Server or desktop CPU

[garetjax]

Originally Posted by Fasttazz

Even though the s939 x2's are getting harder to find, I dont want to buy a new AM2 mobo. Gonna have to live with what i just put together(my sig).

No worries. Just thought I would point out the fact that since S939 is a dead tech, and if you have the funds available, moving up to a AM2 would be a good idea if you are looking for cheap, reliable, quality parts from AMD.

Originally Posted by Fasttazz

Wouldn't the x2 4400 be a better deal for basically the same chip as the Opteron185 ?

Yes. Especially since the 4400+ can easily acheive 4800+ clock speeds on air, which is just about damn near what the Opteron 185 operates at if I remember correctly.

Originally Posted by Fasttazz

Would like to stay with my A8N32 SLI Deluxe for as long as possible.Just need more boost to optimize my new 8800GTS.

Understandable. Just hate to see you sink more money into a dead platform, then have to re-upgrade down the road again is all. Granted, the initial cost of upgrading to AM2 will be more than going the S939 route, but you will ultimately save yourself both money and headache later down the road.

With that said, if you decide you need to upgrade again in the future, the S939 will no longer offer new tech to support it. In my opinion, you are really crippling yourself by sticking with and upgrading S939, however, I do understand and sympathsize with the predicament that you are in.

[Dr. V]

i know how it feels too, and its not all that good of a feeling man.

ultimately, any of the stated S939 CPUs are EXTREMELY great and FAR MORE than adequate for what you need for QUITE a while to come anyway. i assume you will be able to do very well on a new S939 set up for the next year or so, since you're already ready for DX10, and you have 2GB RAM which is crucial.

enjoy it while you can. QUAD CORE it is in a year, or maybe Octa-Core, or Deca-Core, who the hell knows. if your PC does what YOU need YOUR PC to do for YOU, and it does it WELL, then like Mr. James Hetfield of Metallica said, "Nothing Else Matters."

[Fasttazz]

Originally Posted by ST!X

i know how it feels too, and its not all that good of a feeling man

enjoy it while you can. QUAD CORE it is in a year, or maybe Octa-Core, or Deca-Core, who the hell knows. if your PC does what YOU need YOUR PC to do for YOU, and it does it WELL, then like Mr. James Hetfield of Metallica said, "Nothing Else Matters."

Well said ST!X

This is the last upgrade for this rig. In a year or so the newest quad core should be a bit more affordable and then i will build another new one.

[onebxr]

but if he buys an am2 he has to think about getting new ram because the ddr1 wont work in a new board.
-1

p.s. the 4400 does well with anything I throw at it, and its not overclocked a bit.
-1 again

[simple_inhibition]

ive done a bit of research on the opterons when i wanted to jump to dual core and your very likely to hit at least 2.4ghz even with the worst steppings. 2.6 to 2.8 seems to be the average and then there are the gems out there that do 3+ghz. newegg seems to be shipping LCB9E steppings which arent as consistent with overclocks. some hit 3+ghz while others top out at 2.5ish. CCBWE's usually top out at 2.6, CCB1E's and CCBBE's are the gem chips which consistently hit 2.8+

either way if you go with the 4400 or opteron, youll be pleased :)

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by simple_inhibition

ive done a bit of research on the opterons when i wanted to jump to dual core and your very likely to hit at least 2.4ghz even with the worst steppings. 2.6 to 2.8 seems to be the average and then there are the gems out there that do 3+ghz. newegg seems to be shipping LCB9E steppings which arent as consistent with overclocks. some hit 3+ghz while others top out at 2.5ish. CCBWE's usually top out at 2.6, CCB1E's and CCBBE's are the gem chips which consistently hit 2.8+

either way if you go with the 4400 or opteron, youll be pleased :)

Yea the CCBBE's are a real hard gem to find IMO
Also, the bad thing when buying from newegg or anywhere on the net, you have no idea what the stepping is until it shows up in your hand

But all in all Fasttazz, if you can afford the opty, I would go with it. It is more designed to run multiple tasks at a faster and better rate than the x2 counter part, hence the "server" chip.

[Hitman]

My 4400 does 2.4 GHZ on air without any problems. I am sure it could go faster I just never tried.

[One4yu2c]

To recap, reiterate, and offer my own perspective:

1) Socket 939 Opterons enjoyed immense popularity in s939's heydey both due to the overclocking potential, and because it offered the full 1MB L2 cache that AMD charged a premium for in their X2 lineup. For those willing to overclock, picking up a slower clockspeed Opteron became an economical way to receive the same performance as much pricier chips.

2) While s939 is a dead socket, there's nothing wrong with your proposed dual-core upgrade. That was the beauty in investing in a s939 platform in the first place, in that you bought yourself a PCI-E and dual-core upgrade path. A dual-core chip will serve you well, especially as developers continue to embrace multithreade coding, and you'll save a small fortune over a platform overhaul (mobo, CPU, RAM).

3) Don't get too caught up in the 1MB L2 cache mentioned above. While it's a nice perk to have, real-world performance doesn't see much benefit, and even benchmarks show limited improvement. GamePC did a great writeup on this, in which they compared the performance of AMD's 1MB and 512KB processors (LINK).

4) Looking at what Newegg has to offer:

OEM 3800+ X2, 2.0GHz, x10 multiplier, 512KB - $96 shipped
Retail Opteron 165, 1.8GHz, x9 multiplier, 1MB - $149 shipped
OEM 4400+ X2, 2.2GHz, x11 multiplier, 1MB - $180
Retail Opteron 170, 2.0GHz, x10 multiplier - $188 shipped

Out of the bunch, the 3800+ X2 offers a tremendous bang/buck factor, and would be the one I'd recommend. With your Big Typhoon, you don't need the bundled heatsink/fan that comes with retail parts, and since you're overclocking, the warranty doesn't really come into play either. What you do get is a sub-$100 processor that should have a good bit of OC'ing headroom and a decent multiplier to worth with. While nothing is ever guaranteed, most A64 processors can reasonably be expected to reach 2.4-2.6GHz, give or take, and you're backed by one of the best s939 motherboards out there.

The alternative is to pay $150-$188, which for that price, you could pick up an AM2 3800+ X2 and NF570 based motherboard, and be a RAM upgrade away from a new platform...

[Fasttazz]

One4....and everyone....Thanks for the response and the advice

It does seem that most of the A64's will run fine at 2.4-2.6, just got to get lucky on the stepping.The 4400 seems nice but might not get very much oc out of it. And the 3800 might get well past the rated 2.2ghz of the 4400 chip.
Like you said more bang for the buck

I dont see that i will get too much past the 2.4ghz unless i get an Opteron 180 or 185...something like that, at double or triple the cost.
As i will give this rig its final upgrade it will more than likely stay as a permanent system. Just need it to perform as well as it can on this platform.
I will probably build a new system sometime next summer with the new quads or a core 2duo...if
they can keep up with AMD's that is.

[Lead Head]

I can vouch for the 165, I got the CCBBE stepping and got it upto 2.7, but like it was said, that doesn't mean a chip you get is going to hit 2.7 either