who's wrong here?

oktober75

Member
Nov 20, 2002
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so i'm looking around Newegg.com for some new parts and figure i want the new 3200+ Athlon 64 with the 754 pin layout.

i checked Newegg.com and found this item: 3200+ Athlon 64

I then go over to AMD.com and find the details on this cpu: Athlon 64 specs

Now look closely at the Newegg.com description and you'll see that its stated to be a 2.2ghz cpu and with 512K cache. Neither of these specs are listed together under the AMD listings.

What i'm trying to figure out is what CPU this is that they're selling. I guess calling Newegg might help, but tech questions like this i rarely have solved via phone conversations. Product is usually in Alaska with Phone Rep in Idaho.

There are numerous other blunders on their site for this processor. I particularly like the "Retail -OEM Barebone" cpu: 3200+ Ahtlon 64's

Any help appreciated.
 

Gothgar

Lifer
Sep 1, 2004
13,429
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512 L2 cache clocked at 2.2, this is their older newcastle core,


the new socket 939 @ 90nm
512 L2 cache clocked at 2ghz, this is the new winchester core
 

Nyati13

Senior member
Jan 2, 2003
785
1
76
The A64 3200+ is sold in 3 versions

Socket 754
2.0GHz, 1MB cache, Single-Channel RAM (Clawhammer core)
2.2GHz, 512KB cache, Single-Channel RAM (Newcastle core)

Socket 939
2.0GHz, 512KB cache, Dual-Channel RAM (Winchester core)

 

oktober75

Member
Nov 20, 2002
69
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thanks to both of you.

i need to catch up on some reading it appears.

-eddie

edit: Gothgar - how do you like your DFI board? I'm looking at the DFI Lanparty 250GB nForce3 board to pair with my new A64 CPU.
 

Kabob

Lifer
Sep 5, 2004
15,248
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You'll get about the same speed with either core. I hear people ranting and raving about their Newcastle's, but I just sold my Clawhammer yesterday and I've never had a complaint with it. The extra 512kb of L2 Cache is about equal to the 200MHz clock difference between the chips, and I believe they overclock to about the same speed.

I'd think the Clawhammer would have a little more room to fiddle though with the lower clock, but then again the Newcastle has a higher multiplier to mess with, so I guess it could go either way.
 

Gothgar

Lifer
Sep 1, 2004
13,429
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Originally posted by: oktober75
so out of the two 754 chips, which one would i want: the clawhammer or the newcastle?

The DFI lanparty is an awesome board, a lot of reviews say it is the best s754 board ever tested...


Out of the two cores, I would go with the Newcastle, it clocks higher, and the 200 mhz is better than the 512 l2 cache

but if you are really interested in OCing I would suggest looking into the winchester core (the new socket 939), it is dual channel and can supposedly OC like a mofo
 

Kabob

Lifer
Sep 5, 2004
15,248
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Originally posted by: Gothgarit is dual channel and can supposedly OC like a mofo

It will overclock like a mofo...if you get the right motherboard and can keep it cool enough, which apparently is more of a task than people originally thought. AAT's cherry picked mobo did it easily enough, but then again, the average MSI mobo probably won't work as well.

If you want to go w/socket 754, then I'd get a DFI Lanparty UT3, which is a great overclocking mobo and seems to be pretty solid all around. Either core will do fine, and the 512MB of L2 on the Clawhammer will be faster in some programs while the extra 200MHz on the Newcastle will be faster in others (Doom 3 likes the extra cache alot)

If you want to instead go with s939 (which I would suggest) I'd go with either the 3000+ or 3200+ Winchester, and either:

A) Get the Soltek or Asus motherboards, since the MSI and Gigabyte seem to be buggy as hell for some, and fine for others (more seem to have problems though...)
B) Wait just a little while and get an NForce 4 motherboard and switch over to PCI-Express, which will cost you a bit more because there's not going to be many NF4 boards for a while.

I'm switching over to s939 now and am probably going to get the Soltek, simply because SLI is not going to be worth the price (IMHO), and 1 AGP card is about the same speed as 1 PCI-E card.

Just my opinion though :)
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
5
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Originally posted by: oktober75
so out of the two 754 chips, which one would i want: the clawhammer or the newcastle?

I went with the NC, cause I figure the extra 200MHz helps more than the extra cache.
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
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Originally posted by: kabob983
You'll get about the same speed with either core. I hear people ranting and raving about their Newcastle's, but I just sold my Clawhammer yesterday and I've never had a complaint with it. The extra 512kb of L2 Cache is about equal to the 200MHz clock difference between the chips, and I believe they overclock to about the same speed.

