The Opty 140s

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blade52x

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My dad wants a new PC. I told him I'd build him one, because anything that's pre-built and cheap is usually crap. Anyway, he likes to be cheap, so it's a very strict budget.

A processor that jumped out at me was the Opteron 144 at Newegg for $77 + shipping. I know it isn't dual core, but he doesn't do heavy multi-tasking, or play games. I mean, a Celeron would suit his needs right now, but at the moment.

How high do these overclock on air? This chip almost seems like a steal if I can hit 2.7-2.8, but I'm not sure what's going on the AMD side of things in terms of overclocking with air/water.

And is there anything else around this price that would match the performance overclocked? Like a 3000+ overclocked?

Thanks in advance!
 
I built my opty 144 about 6 months ago and I love it. I clocked 2.7 Ghz on the stock AMD heatsink and I'm at 2.9 now on a TT Big Typhoon. Been like that since the 2nd week with no issues. That's on an Epox 9NPA3+ board, with a crappy power supply that came with my case and 2gb of cheaper GSkill ram. I don't have a video card yet (Using a PCI Geforce 2 440 MX, hahaha!) but it's definately a kick ass daily use system for it's price, I'm very pleased with it's windows performance. With a real video card I'm sure it'd be a great value, not sure if your dad even needs one though, a board with integrated video may be just fine.

Putting the satisfaction of building a system behind, what's wrong with a basic Dell system? With a format and reinstall of the os and a memory upgrade a basic Dell Dimension C251 with an AMD sempron 3400 processor for well under $400 is really really hard to beat. Shit, it's even got a 7200 rpm sata drive.

My system was a bit over 500 for the case with ps, cpu, memory, and motherboard. I used a spare hard drive till I got a 250 gb sata 3.0 drive for my birthday, and I'm still using that crappy video card which I may stay with since I don't play games.

Whichever route you go, you can definately get him a kick ass system for cheap, weather it's building your own, or fixing dells software f*ck ups with a reinstall of the os. LCD monitors are also getting super cheap too, and really impress.
 
I had a opteron 144 before my 165 and it clocked to 2.7 on default vcore...

took 1.60v to hit 3.0 thought.... you have to have a good board to hit 334fsb though... get a 146 or 148 if you dont have a great board...
 
Adidas4275 said:
I had a opteron 144 before my 165 and it clocked to 2.7 on default vcore...

took 1.60v to hit 3.0 thought.... you have to have a good board to hit 334fsb though... get a 146 or 148 if you dont have a great board...
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Why the 146/148, is it a multiplier thing?

And Volvo9: With pre-builts, part of the reason I don't want him to get a pre-built is I enjoy putting the thing together, and overclocking it :D Plus, I prefer complete customization, and knowing exactly what parts you get, that way you don't have to fix f-ups ;)
 
blade52x said:
My dad wants a new PC. I told him I'd build him one, because anything that's pre-built and cheap is usually crap. Anyway, he likes to be cheap, so it's a very strict budget.
Click to expand...


I bet your dad also like warranties if something goes wrong... overclocking a CPU (and if it craps out), will probably NOT be covered under a warranty. YMMV.

I've been building computers for friends, family/relatives, co-workers, etc... since 1981. Unless they are gamers.... I will usually recommend an off the shelf, prebuilt POS. Throughout the years (decades), different manufacturers QC goes up and down. The problem with building someone a "budget" system comes when you need to add an OS. Granted you can pickup Windows XP for under $90 these days, but that's still $90 you have to spend... compared to companies like DELL or HP, who pay very little for their OS. I recently got a co-worker's hubby a computer for his business for $319.00 (shipped!). Computer tower only... AMD AM2 3200+, 512MB RAM, 80GB SATA drive, 52x CD-ROM, case (generic), 400W power supply, Windows XP Professional installed (comes with media and COA). No way in hell I could put together a system like that for the same money... well I could, but there would be no profit. Granted, you're talking about your DAD, and you probably shouldn't be making a "profit"... but are you willing to pay out of YOUR pocket should something bad happen and its attributed to overclocking?

I think Overclocking should only be done by people to their OWN systems... unless someone specifically requests it and is aware of the dangers (possibilities) and consequences asociated with doing so. I'd bet 99% of the "general computer users" out there wouldn't attempt to overclock their systems until AFTER the warranties have expired.

Just my $0.02.

Good Luck

P.S. Doing things for your family is nice... but sometimes its more hassle than its worth. Your dad (and possibly you if problems arise) may be happier with a crappy off the shelf pre-built system. Just make sure you go over his "choices" to weed out the really crappy crap.
 
Eh... I'm not trying to profit lol...

I can put one together for him, and then he'll pay whatever it costed. I'm not going to charge him anything when this guy is the one paying for my college education right now.

I guess I can take a look at prebuilt POS.

