the price of 939 processors (rant)

pillagenburn

pillagenburn

[H]ard|Gawd
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Oct 3, 2006
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Just saw an x2 4800+ attempt to sell for $190 shipped on the anandtech boards, so I did a little research. The only reason I'm posting this rant is because I just built a system for my girl and was forced to use 939 components. I was infuriated by the prices that some people think they can get for these things. I felt as though this guy thought he had found something so special (like Jesus or the Lost Ark) that he could justify charging this much money.

For $10 more than what the idiot was asking for A SINGLE LOW-END PROCESSOR, you can buy a Celeron Dual Core (somewhat stripped down Core 2), Intel P31 board and 4 gigs of DDR2. I only included the 4 gigs of DDR 2 for shock effect.

Just FYI people, when selling your 939 cpu's (or anything else for that matter), use some common sense when posting them for sale. If the buyer can go out and buy a better cpu, good board and FOUR GIGS OF F*CKING RAM for the price that you are selling your processor; that generally means one of a few things things:

1) You haven't done a bit of research or know anything about sales
2) You have Alzheimers
3) You are a complete retard
4) You indulge in more wishful thinking than should be legally allowed
5) You wear a pointy tin foil hat on your head every night to keep the government from monitoring your brain waves

So yeah.. when selling anything, just keep in mind what the market will bear for a comparable piece of equipment, even if it's not of the same socket.

just a rant.
 
sorry but I just went through this upgrading my 939. its supply and demand. people have part that hard to find and the price goes up. I wish I had gone AM2 at the time but hindsight is 20/20. I was lucky and found one for a reasonable price. but you should see what they go for on ebay. also a lot of people don't want to have to rebuild their PC (I did not want to have to redo my setup) or buy a new copy of windows, or what ever they are going to pay more if they have to.

I agree that the parts aren't worth the price, but then I would just as soon build a new PC for the price, a lot of people don't want to do that.
 
Thing is, people are actually buying those S939 CPUs at those inflated prices. I've seen no less than 3 times this past week people actually X2 4000+ CPUs for $110. So as long as people are willing to pay those prices, I think sellers might just keep their prices high.
 
I'm curious as to why you would be forced to use s939 parts when you could have got that celeron, mobo, and 4gb of ram.
 
well, these prices will remain artificially inflated until the cpu's just aren't worth anything at all.

and I understand the whole demand thing - I just used that particular example as an extreme one. 2.4ghz-ish s939 x2, IMO, should be going for no more than $75 shipped.
 
I paid $170 for my 4400+ X2 back in March of '07.

Seemed fair at the time....

My buddy and I both picked one up for fear of lack of availability later on....

Still serving me quite well :)

Post a WTB thread in the Sales section. Hopefully someone will have a nice deal for you.
 
Danny Bui said:
Thing is, people are actually buying those S939 CPUs at those inflated prices. I've seen no less than 3 times this past week people actually X2 4000+ CPUs for $110. So as long as people are willing to pay those prices, I think sellers might just keep their prices high.
Click to expand...

I have an uncapped X2 4400. Do you think I can get the same price as a regular one?
Shoot, I''ll move on up to an LGA 775
 
The X2s are going for much more on ebay.

I'm even considering selling the S939 X2s I have since the prices are so good. :)
 
pxc said:
The X2s are going for much more on ebay.

I'm even considering selling the S939 X2s I have since the prices are so good. :)
Click to expand...

you and me both, i got my 4200+ X2 just less than a year ago for $70 new and it looks like it could bring $100-$125 easily now, and my DDR memory is worth quite a bit more than any DDR2

i am not surprised, a year or two ago i was given some RDRAM with the heatspreaders riveted onto/through the memory module......that stuff sold like current DDR3 prices on ebay even being old and used....i was really surprised how much they brought, it was two 256Mb sticks and i believe i got like nearly $200 for them......

its like this with everything in this hobby, the price is high at launch, levels out after a year or two, and as the next gen begins to emerge prices drop like a rock, and then once those old parts are hard to get in stores the prices start to rise again....because of lack of supply.....
 
