Need help on a new CPU (Socket 939)

[Gamax]

Hi

Yeah I am going to be upgrading my CPU and Video Card this christmass.
Basically this xmass is the only chance to get new hardware until late nextyear/early2009 (if you want details or want to know why, you can PM me)

My current setup is kind of good, but due to a power surge last night my CPU died. I am currently using an old AMD 63 3200 and well, gaming is not the same that with my 3700.

I'm going to be getting a new PSU, a X1950XT and a new CPU, but I can't decide which one.

My motherboard is this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130491
Socket 939 though that one is kind of weird cause the one I have has 1 PCI-E x1 and 1 PCI-E x4, not 2 PCI-EX1. But yeah its not the Platinum Ed.

I'm trying to find one new CPU (dual core,FX,w/e) under 250, preferably under 200.

Looked at these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103526
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103545
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103541
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103627

thanks

 

[DonNagual]

None of your links appear to be working.

 

[Gamax]

Bah I don't know what happened there. Anyway I think they work now. Sorry about that

 

[DonNagual]

The links for the CPUs you are comparing now work, but not the link for your motherboard.

One more question, are you opposed to overclocking? If not, what ram do you currently have? The reason I ask is that if you are not opposed to overclocking (and if your mobo/ram can handle it) the opteron CPUs are a fantastic choice as well. Dual core with 1Mb L2 cache on each core, and they are amazing overclockers.

 

[Gamax]

Allright it does work now. I'm not opposed to OC but I don't like to risk my hardware.. and I'm not an expert to be honest. Managed to get my 3200 to 2.5 atm.

I found this opteron

I have 1GB (2x512) OCZ Gold Edition at 2.5-3-3-7

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103586

Are they bad at stock speeds? I mean, are they comparable to the links I provided?

 

[F1N3ST]

Yes yes get that opteron 170!! It can OC to 3Ghz, and is good at stock speeds!!

 

[DonNagual]

They are not bad at stock speeds at all of course. That Opty 170 is 2.0Ghz. The thing is, they are much more flexible in overclocking than the X2 lineup. If you are NOT going to overclock, you should get the X2 4600+. If you already have a heatsink/fan or plan to buy a 3rd party one, you can buy the OEM version. If not get the retail pack. I believe the Manchester is newer than the Toledo for the X2 4600+

If you are willing to adventure and do some overclocking (not really suggested for beginners) the opteron 170 (for example) typically is overclocked into the range of 2.6Ghz - 2.8Ghz (and some cases much higher). Not bad for a $185 cpu.

 

[Gamax]

Yes I think I should get the X2. I don't really want to OC (had a horrible experience with a Athlon XP back in the day) and I have a fan already. And I think I'm grabbing the Toledo. THanks!

 

[DonNagual]

I have edited my post above. It is not the Toledo, but the Manchester that is the better of the two when comparing a 4600+ manchester and a 4600+ toledo.

As many of you have correctly pointed out, the 4200+ and 4600+ were available as both Toledo and Manchester cores. More than half of the Athlon 64 X2's transistor count is spent on cache, which means that if there are going to be any manufacturing defects on the chip, they will more than likely occur in the processor's cache. Born out of that fact, the Toledo based Athlon 64 X2 4600+ and 4200+ were nothing more than 4800/4400+ X2s with too many manufacturing defects; instead of throwing the bad cores away, AMD simply rebranded them and sold them at lower price points. The problem with this approach is that an Athlon 64 X2 4200+ took the same amount of space on a wafer as an Athlon 64 X2 4800+, despite only having half the cache. Thus we have the Manchester core: a core designed from the ground up to only feature a 512KB L2 cache per core.

Source

 

[Gamax]

So which is better? a X2 4600 with L2 512KBx2 or a X2 440 with L2 1MBX2.. also does the .2 GHZ make any difference?
Also, I may get an Opteron.. but wondering if I'd need a 3RD Party cooler/fan/w/e to keep it stable? or new RAM or a new MB?

 

[DonNagual]

Yah, that's a long debate, and many will give you different advice on that. Personally, I'd go for the higher L2 cache over the 0.2Ghz frequency but others will disagree I am sure.

As for the opty, it depends on how far you want to overclock. Even with stock cooling you should be able to get it to the 2.6Ghz range without any problems since you have a fairly decent motherboard and ram.

 

[an0nym0us]

opty 165 or 170 FTW!