But right now this is what I can estimate

-Case+PSU - $10 (Ultra rebates, and I actually ordered these for myself, but I don't need them, they're just "spares")
-Athlon 64 3400+ - $60 or Opteron 144 $77
-Any decent supporting mobo with onboard video - $50-$60
-80GB internal hd sata 3.0 - $44
-Any name brand DVD+R - $30
-Maybe like 2x Yate Loon 80mm/120mm fans - $5
-512MB compatible RAM - $50

So that's $250-$270 + shipping, will probably total $300. He has 2 extra WinXP available from work so the OS wouldn't cost anything.

And I know how to overclock safely, I am just not sure right now if these parts are capable or compatible with overclocks (like the RAM and motherboard). I'd have to look more into it, to see if it's even possible with the parts. The thing is, I want him to get the best *safe* performance he can get for the money. I mean when I overclock, I do ALL the required testing, I don't f-around and set some random clocks and hope Windows boots and hope for the computer to "seem stable". And if I play this right and wait for the deals (like that PSU and case), I can get something built for a really low amount of money. I've got a lot of time, it's not something that has be done by next week.
 
blade52x said:
He has 2 extra WinXP available from work so the OS wouldn't cost anything.

And I know how to overclock safely
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Having the OS already helps ALOT!!! That should save him a couple of bucks.

I wasn't trying to imply that you didn't know how to overclock.... just that.... "shit happens". ;)

Good Luck.
 
there are not a lot of mobos with onboard graphics that OC well.... get a DFI mobo and a cheap GPU from the FS forum...

if you are wanting to OC dont get a crappy mobo....
 
blade52x said:
Why the 146/148, is it a multiplier thing?
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Yup. The 146 has the 10x, which means pretty 3.0Ghz only needs 300HTT. Though, if you have a DFI board, this is usually pretty easy to hit. With a 9x multiplier, as the other post mentioned, you would need 334HTT (which even I haven't tried on my DFI). That's pretty rough if you don't have a good OCing mobo.
 
Adidas4275 said:
there are not a lot of mobos with onboard graphics that OC well.... get a DFI mobo and a cheap GPU from the FS forum...

if you are wanting to OC dont get a crappy mobo....
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. As long as I keep a $400 shipped budget, I'm good, so I'll definently take a look there. (as well as comparing the final build to other pre-builts, and even if the pre-built does cost less, I don't mind learning about new parts even if it might take a while. I could help out my brother on his AMD system as well once I do - it's looking pretty bad for him right now.)

Like I said, I still have a lot of looking through parts ;), I mean the Core2Duo was so easy, there's only like a choice of 5 good motherboards if you want to overclock, overclockable compatible RAM - easy even when DS3 had compatability problems, and etc. But it might have been easy because I wasn't sticking to a strict budget like I am right now. And also much less selection.
 
I say if your going to overclock that the 144 is the chip for your dad, however, if not the 148 is a great performer for just a little more (its the one I have).

As for motherboard and graphics. The other poster is correct that you can not usually overclock well with motherboards that have onboard graphics. Get him a DFI Infinity series board (there is one on newegg for like $70 and thats not bad at all). Then just get him a cheap low end 6 series nVidia card for about $100 and right there you have only spent $240 and you have knocked out the biggest parts. Next you can get a case for < $50, HDD for < $80 (also try recycling his old ones if you can, that saves money too), Optical drives are ~ $30 now (also recycle old ones), PSU can be had for a low end system at about ~$50 (You shouldnt need more than 300W Im thinking unless he has a lot of HDD or needs more graphics), RAM shouldn't run you more than $50 if you are only going for 512MB. That should only cost you maybe $450 if maybe $500 and for a budget system that can overclock...thats not bad at all.

If you are overclocking the 144 also, since it has a low multi, make sure you get a motherboard, like a previous poster said, that can hit a high HTT otherwise you wont get anything good out of it, usually DFI is a good bet for that.
 
kill4killin said:
PSU can be had for a low end system at about ~$50 (You shouldnt need more than 300W

If you are overclocking the 144 also, since it has a low multi, make sure you get a motherboard, like a previous poster said, that can hit a high HTT otherwise you wont get anything good out of it, usually DFI is a good bet for that.
Click to expand...

DFI's require quality, brand-name native 24-pin PSU's. Heck, everything I built only uses high-end, but I'd stick with Fortron FSP or an Antec NeoHE (what I have). In fact, I'd go with the FSP AX400-PN, which is recommended in the PSU tutorial
 
just another +1 for the Opty 14x series. I bought a 144 used from the forum a few months ago. i had it running at 2.7 ghz on the stock voltage from day one and primed it for like 26 hrs no errors. perfectly stable and quick..i highly recommend picking one up, even if it doesnt overclock it still should be fine for your dad.

with the prices on the 160's and 170's coming down though you might find alot of 144 owners willing to sell their chips at the same price as newegg in order to finance a step up to a dual core Opty. some owners guarantee overclock results up to a certain level..mine was guaranteed at 2.7 and thats what it does stock. thats always for what its worth and ymmv but i figure its alreayd been overclocked so you must be guaranteed somethin outta it.

ps- sorry for the long post lol
 
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