CPU limited, should I upgrade CPU?

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Xenozx

2[H]4U
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Jun 16, 2004
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OK. Currently I have..

ASUS A8N premium SLI motherboard
3500+ 939 AMD CPU
2 GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 memory (1gbx2)
Antec 480 watt PSU
1 evga 7900 GTX non superclocked

Looking at the above the 3500+ seems to stand out like a sore thumb....


I just plopped a bit of money down on the GTX and Motherboard so I dont want to spend 900+ on a nice FX processor.

I was browsing xbitlabs.com and saw an article on the Opteron 165 dual core processor. It looked like they took it from 1.8 ghz to 2.6+. I could only imagine that that has to be way more powerful then my 3500+ (currently overclocked to 2.45 ghz (223 fsb)).

I guess I am looking for anyone that may have taken this route. Do these processors overclock well and is it worth the price of admission or should I wait for the new Conroe processors and or AMD's new stuff before I upgrade my processor?

Mainly with my current system specs (mainly memory) will I be OK with overclocking a processor like this and getting performance on the level of a 4600+ or so?
 
Also I see it mentions the core being a Taledo core, yet when I look it up on www.newegg.com they list the processor as a Denmark. Am I missing something with that?
 
Theres no garantee you'll hit 2.6, your RAM is DDR400? If so you'll need to use a divider to up the FSB.

Denmark is the same as toledo I guess.
 
Well if you're doing alright now, I'd wait a little longer. Even if the new conroe archetecture, and even the Socket AM2 processors dont turn out too well, it'll still drive down the prices of an Opteron 165. If you need the speed, go for it, but remember, the chance of clocking your 165 to 2.6 speeds (or even to 2.45 for that matter) are really variable. If have the cooling enough to get it to 2.4, you'll have a bit less power than you do now, but you'll have 2 cores, always something nice for multitasking.
 
I have a nice aftermarket heatsink currently. Its in use on my 3500+ but it should adopt to the 165 just the same. I know overclocking is never guarentee'd but after reading all the reviews at newegg I noticed everyone hitting 2.5+ easily. My memory would probably be my downfall because yes it is ddr 400. I know you can usually play with latency on the RAM to go higher and was thinking changing the default 2-3-2-5 to like 2.5-3-3-8 or something and maybe getting it up from the stock 200 mhz fsb to like 273 or something. Maybe I would have to go higher latency wise, but I will do some researching to see if I can find someone with my memory and see what their overclocking results where.
 
Well the memory sticks do seem to move up to about 250 mhz or such with relaxed timings.
250mhz(DDR500) 3-3-2-6 1T 2.7v
and as high as DDR520 @ 3-3-3-6 1T 2.7v

I figured I would see how high I can clock them on my 3500+ tonight by reducing the multiplier and see where I can get them.

so If I can hit 250x10 on my 3500+ instead of the 230x11 IM doing now then I should be able to get my memory to go just as high with the new processor no?

I also figured if I set the memory to like 333 mode (166 fsb) and then overclocked the MB FSB to 270 then the ram would be running at 226 mhz which I am already doing, and put the processor up at 2.43 ghz, which would be faster then my 3500+ no? I could probably even go higher dependant on my results tonight? maybe 290 FSB which would put the memory at that 250 (DDR 500) mark above, and get the processor at 2.6 or wherever i run into instability.

anyway I was kinda just typing so alot of that may not make sense :D

The opteron does have an onboard memory controller like my 3500+ right? SO I can lock its speed independantly from teh MB FSB?
 
OK just incase anyone else runs into this....

the denmark listed Opteron 165's are picked up in CPU-Z as Toledo's so if you buy a Denmark it is the same type they reviewed calling it a toledo.
 
some of the x2 line has 512 per core....

Look up the 3800 X2, it only has 512 per core instead of the opterons 1024 per core.
 
To be exact the 4400+ X2 is the first in the series to have 1mb x 2. Its also almost 150 bucks more expensive.... You can overclock the opteron 165 to 4400+ speeds easily and get the same performance for less money. thats my intention.


I bought the 165 last night. It will go in my A8N premium board with some DDR 500 Mushkin memory.
 
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