Opteron 185 2.6 gHz Denmark Core S939: Worth Upgrading?

[Peter.Steele]

I'm considering upgrading, and Tiger Direct has some pretty good prices on processors at the moment.

This is what my system is:

AMD X2 3800+ (S939)
Abit Fatal1ty board
3GB RAM
GeForce 7600GT
SB Audigy 2ZS
~ 1 TB HD space
G15 keyboard


Is it worth ~US$230 to upgrade to the Opteron? I've seen people say that it's the absolute top-end S939 chip, but don't really know much about the Opterons.

Bear in mind, I could go AM2 and get 2 GB DDR2, a board, and an AMD X2 4400+ for only about a hundred bux more ...


Edit: or would I be better off to spend the money on a 23" LCD monitor instead ... ? I've got an ancient 17" CRT as my primary monitor at the moment ...

 

[aesdana]

Well to be honest here mister Steele, the Opteron processor kicks your 3800+

 

[Dcode]

No do not buy that operton. Its hardly worth the upgrade from what you have. 2.0Ghz on the 3800+ to 2.6Ghz for $230 is not a good investment. Put the money towards a bigger screen.

I was considering the Operton 185 but it was

 

[aesdana]

Mister Steele do not be fooled, never compare different AMD processorns by looking at the Ghz. You could if you for example compared your 3800+ to a 4000+ of the SAME processor type, but you can not compare the Ghz between a 3800+ X2 and an Opteron.

 

[Dcode]

Read this guide: http://developer.amd.com/articlex.jsp?id=49

The architecture is identical to the Athlon. They both perform the same clock for clock. The only way to tell these CPUs apart in real world gaming is the difference in clock speeds and cache. So unless mister Steele plans on using 8GB of RAM and is turned on by the slightly lower Vcore voltage then its not really worth paying the $230 premium IMO. Go buy an 8800GTS, you will get more performance out of that.

 

[aesdana]

He has an X2, not a single core Athlon.

 

[Peter.Steele]

Read this guide: http://developer.amd.com/articlex.jsp?id=49

The architecture is identical to the Athlon. They both perform the same clock for clock. The only way to tell these CPUs apart in real world gaming is the difference in clock speeds and cache. So unless mister Steele plans on using 8GB of RAM and is turned on by the slightly lower Vcore voltage then its not really worth paying the $230 premium IMO. Go buy an 8800GTS, you will get more performance out of that.

The reason that I'm considering paying the premium is that I'd prefer to extend the life of my S939 system for another year or so.

At any time for the next few years I'll be able to get a PCI-E video card. They're here to stay. S939 processors, though ... those are going to be running out, pretty quick, and once they're gone, they're gone, and I'm stuck upgrading to the AM2 platform.

Also, from what I've been reading, Opty 185 = FX-65, but with a locked multiplier. Any thoughts?

 

[ThanhSa|Seirrah]

edit* I would definetly buy that monitor.

With the graphics card he currently has I'd say to hold-off on a monitor of that size. (Assuming he'd want to run games at it's native resolution.)

 

[Peter.Steele]

With the graphics card he currently has I'd say to hold-off on a monitor of that size. (Assuming he'd want to run games at it's native resolution.)

A 7600 GT shouldn't have any trouble whatsoever with a 1680x1050 flat panel - 22" - or the slightly higher res of a 23". Right now I'm running two monitors from it - 17" @ 1280x1024 and 15" @ 1024x768, and until my 21" CRT failed, I was running it at 1600x1200 and the 17" at 1280x1024, with no problems at all.

 

[Dcode]

Yes the Opty 185 has the same clock frequency and L2 cache as the FX-55. The performance would be the same between the two.

I would really put that $230 towards a core 2 system instead of milking the dead end 939 system. You should try overclocking what you have, you have a great overclocking platform.

 

[Peter.Steele]

Yes the Opty 185 has the same clock frequency and L2 cache as the FX-55. The performance would be the same between the two.

I would really put that $230 towards a core 2 system instead of milking the dead end 939 system. You should try overclocking what you have, you have a great overclocking platform.

Unfortunately, overclocking doesn't work out so well anymore. A while back, one of my 1 gig DIMM's burned, and when I sent it off for the warrantee (Transcend has a GREAT one), they sent back one that was newer, as the one I'd sent them was discontinued. So, dual channel doesn't work out anymore. That's when I said to hell with it and just threw in a couple of spare 512 MB DIMM's that I had laying around, to give me a total of 3 GB. Couldn't use 'em before, since I was running dual channel.

 

[Skew]

What's with the Denmark?

 

[Dumba [cro]]

It's just a silly country.

 

[Peter.Steele]

What's with the Denmark?

codename for a series of AMD processors. Others are Toledo, Winchester, etc. They tend to all be place names.

 

[Zetsumei]

i'd say overclock your 3800+ but set a divider for your memory.
2.6 should be easily attained.

Then after that just get yourself a good 22" monitor or if you can afford it a 23" (23" monitors run at 1920x1200 though)
Those apple cinema monitors are nice though. (only 23" i know)