability issues in the past.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Yianaki
Don't get a dual core at ALL if you plan on using NVIDIA. Their newer 8x.xx series doesn't work correctly with dual core systems something no review has mentioned. You must use the 78.01 drivers if you don't want blue screens of fun. Yes this is with the newest drivers WHQL cert and with all betas... Try to run paint shop pro x trial or full a garanteed crash every time. As well as the random ones that don't EVER occur with the 78's. Even though it says in the nvidia fix list that PAINT SHOP X is fixed. HAH! So pretty much no game fixes or 7800gtx or whatnot.

Read the horror stories
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?s=b3...b4a29727c04b0836088101b5b&showforum=33

I remeber when sites like ANADS, HARD OCP, and TOMS actually wrote about issues like this. The good ole days. And I have never bought a ATI card used NVIDIA since riva 128 only. Use(d) Nvidia suprisingly because of ati stability issues in the past.

I've not gotten a single blue screen since I installed the 80 series drivers (on 81.98 right now), and I'm running an Opteron 170. I don't doubt that there are a few issues in some cases (no software is perfect), but I think it's inaccurate to say that dual core CPU's don't work at all with Nvidia products/drivers.

 

[Yianaki]

Download the PSP X trial install it. It won't install right. You have a problem you just don't know it yet. People post they have no problem in that NVIDIA forum then the next day they post "Oh crap it is BSOD on me too now". Corel says rightly so that is an NVIDIA prob. When they fix that then it's fixed. I don't test the newer drivers because I don't want to reinstall windows. I just install the drivers and try to run PSPX and it is always a no go. I don't bother waiting for Call of Duty 2 to crash or random BSODs. I have tried to fix it with every crap registry hack for weeks. I am tired researching and trying to fix something that should be a given. Get a driver stable then add stupid useless 2fps adding optimizations!!!!

 

[bagg]

I also am running an Opty Dual Core (165) and have an Nvidia 7800GTX running the latest drivers and have not had one bit of problems whatsoever. No BSOD's or general instability at all. Granted, I don't use PSPx, but the machine sees heavy daily use and has not given me 1 problem at all. Games, including COD2, run exceptionally well. I strongly disagree with your statement "Don't get a dual core at ALL if you plan on using NVIDIA. Their newer 8x.xx series doesn't work correctly with dual core systems something no review has mentioned." It's simply not true. They work fine. There may be a problem with PSP registering dll's that conflict with the Nvidia dll's, but to try and discourage people from buying a Dual Core when they own an Nvidia card isn't right. There is a reason why no reviewer has mentioned it......it's because it hasn't happened to them. Just like it hasn't happened to me and likely to the vast majority of people who have a similiar setup.

 

[Yianaki]

I beg to differ, any windows non gaming program that uses openGL acceleration in windows causes these problems. The older 8x drivers would not even install without giving random BSOD. Call of Duty was very buggy as well. When they get the PSPx fixed then it's fixed. I am not reinstalling windows again due to some kind of driver corruption I find out about down the line. Having a problem like this since SEPT from a major company like this is inecusable. PSPx is just the easiest to show as it is shareware and not a 300$ graphics design program.

 

[Mattd46612]

well since I am probably selling my system and gettin a new one anyway its really looking like Dual Core is almost a gimmick at this point and shows very little real world advantage to justify the extra money, and if i got with a single core chip I think the opty with the 1mb cache and a overlock to 2.6-2.7ish is a very small upgrade but wont cost much, will have to sit back read a few more threads over the next few weeks before I mak ea final decision, Dual Core just doesnt appeal to me all that much RIGHT NOW, but im sure in the future it may be utilized more.

 

[themusgrat]

I also have a 165 (which is what you should get) and an nVidia card, and have had no problems, though my PSU just gave out. So get the 165 now, if you are going to get it, because the newest steppings are very much so beastly. Yes, feel the power. I can get to 3.0, and probably higher, at high voltage, but stay at a meager 2.7 @ 1.45v. Yes, my system is fast, and no, no driver issues, even with heavy gaming and video encoding. Also, I love the DFI-SLI board so much that I will not recommend another board until DFI comes out with a better one. Oh, and dual core is very worth it. I can play BF2 and encode DVDs t the same time with no performance loss. Just wait until the BF2 dual core ptches. Did I mention that I like BF2? Good luck, and BTW, M2 is no reason to wait.

 

[Mattd46612]

going to completely rebuild when i do this, Id like 4gb of ram, maybe try out a mid-range ATI card, switch to a raptor SATA setup, nice full tower, and motherboard yet to be determined. I think im pretty much going to end up with a Dual Core, that way im done with for another year or 2. Dont want to have to swap cpu in 3-6 months cuz im wonderin what could have been. I do alot of gaming and a ton of dvd encoding so I can use the dual.