For $82 right now at Newegg you can get 5000+ BE and 2 gigs of DDR2-800 RAM. Then buy a decent AM2+ board for $80-90 and you would have save money and have a faster system.
 
I bought a 4200+ for my 939 system last september for ~70 dollars, seemed like a fair deal, I already had the setup for it, no need to build an AM2 system for the same performance, the chip overclocked well and everything. I think what the OP is looking at is a 4800+ (2.4ghz 2x1mb L2) these were discontinued a long time ago, the only chips which have been (were) recently produced were the 3800+, 4200+ and the opteron 165-80, the 4800+ was one of the first 939 dual cores to get canned, hence the price.
 
I got one of the last AMD 4600+ X2 from the Egg for $200 last year. That was a good deal at the time. Now they go for over $220 to $500 new (ripoff but thats what Google says) Even DDR ram costs more than DDR2. Now that this thread brought up the issue...I might just sell off my CPU and RAM in the near future. ;)
 
I built some 939 systems for people a couple years back and two come to me for upgrade advise so far this year. I havent used 939 in awhile but looked up the prices and it was nuts.

With one of the guys, I sold his 2GB of Crucial DDR and it single handedly bankrolled(with a substantial amount of change left over) a 4000x2, new motherboard, and 2GB of DDR2. That was AM2 of course and he still had his old board and single core cpu to sell.

The other guy sold his 939 4200x2, 2GB G.Skill HZ DDR 500, and Biostar Tforce 6100. The funds from this bought him a Abit P35-E, 2GB Crucial DDR2 800, used e6400, and an 8800GT. He even made about $50 as well.

Its not even worth it to use s939 or keep it around if you have high end parts. Its just crazy what people are paying for this older stuff.
 
The magical 939 number is 4000+ X2. If you managed to get a few when they were near a $100, you bascially pulled an oil and doubled your price for no good reason.
 
i really should sell my opty165 and 3gb ddr400 ram. probably can make up a new phenom setup for not much more then i would get back...
 
Adidas4275 said:
i had a 3800 X2 939 that it was difficult to sell :( i ended up selling it about a month ago for like $40
Click to expand...

That series is really not too difficult to obtain and was one of the last procs to be discontinued. AMD made them until they couldn't do 939 anymore. The 4k and up series is where people are really looking to upgrade.
 
These are really going for that much? I have a 4400 X2 sitting in my closet I was keeping in case my current computer ever died. Guess that old single core 939 will be my backup now. :D
 
The Socket 929 X2 4800+ and the Opteron 180 are both the fastest CPus alot of 939 MBs can use. sense most 939s are out of production the remaing CPus do bring a premium. If I had been able to get either of these CPUs for cheap I would have not upgraded to an AM2 system.
 
That's the exact reason I sold my FX-60 cpu and built my first AM2 rig. I saw what the FX-60's were bringing and it was a no-brainer at the time. I listed my old FX-60 on Craigslist for $350 (if memory serves me) and turned around and ordered my parts the same night I listed it. (X2-6000 system) Two days later I had the cash in hand and my parts were there the third day - all for almost the exact same amount I just got for the FX-60. So basically I got a new motherboard, new 2 gigs of DDR-2 memory and a new X2-6000 for an even swap. I then still had the old motherboard and memory that I used to build a cheap system for my son along with a FX-56 proc I'd scored cheap. I've since upgraded systems again but it was sweet then. Admit it - you'd do the same, OP.

Supply and demand. It usually happens every socket generation. I remember the crazy price that my old K6-3+ cpu brought when I sold it also years ago. :D;) I also remember the high prices the old 200mhz FSB 1.4ghz T-birds brought back when people were trying to squeeze an upgrade on their old 200mhz motherboards that wouldn't support the 266mhz chips.
 
Sometimes, it's not just a matter of being able to simply upgrade to a much more powerful platform for a cheaper price.

Some folks have workstations configured just the way they want them, and if they were to put a new motherboard / CPU / memory / video card in their systems, it could make for a very unpleasant software re-configuration.

