Would like help choosing a CPU.

[bchivers]

Need to choose between an Opteron 170 or 165 or a FX55. All suggestions welcomed. TIA.

 

[Duvie]

Gonna OC????

if so....

170 is the best since the multiplier is easier to work with in keeping the HTT manageable....165 will work but the HTT (or FSB like) may get a bit high

FX55 is nice that it has unlocked up and down multipliers but the FX55 are soo old (in terms of stepping revisions they will not clock anywhere near what the new 165-170 stuff can...

 

[Noubourne]

You have an Ultra-D. Multipliers/HTT is not an issue. That's why you bought an Ultra-D; so you don't have to shell out cash for fancy multipliers. Multipliers are for rich (and stupid) kids. (No offense meant to the rich kids who aren't stupid.)

Get the 165. Period.

 

[Duvie]

Not to miss the obvious the 165 and 170 are dual core and the FX55 is not....

If you are not ocing the 170 is at a nice price point....

If you dont run many multithreaded apps the FX55 would likely be faster since it is 2.4ghz versus the 2.0ghz of the 170...However most of the 165-170 shoudl run 2.4-2.5ghz stock vcore and stock heatsinks anyways so that should negate any of that disadvantage. Plus the dual cores while they may not help in single threaded apps they will help allow you to multitask while running those same single threaded apps.

 

[Noubourne]

No reason to have purchased an Ultra-D without the intention to overclock.

200mhz (assuming he plans to run either at stock speeds) is going to be as close to imperceptible as it gets, so it certainly isn't worth the extra $35. Unless he could be sure he was getting a much better stepping on the 170 and crap on the 165... Newegg as of a couple weeks ago was sending out killer 165 steppings (see sig), so I can't really think of a good reason to recommend the 170. I would rather just burn the extra $35. That would be more valuable than having a 10x multi vs. a 9x multi with an Ultra-D.

 

[bchivers]

I plan on learning how to OC and will do so. I have the FX55 now but can sell it and get the 170 or 165 with what I get for it if there is much of a difference. Has anybody got a 165 from Newegg lately if so are they still shipping the CCBBE stepping?

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
No reason to have purchased an Ultra-D without the intention to overclock.

200mhz (assuming he plans to run either at stock speeds) is going to be as close to imperceptible as it gets, so it certainly isn't worth the extra $35. Unless he could be sure he was getting a much better stepping on the 170 and crap on the 165... Newegg as of a couple weeks ago was sending out killer 165 steppings (see sig), so I can't really think of a good reason to recommend the 170. I would rather just burn the extra $35. That would be more valuable than having a 10x multi vs. a 9x multi with an Ultra-D.

200mhz makes a huge difference in many things!!!! That is an 11% increase over 165 and 11% is huge when you are talking about 3-4 hour HD encodings....Yes both may theoretically hit same ending point, and yes the Ultra D should be able to hit very high HTT speeds as not to be the limiting factor, but you 200mhz comment is plain wrong.



many ppl would pay the measely 35 more bucks to have a higher base point....Resell of the chip later on he will get some of that back....


remember sometimes lower speeded chips are set to that speed for a reason.....The question is whether you are unlikely enough to get one. It is all a guessing game and YMMV....

I just suuggested the 35 more bucks is not that much to gain a little bit better security....

 

[Noubourne]

Originally posted by: Duvie
200mhz makes a huge difference in many things!!!!

No, it doesn't.

many ppl would pay the measely 35 more bucks to have a higher base point....Resell of the chip later on he will get some of that back....

No, they won't. Used overclocked 165 vs used overclocked 170? Please. By the time he's ready to sell it, it will only be worth $35.

remember sometimes lower speeded chips are set to that speed for a reason.....The question is whether you are unlikely enough to get one. It is all a guessing game and YMMV....

If it's all a guessing game for max overclock, then 9x vs. 10x doesn't matter, does it? What would it matter what multiplier he used to get to max clock speed if he got a bum chip? Clearly the Ultra-D is capable of maxing out his chip either way. Only someone with a crappy mobo would care about 10x and need to shell out more cash. You buy the Ultra-D which costs more than other mobos because you don't want to shell out for multipliers when it comes time to buy the chip.

