What about those 'Opterons'

[newbuilder14]

Hmm... what about them? I heard they are good overclockers. Would a socket 939 Opteron be a good decision to make? How would that perform games compared to an Athlon 64 x2? Although I've built some systems for others, I still havn't gotten around to making my own, and I am eager to do some OC'ing and testing.

I think I've set my mind to AMD. I am not happy with my Pentium 4 Prescott very much. It runs hot and slow and can't handle many apps open at all, let alone it taking 30 seconds to open and shut a game. It was a very nice upgrade from my Celeron 400mhz... I guess. Maybe I need more RAM? Nah, just a new system. /rant

[The_YongGrand]

I think I'll still prefer the X2 - because it's dual-core and much powerful. Opterons are not much in the market and they are geared towards servers/workstations.

I think I've set my mind to AMD. I am not happy with my Pentium 4 Prescott very much. It runs hot and slow and can't handle many apps open at all, let alone it taking 30 seconds to open and shut a game. It was a very nice upgrade from my Celeron 400mhz... I guess. Maybe I need more RAM? Nah, just a new system. /rant

I have a brand new P4 Prescott and it works fine. Much responsive than my Sempron. And it runs around 40~50 celcius. Have you scanned your comp for any spywares/malwares and defrag your HDD?

[newbuilder14]

Well it runs fine as long as I don't put too much pressure on it such as gaming, and then try to open and run another app. Could be my lack of RAM.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Opterons are AMD's premium silicone. Awesome chips that will clock great. At first they might be a bit more expensive and will not perform as good as their desktop competitor, but with even a little overclocking they will lay waste to the x2's..

For normal systems I still suggest you stick to desktop processors..opterons are geared toward enthusiasts..

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by newbuilder14 Well it runs fine as long as I don't put too much pressure on it such as gaming, and then try to open and run another app. Could be my lack of RAM.

My P4 runs just... right for games, with 1GB of RAM. Played many modern 3D games, and it works perfectly. But honestly an AMD would do gaming a little bit different (maybe because of MMX+ and 3DNow+)...

[clroberts]

Opterons ARE Dual Core. They are the Premere Chip of AMD. They are what the Movie Companies use to Render their graphics. (Ever see Over the Hedge? Or Hear of Weta Studios?) And they are using Opteron Processors to build Japans first Super Computer. That had 10,500 Opteron Processors. Opterons also support SMP Up to 8 sockets on a single motherboard. That's 16 Processors. Here's a link that compares AMD with Intel's latest and greatest:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...6_9014,00.html

[GoldCoast48]

I have a 175 opty w/2 7900gts in Sli that I built last May and can"t say enough how well it performs. You can overclock them very high, and paly's any game you can throw at it.
It outperforms the 4400X2 and at lower clock speeds.
Would highly recommend even if your just a gamer. It's always good to have a chip that games superbly and have multi-tasking capablity's for future use.

[jfk]

If you're an overclocker, the Opty's are THE chip to have from the AMD family. They are AMD's best silicon, as was pointed out earlier. The awesome thing about them is they take litte, if any, additional VCore to run at speeds that are faster than the X2 series. Less volts equals less heat, which is ALL good! If they had been cheaper when I picked up my 4800+ I would have gone for one of them instead. Although the latest chips haven't been AS extreme of OC'ers, they are still VERY good. The price is right now, I think Monarch has the 165's for around $160, and the 170's were around $230....very good prices.

[newbuilder14]

Alright, so these things are good I see. Is it worth building a 939 Opteron setup?

I guess if I did go the AMD route if I could afford one I would.

[Mr.Ferrari]

Yes, IF you already have a prexisting setup. If your talking about a whole new setup, i.e motherboard, ram etc. just dedicated to the opteron...then no its not worth it. Go core2duo instead. They overclock harder then any chip, intel or amd, in the past. And will obliterate any prexisting intel or amd chip.

[mojo]

I agree, Ferrari. I built a new PC at the end of June. I knew C2D was coming out and I knew AMD prices were going to drop as a result, just couldn't wait for it. I had been thinking about going 939 opty and OC'ing the heck out of it, but eventually I went with a single-core AMD 3800+ in socket AM2 for future compatibility, and after the prices dropped I picked up a dual-core X2-4600+. I readily concede that the C2Ds are superior chips in pretty much every way, I just can't bring myself to purchase an intel chip after being an AMD fan for so many years, it makes me feel dirty.

[glc]

I just can't bring myself to purchase an intel chip after being an AMD fan for so many years, it makes me feel dirty.

Fanboy syndrome. I have the same problem, but exact opposite. I won't do AMD but it's not the processor, it's the motherboard chipset that drives my decision.