Opteron or bust?

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reno55

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May 25, 2005
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I am currently running:

Athlon 64 3200+
Abit KN8 (non sli)
2GB ram (both dual channel)
EvGA 7600 GS

I am consideing upgrading but want to hold off on going to core duo for a little bit as it would mean replacing ram, mb, and cpu. I was looking at the Opteron 165 for about $150 locally. I was going to also upgrade the video card in about a month.

My question is will this processor be a good move for me? I know I will do a complete upgrade in like 8-12 months but will this hold me off for now?
 
if you want to overclock it, even slightly, it will be a great processor for you. Mine at 2.9ghz destroys my brothers stock 3200+. and the dual core makes it quite a bit more smooth in everything in windows. good choice with the opty 165
 
I usually dont overclock but i might just a tad.........so you think that plus a new video card would help me out for the newer gen games for about 8-12 months?
 
If you don't overlock, and if you overclock a tad, too... it will be just as slow. Because the stock speeds are very very low. Plus to tell you the truth, I don't notice ANY different in windows responsivness coming from my previous 3800+. It's still a bit laggy now and then, but I think it's because WoW takes a lot of my ram and I only have a gig
 
Listen and listen good...This is coming from me being an intel guy myself....I upgraded to the opty 165 and an Evga 7900gs, and have never been as impressed with a system as I am with this one. AMD has officially won me over! :)
 
most 165's even without overclocking experience are able to do at least 2.4+ghz. at that speed, I would expect that you would notice a bit of a difference. plus the dual core should hold you over for 8-12 months. and for a video card, you could look into a 7900gt or maybe a x1950pro / xtx... those would be good for a while at least until dx10 becomes mainstream
 
Rtstrider said:
Listen and listen good...This is coming from me being an intel guy myself....I upgraded to the opty 165 and an Evga 7900gs, and have never been as impressed with a system as I am with this one. AMD has officially won me over! :)
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The cheese is so thick on this one. :p
I would say OP should look for one of those Fry's deal (6300 + mobo[AGP + DDR??] for $169).
 
yes operton... but i dont know how well that A8N ocs.... i am not a big Abit guy.... also do you have 2 or 4 sticks of RAM?

with an Abit board and 4 sticks of RAM i would spend some more money and get a higher clock cpu.... ie 4200+

here is why, 4 sticks will limit your OC, you are inexperienced in OCing, stock cooling i am guessing and an Abit board... i would get a higher multi than 9x

I love my opteron 165 but for anything other than a DFI i recommend a 170 or 175 they are not that much more $$ and will make little OCing better for you. JMO but i have some decent experience with hardware and what it takes to OC with 4 sticks of RAM and an unkown OCing board...

good luck man
 
Adidas4275 said:
yes operton... but i dont know how well that A8N ocs.... i am not a big Abit guy.... also do you have 2 or 4 sticks of RAM?

with an Abit board and 4 sticks of RAM i would spend some more money and get a higher clock cpu.... ie 4200+

here is why, 4 sticks will limit your OC, you are inexperienced in OCing, stock cooling i am guessing and an Abit board... i would get a higher multi than 9x

I love my opteron 165 but for anything other than a DFI i recommend a 170 or 175 they are not that much more $$ and will make little OCing better for you. JMO but i have some decent experience with hardware and what it takes to OC with 4 sticks of RAM and an unkown OCing board...

good luck man
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I am running 4 sticks of ram total.
 
Haste266 said:
i 2nd that. its super bad news when overclocking...
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I had the AN8-SLI, the prior version to the KN8, with 4*512mb sticks with an overclocked Opteron 146 with no issue. However I do agree that people should avoid 4 sticks, espciallly when the question is asked when coming from 2 sticks, but since you already have them might as well use them (and it appears you are). I also agree that it will limit your overclock but if you had a nice stepping you should be able to get >=2.2 overclock but don't expect the >2.7+ with the 4 sticks.
 
One of the problems with 4 sticks is that a 939 setup is (at least quite often) limited to a 2T memory command rate, which has a significant impact on performance for 939s.

This will affect you whether you OC or not.
 
Jayemji said:
One of the problems with 4 sticks is that a 939 setup is (at least quite often) limited to a 2T memory command rate, which has a significant impact on performance for 939s.

This will affect you whether you OC or not.
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No it won't the most you'll be affected is about 5%. Most people won't even notice a 10% difference in performance much less 5%.


But the 4 stick problem is more than just a downgrade to 2T. There's also the fact that four stick of DDR-400 will declock to DDR-333 on most mohterboard. This is because the memory controller in A64 (Opteron's included) became unstable with four doublesided DIMMS installed running at DDR-400 speeds. The workaround was to de-clock to DDR-333 speeds. This was fixed in Venice and San Diego core A64's (I don't know what the Opteron's equivalent was) so now it's just the 2T downgrade.
 
reno55 said:
short of getting it reduced to 2 sticks what can i do?
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Not much. However, if the system is keeping you happy with its performance, I wouldn't worry about it.


As for your processor, I'd suggest getting the highest-clocked daul-core you can (while keeping in budget), since you're not OCing. The K8 architecture is pretty linear in its performance to frequency increases.

ryan_975 said:
No it won't the most you'll be affected is about 5%. Most people won't even notice a 10% difference in performance much less 5%.
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I had thought it was about 10, but ah well.
ryan_975 said:
The workaround was to de-clock to DDR-333 speeds. This was fixed in Venice and San Diego core A64's (I don't know what the Opteron's equivalent was) so now it's just the 2T downgrade.
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Considering that the Denmark, Venice, and Sandy cores all share a common socket...
 
Would that Opty 165 be better than a 4400+ toledo? Since you can overclock either of them, but can't you overclock the opty more?
 
from what ive read and expirienced 4 sticks will limit oc,and only run @2t command rate
im also considering opty 170 or 175 not much more money but higher multi.
 
daytripper67mi said:
from what ive read and expirienced 4 sticks will limit oc,and only run @2t command rate
im also considering opty 170 or 175 not much more money but higher multi.
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they have a higher multi, but the max overclock you will get will probably be equal to a 165
 
sumofatguy said:
they have a higher multi, but the max overclock you will get will probably be equal to a 165
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Unless your motherboard isn't the best around, in which case you can indeed end up with a higher total overclock. I probably could've gotten another 100-200 mhz out of a 170 myself, my mobo/RAM eneded up limiting me :(
 
Is the Opty's stock cooler + Arctic Silver good enough for OCing to 2.7 GHz?
 
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