Upgrade from 3000+ Winchester - which X2 to settle on?

as530 · Post by **as530** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:15 am

Dear friends

My system (see sig) is getting slow. I am about to add a second Gb of RAM. However i think now is the time to put in a s939 dual core, to prolong the life of the whole system for another year or two.

I do multitask a lot - so I think an X2 would help with my speed issues. Question is which one to go for? Currently have a 1.8GHz Winchester (3000+). My options are s939 X2 3800/4200/4600 (these 3 are the only ones i can find - and they're getting rarer by the day)

How much faster would the 3800 X2 be than my current single core, and how much faster in real-world multitasking is the 4600 over the 3800 ?

Many thanks

rei · Post by **rei** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 10:54 am

x2 3800 is best deal but it may not be drastically faster since all it is are 2 3200 cores.

here, in canada, the bang/buck is so much better than the other chips.
$165 x2 3800
$210 x2 4200
$260 x2 4600

...these are am2 prices. we can't get s939 chips anymore locally

Arvo · Post by **Arvo** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 12:46 pm

By whatever s939 CPU you can get - s939 is rarity already

What faster, then better.

If possible to find (and not too expensive to buy), I'd recommend Opteron 170 (or 165 or 180) - they are dualcore, s939, usually have low TDP and usually can be overclocked nicely too.

If you're multitasking, then X2 CPUs feel much smoother than single-cores. Maybe you even cannot gain speed for single program (depends on application of course), but you can run AV software, compress videos in background, compile in background (run whatever CPU consuming programs in background) and not even notice that.

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:29 pm

I too upgraded my 3200+ to dualcore, and I chose an opteron 170, and I feel I made a good choice, I can certainly recommend you to do the same, as it has more cache than the x2 AFAIK, and costs similarly.

kogi · Post by **kogi** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 3:29 pm

yup, s939 is dead.

But here in oz there was a nice sale of opteron and 4800+ cpus. We being told that after they've being sold there will stop stocking 939.

Just check the shop and there is still some 4800's left @ au$329

k

spookmineer · Post by **spookmineer** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 9:40 pm

I don't know if this is anything to go by:

3000+ vs X2 3800+
(you can select other apps as well)

Intel processors in blue, AMD in green.
The 2 selected processors in red.

Ofcourse it does show a difference, it should

kater · Post by **kater** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:25 am

are you going to overclock the chip? if yes, go for the 3800 - mine went up to 2400 mhz w/o increasing voltage, effectively making it a 4600+. if i bump up the voltage i can hit 2600 mhz - not bad

your mobo is similar to mine and will not allow anything extreme, but should let you oc any cpu by some degree

from all availavle 939 dual cores 3800 are said to have biggest oc potential - that is, apart from opterons

if you can, however, go for the opty - substantially more expensive but better

i've had my 3800 for about 2 weeks and have been slightly dissapointed with performance increase over my previous 3200+ @ 2700 - especially in games (that's what i wanted) but windows itself and other software feel quicker now. i don't do any video or photo work that could allow me to see performance increase but i'm sure you'll find plenty of professional editing software that utilizes dual cores

also, for us 939ers dual cores is the only way to go to stay alive - soon there'll be plenty of software using dual cores, games, office and so on, so we'll be fine with dual cores for some more time and will not have to switch to other platforms

if you want to oc make sure you enable your fdd in bios - with fdd disabled asus 939 boards can't go higher than 220 fsb - weird & absurd bt it works (happened to me!)

Firetech · Post by **Firetech** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:18 pm

kogi wrote:yup, s939 is dead.

But here in oz there was a nice sale of opteron and 4800+ cpus. We being told that after they've being sold there will stop stocking 939.

Just check the shop and there is still some 4800's left @ au$329

k

Admittedly that same shop has said the same before.
Having said that, I bought an X2 4800+ from them last week

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:38 pm

Opteron 170. You can probably OC it a good bit too.

Out of curiosity, what are you doing with your old Winny?

as530 · Post by **as530** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:25 pm

Thanks folks

I can get the Opteron 170, 175, or 180 here in the UK. I presume my mobo (A8N-Sli Deluxe) will take any of these? Do they CnQ normally?

I have a new problem though!

Just installed my new memory and it doesn't take!

Old memory: 2x512 Crucial BL6464Z402 - Ballistix 64Mbx64, unbuff, non-ECC, 2.8V, 2-2-2-6, PC3200

New (3rd) stick: Crucial CT12864Z40B - 128Mbx64, unbuff, non-ECC, 2.6V, CL=3

I don't know much about RAM but I can't get it recognise all the sticks together. With the 4 slots from left to right named a1, a2, b1, & b2:

a1 is unusable (i think) because my XP-120 is sort of in the way
with 1gb in a2 and other two in b's - only recognises 1gb
with 512s in a2 and b2, and 1gb in b1 (i.e. in the middle), it says 1.5Gb - meaning that the new stick does work, and the mobo does recognise it, but cannot recognise the last 512 for some reason.

Can anybody help? Do i need to change the voltages or latencies or something? Sorry about my RAM ignorance. If it comes to the worst i would order an identical 1gb standalone stick to the one i have, and try to sell the 512s. I'm not too bothered about subtle differences in ram speed - i just want 2gb. this makes me wonder why i ever bought ballistix - oh well.

PS: Jackylman, will probably sell the old Winchester if i can. or maybe keep it as a backup.

jackylman · Post by **jackylman** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 6:55 pm

It sounds like you need a stick in a1 for it to recognize the module in a2.

I just checked Thermalright's compatibility list and it says 'Okay' for your board, so the a1 slot should be usable. If any of your modules don't have a heat spreader, try getting that one into the first slot.

One other thing: Make sure you've got the latest BIOS (or at least one that supports dual-cores) because you want to make sure your new dual-core is fully recognized and supported.

as530 · Post by **as530** » Fri Dec 29, 2006 4:40 pm

the best i can get is 1.5Gb. There is no configuration which gives me 2gb. I'll have to sell the other 512 stick. Very weird.

kater · Post by **kater** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:06 am

asus 939 used to be picky with ram - i guess my manual even has a "recommended" list - i don't remember tho, maybe check yours and see what brands you can use

as530 · Post by **as530** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:46 pm

Just to say thanks for the Opteron tip to all involved. I had never realised it was an option (didn't know they existed for s939)

I've successfully installed an Opteron 175 plus Scythe Ninja. Idle temps (with CnQ) about 32-33. Load - don't know.

Let's hope I start to notice a difference when multitasking.

Upgrade from 3000+ Winchester - which X2 to settle on?

Upgrade from 3000+ Winchester - which X2 to settle on?

memory problem