Quick response please

[Elad OCS]

Which is better using the same mobo: ASUS A8NE-FM SOCKET 939 MOTHERBOARD w/heatsink & fan.
Has 1 PCIe 16 even for new gpu

DUAL CORE AMD ATHLON X2 3800+ 2.0GHz CPU PROCESSOR (mobo/cpu $164.98)

or

AMD OPTERON 146 2.0GHz CPU PROCESSOR (mobo/cpu $114.98)

(not concern on prices here on these)

Found these on ebay (new) to upgrade my broken system. This system is for my Clear Case to use as a backup computer. Or, could do till newer stuff hits the market (lol I can hear Cortath breathing FiRe as he told me so, it will never end )

 Both will use my 3) CORSAIR XMS 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Desktop Memory Model CMX512-3200C2PRO
These are the only top ones (mobo combo) I've found that will use my RAM (184 pin) as newer mobo's use 240 pins
Will have to find 1 more of these.
 The ones with the 18 Tri-color leds on top of the ram. Why I want to stick with em for the clear case mod

Mobo info:
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-AMD-ATHLON-X2-3800-CPU-ASUS-MOTHERBOARD-COMBO-KIT-/350334577202?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5191916a32
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DUAL CORE AMD ATHLON X2 3800+ 2.0GHz CPU PROCESSOR
Type    CPU / Microprocessor
Family    AMD Athlon 64 X2
Model number    3800++
CPU part number
Box part numberr
Frequency (MHz)    3800+ (rated))
2000 (real)
Package    939-pin lidded organic microPGA
1.57" x 1.57" (4 cm x 4 cm)
< b>    Socket 939
Introduction date    Aug 1, 2005
Price at introduction    $354
 
Architecture / Microarchitecture
Processor core    Manchester
Core stepping    E4
Manufacturing process    0.09 micron
150 million transistors
Data width    64 bit
Number of cores    2
Floating Point Unit    Integrated
< cache 1 Level>    2 x 64 KB 2-way associative instruction cachee
2 x 64 KB 2-way associative data cache
Level 2 cache size    2 x 512 KB exclusive 16-way associative cachee
Physical memory    1 TB
Virtual memory (TB)    256
Features    

    * MMX technology
    * 3DNow!
    * SSE
    * SSE2
    * SSE3
    * <> Enhanced Virus Protection

Low power featuress    

    * Halt state
    * < Grant> Cool'n'Quiet technology

On-chip peripheralss    

    * Dual-channel DDR SDRAM memory controller
    * HyperTransport link
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Opteron data n/a: (no L1 cache mention at amd site)
OSA146DAA5CF OSA146CFBOX 2000 MHz L2Cache 1MB, System Bus 1000, 90nm SOI Socket 939 1.35V 1.40V 47.5A 67.0W 49'C 65'C 30F72 90nm SOI E6

[Elad OCS]

Yer too slow in responding (lol)

From Tom's Choice forums:

From what I read these Opteron 64 on the 939 socket will be able to overclock more stable then the mainstream Athlon 64's due to the work loads that they are made to handle for single servers. So the Opterons 64 seem like the more and more obv choice to get.

I'm curious as to why you want the Opteron? Admittedly, I've read little about it other than it's a 'server chip' & it's not a CPU that's mentioned in these forums very often...neither is the Xeon or Athlon MP. Other than more L2 cache, what makes it more attractive than the 3200+ Venice?

Toms Hardware:

Athlon 64 X2 vs. Opteron
Forum CPU & Components : CPUs - Athlon 64 X2 vs. Opteron

I'm wondering if someone can outline the difference between these two CPU lines for me? I checked AMD's site, but just found a marketing difference that classified the Athlon as a "home" CPU and Opteron as a "work" CPU... not too helpful. I've heard it tossed around that Optys are better for overclocking. Is this the case, and if so why?


The Opteron is a Server CPU so it is built to be very stable and reliable. It also requires an Opteron compatible motherboard and expensive Registered ECC RAM.

The Athlon 64 939 CPUs are awesome do not require Registered ECC and are frequently faster although sometimes have less L2 cache (usually half - but not always).

Opteron server boards typically have high-end server components like PCI-X slots, sometimes have 2 or more independent PCI buses for twice the performance and can support a lot more RAM than normal motherboards.

A typical motherboard supports up to 4GB RAM max if you are lucky, a nice Opteron board usually supports 16GB RAM or MORE.

Some Opteron boards also have enterprise level features and onboard SCSI sometimes with RAID or a special zero-channel RAID slot.

Also consumer boards have 1 939 CPU socket whereas Opteron boards have 2, 4, 8 or more CPU sockets for Dual, Quad, 8way and N-way SMP (symmetric multiprocessing).

I have actually built several Dual Opteron servers and they are very nice although they can be quite expensive.


Well perhaps your education on opterons and smp on the desktop is a bit dated. The Opteron 1 series is for workstations in single CPU environments. In fact, the best gaming platform out right now for overclockers is the Opteron 1 series for 939, yes 939. They do NOT require ECC or Registered ram. Since they are an opteron they are cooler and more stable. People are getting the 165 which is a dual core 1.8Ghz with 1MB L2 per core. They run either 1.3 or 1.35 (cant remember which) on the vcore and will often clock to around 2.4ghz on OEM coolers at that voltage. Then bump em up to about 1.5V and get usually 2.8ish with a decent cooler Think of it as a dual FX59 (if it was made now) for $345. There is a single core 146 I think that clocks often to 3+ghz and its only about $240. Go check out some forums. Anandtech's boards have alot as do others. In fact I think there was an article about it on their site recently.

