Yet another "What To Buy" Thread! Opteron vs. San Diego

gnomepunk

Senior member
Jun 17, 2004
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Venice in my sig has gone belly up. RMA my mobo thinking that was the issue, but my comp still won't boot with the new mobo. POST's with a "CPU running in safe mode. Please reset CPU frequency in BIOS." error message. I got it OEM about 6 months ago so no dice on the RMA. CPU warranties suck.

So far I've narrowed it down to these two chips.
Athlon64 3700+ San Diego $233
or
Opteron 170 $402

I'm looking to buy one of these chips on Monday. I consider myself an experienced overclocker and have had good luck with all my AMD chips minus the Venice. I do play alot of games and when I'm working on my main computer at home I do alot of multitasking as well, so I can somewhat justify the dual-core opty. But at almost half the price, the san diego would oc nicely and keep me happy til I pull the dual-core trigger sometime next year. I'm hoping to add a 7800GT next month, but obviously the opty will put a larger hole in my (married) wallet. I've got a copy of XPx64 through my college's volume license agreement that I'm thinking about loading, but I've still got my copy of XP Pro I could reinstall as well. Where is the best bang for the buck? I think I almost have my wife convinced to let me get the 170, but that might knock the 7800GT off the christmas list. :(

Edit: This chip will live in the Ultra-D. Also, which one will easily hit 250fsb so I can take advantage of my PC4000-VX. I've gotten this board to 295 with the venice, but the memory stops at around 255.
 

Madellga

Senior member
Sep 9, 2004
713
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The Opteron is a good CPU but you need the 7800GT more I guess.

Go with the San Diego. And buy a BOXED one, the warranty is 3 years.
OEM CPUs depends on the store policy. Boxed you deal directly with AMD.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
81
If you can afford it, the 170 would pwn.

But really, if the primary use is gamimg, check out the Opteron 146 & grab that 7800GT :)
 

gnomepunk

Senior member
Jun 17, 2004
499
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The way my wife sees it is if I get the chip I "want" then I won't "want" a new one any time soon. I'm leaning more toward the 170, but I know I could be very happy with the Sandy or the 146.

Damn, Usually I know exactly what I want, but I'm a little stuck this time.
 

gnomepunk

Senior member
Jun 17, 2004
499
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Got too much stuff on the HD to reformat. Besides it still won't go into the BIOS w/ the HD unplugged.

After the "CPU running in safe mode. Please reset CPU frequency in BIOS." error message it says "Press F1 to continue, DEL to enter CMOS." If I hit F1 the screen goes black and my LCD says "Video Mode not supported." If I hit DEL it goes to a black screen with a blinking cursor in the upper left corner. I've been over at DFI-Street trying to figure out if its the mobo, but after the RMA I still get the same error message.

I really want to get the 170, but it's going to be a hard sell. You guys think the 939 single core Opterons are better than a Sandy?
 

gnomepunk

Senior member
Jun 17, 2004
499
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Dang that is a nice price, but I really don't want to buy another OEM proc. I'm probably going to go with the San Diego or a 144/146. I'll go dual-core when I have a chance to save and get the parts that I really want.