To put it this way: at work, my main workstation that I had been using for 5 years, was based on an Athlon XP 2400+, a Gigabyte GA-7DXR+ motherboard (AMD 761 chipset), and a GeForce4 Ti4400 video card, running Fedora Core 2. When I tried to upgrade it to a Socket 754 platform, I had to spend days reinstalling the newest version of Fedora, only to find that some of the older features in Core 2 were missing in version 8.

Also, trying to configure all of my programs to with with Fedora 8 has been a nightmare. I'm not an expert when it comes to Linux systems, and trying to get programs such as NMR Pipe, XEASY, CYANA, SPSCAN, and other programs, working, hasn't been 100% successful just yet. Pipe and Cyana are working fine, but I'm still pulling my hair out trying to get SPSCAN and XEASY working.

In retrospect, I would have been better off, in terms of lost productivity, had I simply found one of those Athlon XP Mobility CPU's, and stuck it in my system, since I was simply looking for a CPU boost.

Now... For Windows-based systems, I totally agree, that you're better off biting the bullet, and upgrading your motherboard / CPU / memory entirely. However, Linux and programs running on them aren't very well standardized.
 
I was able to get an uncapped one for 60 bucks so I count myself lucky. I can wait til the end of the summer to build my new machine. but that is the only reason I bought one. otherwise I would bought a new motherboard and ram. just not worth paying for a rare CPU.
 
I guess the argument isnt as powerful on a tech forum as this. But consider this, if your gf or wife or jocky buddy has a 939 system built by you, would it be more frightening if you told them:

Take out your mobo, cpu, ram, unconnect everything, put in new stuff, rewire everything, make sure bios settings are correct, make sure you made contact, and then run windows repair because most likely windows screwed up and you need a complete reinstall or repair and reactivate.

OR

Add 2 sticks of ram in 2 empty slots (Or take out cpu, put in new cpu, use same old heatsink fan)

Obviously I'm exaggerating a bit on some of the steps, but if you think about it from non-tech savvy people, its much better to just spend some money for easier/safer/less frightening than to spend more time and effort for faster. And thats why I think the ebay prices are being driven up.
 
Haha, this is turning into the automobile industry. I have an Opteron 180 that has been serving me very well right now. Can't wait to upgrade though!
 
Heh. I've had my retail x2 4800+ for over 3 years now. Don't even game with it any more. Just did a quick check on Pricewatch and the processor is worth more now than it was when I bought it. Seriously thinking about eBay'ing it now :D
 
I bought my x2 4800+ and it has been sitting in a 1U running vmware, asterisk, and a few othe ritems & colocation. I could definately use a ddr2 base, however I'd have to replace the motherboard as well & cram everything back into 1U.
 
.... so wait, my 4200+ is actually worth more than I paid for it last year ($70) is that what im getting?

Opteron 185 / FX60 = fastest 939, some people mistakenly said it was the opteron 180.
 
I built a new system in December/January-ish and made some good cash on it. Parted out my 754 system on ebay in the next few months (was busy).

Venice 3400+ was worth good money because it was pretty much the fastest chip on the socket (and upgraded memory controller which meant no trouble with dual-sided DDR400 running at full speed). Got $59 on ebay using (minus fees and such). Only paid $99 new.

2GB of Kingston HyperX PC3200 got me $91 minus ebay/paypal fees.

Upgraded to a C2D e4500 for $124.50 minus a couple of bucks in FW fatcash. I think the 2GB of Mushkin PC2 6400 cost me $25 AR if that.

My buddy had a spare C2D board he ended up with somehow that was perfectly good, from some sort of RMA nightmare. He gave it to me for free which saved me $70 or so.

So I spent $30 (or $100) if you count the free board against me.

You guys can do even better than that with those 939 parts and the lower prices of the dual-core C2D/AM2 chips now. Those high 939 selling prices are an advantage to the PC building-savvy.
 
Granted I haven't read this entire thread, I did just want to chime in with my story.

I've had my current computer (minus the opty, which was then a 3500+) since Aug 2005. Just a few months ago I went on ebay and bought the opty for 160 bucks.