Its worth looking into. The DFI expert mobo is the best there is for OCing but even some cheap ASRock boards can do a good bang for the buck work. Imagine an Aspire case with the ASRock NF 4100 based system with a $240 single core and a 6800 GS with 2.2.2.5 Patriot. What, $800ish and incredible performance?


Aye, I have heard of this new opteron but have not had any first-hand experience with it so I left it out of my post completely.

I was only referring to 2, 4, 8 and n-Way SMP in my post.

Models 2xx, 4xx, 8xx, etc

The other really cool thing about the Opterons is that they have dedicated Hypertransport buses just to communicate with each other as well as having the integrated memory controller leading to their own dedicated RAM so if you buy enough RAM each opteron in your system can have its own 2, 4, 8 or more GB or RAM all to itself. This RAM is sharable via the CPU to CPU Hypertransport links.

This is really wicked, back in the day this was unheard of -- CPUs in SMP machines had to jump through hoops to talk to each other.

The Opterons also have the bandwidth to offer really FAST access to PCI, PCI-X, PCI-Express and sometimes AGP interfaces on the motherboard and as I mentioned previously some Opteron motherboards even have 2 or more PCI-X buses for TWICE the bandwidth. Tyan for example makes the S2882 board which has 2 x 64bit PCI-X buses each capable of up to 133MHz operation. This is NOT the same as having 2 x 64bit PCI-X slots each bus can work independently has the full bandwidth of a PCI-X bus running at 64bit x 133MHz.

Please do correct me if I mispoke.

Thank you and have a great holiday everybody!


All of Amd's die are cut from the same wafers. The best parts (highest bin) are opteron.


well not allways, there is more than one plant...

Yes, all A64 based stuff is similar. The hypertransports are used to link diffrent CPUs as well as different cores. They each have an individual L2 cache. That'll change on future revisoins (M2 maybe?)

The new Xeon thats just releasing is similar, with UNSHARED memory bandwidth so the performance difference should be narrowing. We'll know really soon.

There are also desktop boards with dual TRUE x16 PCIe, only the newest Nforce4's can do that though.

[TheLastSparten OCS]

Personally I would go with the AMD Athlon X2 3800+. From what I can tell unless your going to put these cpu's into a server, there is really no need to get the opty. And if your worried about overclock stability, I think you'll be fine with either one as AMD seems to be inherently better suited for overclocking than intel's cpu's are.

Your also using DDR 400 RAM. Overclocking your processor isnt going to improve your performance that greatly until the RAM gets upgraded.

Just my humble opinion here

[Elad OCS]

Thinking same (Athlon) and ram, I had this ram overclocked to 480 before so can overclock em
Reason for this post is for the use of my the ram (TriColor leds on ram) and looks very cool in the clear-case mod.

[TheLastSparten OCS]

hehe.. well its your choice. Personally I'd throw out the RAM and get at least DDR2 as I am more about "what it can do" rather than aesthetics. But some tricolored leds on your RAM chips in a clear case would look prettty nice. I'd be in awe until it was turned on

[Elad OCS]

? Ive been using this ram all along till a few weeks ago. Works great with bhd
This is just for a backup computer to get online once I get my new-built system going.

Also, the mobo listed above does not support ddr2

[Heff OCS]

Hey, I was looking at the OPTERON 146 and it is a sweet little processor.  Stable and easily overclockable and from what I have read would give the dual cores a good run for the money but I would also probably go with the Athlon X2 3800+.  That is what I am currently running in my computer on an Asrock 939 dual sata mobo.

[Elad OCS]

And don't you need to upgrade Heff to play with the bigboys?

And tinkering around with my new toy (psu tester) I found the same old problem I had before - power connector on the PSU 20pin connector to mobo.
My other system is AOK after all. But, for $150 (+$20 for more same ram set found on ebay - Oooo 2 gigs now-lol), could upgrade it to the dual 3800+, but will need 64 bit OS to use it properly  

 Guess XP Pro could get by for now though but am sure not too much more improvement from 3000barton.
Suddenly, the second project is moving up $350 area and into my main build's budget. Nicer backup though...
 
O shoot, forgot, will need a GPU too as its pciE 16. Don't have one of them cards... $ Ca-Ching $

[Heff OCS]

I can play COD4 MW, I am at the lower requirements but it play decent.  I can also play COD4 MW2 but after that I need an upgrade.
 
I was going through the computers at work that are scheduled to be parted out destroyed when an old Gateway, pre Win 98 era, caught my eye.  It didn't have a stock power supply and when I cracked the case I could see why.  Someone had gutted the case and slapped in a Intel MB with 4 Gigs of memory, 500 Watt PS, and I believe a dual core cpu.  I am gonna tear into it when I get some free time and see what I have.

[TheLastSparten OCS]

HAHA! sounds like one of those lucky, yet amazing finds that rarely pop up. Best Wishes in finding some gold!!