I just suuggested the 35 more bucks is not that much to gain a little bit better security....

Security? Security against what? A 170 is hardly guaranteed to clock better. Look at the FX-60s. How much higher are they clocking than 165s? That's right. They aren't. And they have unlimited multis. The fact is that DFI lets overclockers buy the cheap chips and not have to pay the premium that some others are forced to consider with their sub-standard OC boards. He bought an Ultra-D. Now he should take advantage of it.

As for steppings, you might be able to head over to xtremesystems.org forums and ask if anybody knows what stepping newegg is using. They might also know of other shops that do have specific steppings.

 

[customcoms]

Actually, if anything, you will be loosing out with a 170. ALL THE OPTERON 165's I've seen clock better than their 170 brethren. Might just be more people have them, but most/if not all are getting CCBBE's with the 165...and there are a lot of people with crappy 170 stepping's. See my sig! Picked it up like 4 weeks ago, from mwave.com. I guess I hang out at dfi-street a lot and most people there are running 165's because...uh they have THE BEST S939 motherboards built and could give a darn what mulit their chip has. As long as their ram can keep up, anyway.

The key here is your ram, if anything. Do you KNOW how high those sticks can go? Those Mushkin LII's should be able to hit DDR500-you are going to need that ability especially with the 165 because some of them don't like the dividers under 166 (i.e 150 and lower just don't work...luckily 150 is working for me!).

You better have that Antec psu ready with whichever dual core Opteron you pick up. And ALL the bios's are award v6. A date code would be much better! Personally, I like (as does happy/angry_games) the 7-04-2BTA bios.

 

[Noubourne]

Some dude on the 22nd on Newegg posted that he got a CCBBE 06/16 XPMW - same stepping as mine. That's a couple weeks now they've been shipping that same stepping.

I'd go for it.

 

[customcoms]

Seconded.

 

[bchivers]

You better have that Antec psu ready with whichever dual core Opteron you pick up. And ALL the bios's are award v6. A date code would be much better! Personally, I like (as does happy/angry_games) the 7-04-2BTA bios.

That is the same bios I am using now just forgot to change my sig. Also forgot to add that I bought an OCZ GameXStream 700W will update that also.
My ram would do 500 on my MSI board but havn't been able to reach that with this one. Might list the Muskin for sale any ideas what I should ask for it? I am looking for a deal on some PC4000 2GB ram but hard to find. Was looking at some 2Gb Kit Team Xtreem Cronus 2.5-4-4-8 PC4000 (Infineon), anybody have any thoughts on how they would work in my system with problaby the 165?

As for steppings, you might be able to head over to xtremesystems.org forums and ask if anybody knows what stepping newegg is using. They might also know of other shops that do have specific steppings.

Good idea havn't been there in a while.
Thanks for all the input it is making it much easier for me.

 

[customcoms]

check DFI-Street.com. If those sticks have hit DDR500 on a pos (imho) MSI board, they are capable of the same on the DFI (especially with more voltage available, I believe those are BH-5 based sticks..), but it will require more work (but the end result is WELL worth it!). Also, your cpu might be able to use the 150 divider, in which case u r set! If you are looking at picking up 2GB of ram, I recommend the G.Skill PC4000 or these TeamXtreme Sticks (UCCC based):
Team Xtreem Cronus S series DDR500 [2x1GB] (UCCC) [3-4-3-8]
Part number: TXDR2048M500HC3DC-S
http://www.teamgroup.com.tw/Xtreem/O...l_Cronus_UCCC/

Heres a big list to feast your eyes upon:http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24719

Another guy in a similar boat, went the the TeamXtreme: http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70240

Nice psu dude, if I get a better gpu I'm going to have to pick one of those GamerXtreme's up.

 

[bchivers]

Update. I ordered a 165 from Newegg and 2x1gb Patriot pc4000 UCCC chips I think. Thanks for the help.

 

[hectorsm]

Good choice.

Mine is a CCBBE 06/16 and it's running at 2.8 with stock voltage. Good luck on yours!