I'd think the Clawhammer would have a little more room to fiddle though with the lower clock, but then again the Newcastle has a higher multiplier to mess with, so I guess it could go either way.

does the newcastle run at a higher fsb or anything like that? or does it just have a higher multiplier?
 

erikistired

Diamond Member
Sep 27, 2000
9,739
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okay cool. i just bought a a64 that i believe to be a clawhammer (3200+ retail chip, 1mb cache). it's my first amd chip since the k6 days and i got a pretty good deal. excited to see what all the fuss is about.
 

oktober75

Member
Nov 20, 2002
69
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0
thanks guys.

i'll do a little bit more reading up.

as for waiting out till the new nForce4 boards come out....I'm already 2 years behind so waiting is getting on my nerves. i've been trying to upgrade the past couple months with waiting and waiting in mind.

wait for PCI-Express, wait for nForce3, wait for dual channel....we all know the routine.

i'm just looking to buy a mid-high budget rig at around $1200 or so.
 

Kabob

Lifer
Sep 5, 2004
15,248
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i'm just looking to buy a mid-high budget rig at around $1200 or so

I'd seriously consider waiting for NF4 though, as this will allow you to wait a longer period of time without going having to do a major upgrade.

If you want to keep it below $1200:

Get a s939 3000+ from mwave ($150) or spend an extra $40 and get a 3200+
Get an NF4 mobo when they come out (hopefully next week) (~$150 - hopefully)
Get some value PC3200 RAM (I've seen 1GB of this as cheap as $120 at outpost, just keep your eyes peeled)
Grab a PCI-Express 6600 GT or X700 XT, your choice ($195-210)
Get a decent name brand power supply (I'd go with 430+ watts with at least 24A on the 12v rail) (~$50-$130)
If you need it, get a new case (~$50-$120)

This is assuming that you'll be keeping your old monitor, speakers, sound card, keyboard, and mouse.

If you want more power, you can get SLI'd 6600 GT's or just get an PCI-E 6800 GT (go with the 1 6800 GT), upgrade the processor, get new cooling and overclock or whatever you want. Also, the advantage of going with NForce 4 is that if you ever need to upgrade your video card power, just throw in another card and SLI them.

As I've listed it you can potentially build a nice system for about $715, which seems a little low, but hey, that gives you some head room to upgrade.

Switch from the 6600 GT to a 6800 GT and add $150 or so (if you look hard enough) and go with the 3200+ for $40, get higher performance RAM for another $80-$160, and better cooling for about $40 and you're looking at a killer system for $1025 + shipping.

That's just what I'd do though, it's your call.

Good Luck!!

Feel free to PM me too :)
 

oktober75

Member
Nov 20, 2002
69
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thanks for the advice Kabob.

here is what i'm looking at now for a complete upgrade (all from newegg):

Athlon 64 754pin 3400+ chip
DFI Lanparty nForce3 250GB board
Corsair 2x512mb 3200ddr ram
BFG 6800OC video card
Optorite 12x Dual-DVD burner
Lite-On DVD/CDRW
Lian-Li case
floppy
all-in-one flash memory card reader

....

just about to scrim in CS...finish later. :)
 

oktober75

Member
Nov 20, 2002
69
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Originally posted by: CraigRT
looks good oktober75, should run fantastic

i'm trying to upgrade to a decent point. add in a few odds and ends and be happy for another 2 years or so.

right now i'm on a ti4200 and athlon xp 1800+. so you can imagine what kind of a step up this would be for me.

as far as HD configs go, do you recommend one large 200GB drive or like two 80gb drives? i know you lose about 40GB but is it better to spread the I/O over two channels or to have one large disk? i do a lot of video encoding/ripping and wondering if its better to have just one large HD or two seperate drives and do the encoding/ripping on one and put the OS on another?

btw, i'm going strictly SATA.
 

Kabob

Lifer
Sep 5, 2004
15,248
0
76
That's not that big of a jump really. I went from a P3 933 w/ a GF 2 MX200 to an Athlon 64 3200+ and a FX 5200 (and I'm upgrading that again) last month. Still, it all does look good though. Should be smoothe sailing.

No clue about the Hard Drives. I'm only using 1 80GB Disk, and I'm not very knowledgeable about RAID.

Good Luck!!
 

imported_whatever

Platinum Member
Jul 9, 2004
2,019
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Originally posted by: oktober75
as far as HD configs go, do you recommend one large 200GB drive or like two 80gb drives? i know you lose about 40GB but is it better to spread the I/O over two channels or to have one large disk? i do a lot of video encoding/ripping and wondering if its better to have just one large HD or two seperate drives and do the encoding/ripping on one and put the OS on another?

btw, i'm going strictly SATA.

if you are willing to spend money, go with the 74GB Raptor. Fastest SATA hdd available.
otherwise, go with the 2* 80GB sata drives and use a RAID0. This is striping, and will boost the speed a little. It will essentially be one big 160GB drive (a little smaller, actually, but not much), and the only disadvantage is that the failure rate is effectively doubled. (ie if one drive fails all of the data are lost)
most current motherboards have integrated sata raid, so the raid will not increase the cost.