AMD 3500+ or Opteron 165

[onebxr]

I have an AMD 3500+ now and am thinking about going dual core. But I would like to keep the 939 socket so I dont have to buy a new board. Should I just keep the 3500 for another year or 2? And how does the 939 dual cores stack up against the AM2? I know they dont come close to the intels.
As always all help is appreciated.
-1

[Quakindude]

Some folks simply love the Opty's. I've no experience with them, so cannot offer an opinion there.

I went from an AMD A64 3500 Winchester core to an AMD X2 4800 Toledo core. I experienced a very nice performance gain from having done so.

However, what do you wish to achieve while making an upgrade at this time and, what are your complete system specs?

[Mithosphere]

well Flanle has an opty, i think he computer starts up in like 5 seconds, its seriously fast for a lot of things, well atleast considerably faster than a P4

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by onebxr

I have an AMD 3500+ now and am thinking about going dual core. But I would like to keep the 939 socket so I dont have to buy a new board. Should I just keep the 3500 for another year or 2? And how does the 939 dual cores stack up against the AM2? I know they dont come close to the intels.
As always all help is appreciated.
-1

There is very little to no performance difference between the 939 and AM2. The only real difference is that AM2 uses DDR2. You will see a difference between the 3500 and the opty 165. Optys are know good OCers.

[onebxr]

There is very little to no performance difference between the 939 and AM2. The only real difference is that AM2 uses DDR2. You will see a difference between the 3500 and the opty 165. Optys are know good OCers


I dont overclock, I would just like to run 2 or more apps without my computer bogging down.



However, what do you wish to achieve while making an upgrade at this time and, what are your complete system specs?

I want to upgrade to a dual core 939 before they are all gone since it seems that 939 is 86'd. I would like to x2 without buying a new board. And my complete system specs are VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV.

[One4yu2c]

Dual-core Opterons and X2 processors are basically the same thing. That being said, with your unwillingness to overclock, you're going to take a performance hit in some areas by going from a 2.2GHz 3500+ to a 1.8GHz Opteron 165. For applications that aren't multi-threaded, you'll be at a 400MHz disadvantage, and the additional L2 cache of the Opteron (1MB vs 512KB) won't make up the difference.

Where the Opteron will yield a performance dividend is in multi-threaded applications, multitasking, and a smoother all-around computing experience. As Hitman pointed out, Opterons are stellar overclockers, and should you change your stance on the issue, safely hitting 2.2GHz+ on the Opteron 165 is a realistic goal.

So what's the bottom line? There really isn't one, it just depends on how bad you want a dual-core chip and what value you put on it. Without OCing, I personally would have a hard time justifying the jump. Instead, I'd be eyeballing a 2.2GHz/1MB 4400+ X2 ($207), or a 2.4GHz/512KB 4600+ X2 ($239). I'd lean towards the 4400+ X2, as the $50 premium over the Opteron 165 buys you 400MHz, and the same 1MB of L2 cache. And compared to your current 3500+, you'd see a small performance boost in single core performance, and of course a decent jump in mutli-threaded activities.

/2 cents

[onebxr]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

Dual-core Opterons and X2 processors are basically the same thing. That being said, with your unwillingness to overclock, you're going to take a performance hit in some areas by going from a 2.2GHz 3500+ to a 1.8GHz Opteron 165. For applications that aren't multi-threaded, you'll be at a 400MHz disadvantage, and the additional L2 cache of the Opteron (1MB vs 512KB) won't make up the difference.

Where the Opteron will yield a performance dividend is in multi-threaded applications, multitasking, and a smoother all-around computing experience. As Hitman pointed out, Opterons are stellar overclockers, and should you change your stance on the issue, safely hitting 2.2GHz+ on the Opteron 165 is a realistic goal.

So what's the bottom line? There really isn't one, it just depends on how bad you want a dual-core chip and what value you put on it. Without OCing, I personally would have a hard time justifying the jump. Instead, I'd be eyeballing a 2.2GHz/1MB 4400+ X2 ($207), or a 2.4GHz/512KB 4600+ X2 ($239). I'd lean towards the 4400+ X2, as the $50 premium over the Opteron 165 buys you 400MHz, and the same 1MB of L2 cache. And compared to your current 3500+, you'd see a small performance boost in single core performance, and of course a decent jump in mutli-threaded activities.

/2 cents

now this is the answer I was looking for! Thanks 1!
Its not that I am unwilling to overclock, its that I really dont know how, and I dont want to screw up going into it 1/2 assed.
-1

[One4yu2c]

D'oh! I gave you the wrong link on the 4400+ X2. Apparently they're out of stock at Newegg, and it sells for $233 at ipZoomFly, or $226+ shipping at mWave (where I linked to). Sorry about that!

Had another thought too, check your PM.

[drew and not u]

Originally Posted by onebxr

Its not that I am unwilling to overclock, its that I really dont know how, and I dont want to screw up going into it 1/2 assed.
-1

Dude, that's what we're here for!!
Also, you could go ahread and try a little on your current 3500+. Check out Thunda's OCing guide. I was always hesitant to OC, but once I started, I realized how easy it was and what kind of performance gains one could achieve for free!

[Quakindude]

Originally Posted by onebxr

I want to upgrade to a dual core 939 before they are all gone since it seems that 939 is 86'd. I would like to x2 without buying a new board. And my complete system specs are VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV.

D'oh! Been one of those days. System Specs are fairly evident aren't they?

One gives some excellent advice, as usual.

That being said, I just want to point out that the Toledo cored CPU's in s939 have 2x1Mb L2 cache. These CPU's aren't being made any more and 2x512Kb is now the norm for AMD. A 2x1Mb L2 cache s939 CPU outperforms an AM2 2x512Kb in almost all multithreaded apps. These differences may seem small when you review the two processors I've set up in this link, but when you consider the performance differences in DDR400 and DDR2-733, I think the differences are of considerable weight.

So if you're going to buy, buy soon. These CPU's will be disappearing quickly.