Was it inflated? Yes. Do I feel guilty about it? Not one bit.

Why?

Here's why. One thing that pissed me off was when I would ask people for advice for buying these. EVERYONE would deviate from the topic to tell me how much of an idiot I was when I could get X mobo and Y cpu for the same price.

I couldn't take it anymore I bought it and I upgraded and I was happy.

The 3500+ I had was just fine but I wanted something speedier and I wanted to go dual core. And so far it is working just fine and will tide me over till my next build!

To all those who were (and still are) saying to build a new computer, this is what I have to say to you... Would you rather buy a new CPU swap it out and get some better performance, or would you rather....

buy a New mobo and new CPU, only to find out you need new RAM since it needed DDR2 instead of DDR,
Ohh look at that now you have to wait for all the stuff to ship, not to mention the time you spent looking for the best deals on the net.
Ohh whoops something is wrong with the mobo now what you have to replace and RMA the mobo since it was defective,
ohh now what you have to get a new cooler too?
Wait whats that..Windows XP needs a new license/need to buy vista?
ETC ETC

By the time you factor in the cost for all the extra crap, and the time itll take you to finish up, you'll have spent more money..Not only that you won't have the latest and greatest, you'll have some cheap proc and mobo, which you'll be forced to upgrade yet once again since you're not getting the performance anyway...

I'd rather not go through this until a MAJOR upgrade when I'll scrap my computer and get a new one, as I don't have the time/money to upgrade every three seconds.

For most of you don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about, the hassle and the drivers and the incompatibilities, the shit we all go through upgrading, we've all been through it and I didn't want to be bothered by it.

For what? After buying my opty I ran superpi ( I know its just synthetic and not a real measure of performance) and compared it to my friends brand new AM2 6400+ black edition proc, and he only beat me by one second? With the amount of problems he's had, and for the same price no thank you, I'll stick to S939 any day, for a little while longer at least...
 
pervisanathema said:
I find it interesting when people like you are infuriated over something so trivial. If $190 is what the market will bear, that is the price people will charge. If you don't want to pay it, move on or as you so aptly pointed out, buy a new platform for the same price.
Click to expand...

Who said the market would bear $190? What I was infuriated with was the general lack of intelligence in regards to simple economics. If the price of your processor equals the price of a similarly performing AM2 cpu with motherboard and 4 gigs of RAM, there is something wrong.

It was mostly a rant at stupidity more than anything, and a lack of common sense of course. Perhaps a rant at wishful thinking too.

edit: ignorance is everywhere and a sucker is born every minute. If it weren't for the suckers that'd buy (what should be) a $75-90 cpu for $190, no one would make any money.

the premium paid for s939 cpu's should be no more than 25% at very best.
 
What the hell premium you guys talking about, it was about 5 dollars extra for a 939 4200+ over a AM2 4200+ equivalent last september on newegg. Yeah if you want a 4800+ or an opteron your going to pay a premium, but untill recently, you could buy new OEM 3800+ and 4200+ for cheap.

939 is superior to AM2 clock for clock because of the memory latency, which is why I opted not to upgrade (altho having 4gb of ram is tempting), also because I had pretty much the best system I could afford, and I couldn't afford going to a C2D. I figure I will be good for another year or so till 8 core uniprocessor nehalem system will be available which is when I may jump back into the market.

Right now I can put pretty much any video card into my system and not bottleneck it except for a GTX 280 and some of the dual gpu boards, I can even go SLi if I want, and all on a rock solid board.

939 IMO is the best socket of the decade, it took the concept of bleeding edge to a whole new level, and it wasn't from intel. too bad instead of working around the socket, making new chips with differentiating memory controllers, and or motherboards with both types of memory slots, AMD opted to make a money grab, which in the end didn't do squat for their bottom line.

I wish DDR1 didn't cost so much.
 
Well damn, I just sent newegg my order to upgrade my 939 4800+ X2. I need to sell this baby.

Wow, just checked ebay and $150-$200 for the bare processor, damn.
 
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