Opteron or Athlon 64

1093 Views 25 Replies 12 Participants Last post by cyrixMII300, Feb 19, 2006

Strider_2001

Discussion Starter · Feb 19, 2006

I have been looking at getting a new AMD CPU...My question is with the release of the Opterons and the new Athlon 64's I am a little confused on what I should get...

How do the Opterons compare to the Athlon 64's.

As in for example a opteron 165 would compare to a Athlon XXXX+
Is there some sort of guild about this...Or would any opteron be better??

1 - 20 of 26 Posts

The_Jester

· #2 · Feb 19, 2006

The opteron is supposed to be a better overclocker because its a server class product and i think it has a higher L2 on average than the athlon. Both support the new x86-64 instruction set.

the only wat to tell would be to ask someone who has owned both.

mycomputersucks

· #3 · Feb 19, 2006

The Opterons are the same thing as an Athlon its just made for a server so it's tested for higher quality. So most are proven to overclock better and i Think the 165 would compare to the X2 series as it is a dual core maybe a 3800+.

Reactions: 1

Namrac

· #4 · Feb 19, 2006

A 165 would probably compare to a Athlon X2 3800+ or 4200+. As stated, Optys are server chips, and supposedly mad OCers. I'm just gonna stick with the 3700+ Sandy, but really it's a matter of preference. Pretty much all of them are great chips, depends on your budget and intended uses.

Strider_2001

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 19, 2006

So it would be totaly benifitical to buy a opteron instead of the Athlon

mycomputersucks

· #6 · Feb 19, 2006

At this point its kind of a flip a coin deal. Because as I've heard the new Opty steppings arent to good. But if you were to go with the 3700+ Ive heard good things about them lately.

kitt3

· #7 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by mycomputersucks

At this point its kind of a flip a coin deal. Because as I've heard the new Opty steppings arent to good. But if you were to go with the 3700+ Ive heard good things about them lately.

nope not true.. there hasnt been any optys r not good.. they r all good new and old. Also u can run fx-57 wih 2.2ghz 148 .. it overclocks at 2.8 with auto vcore.

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mycomputersucks

· #8 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by kitt3

nope not true.. there hasnt been any optys r not good.. they r all good new and old. Also u can run fx-57 wih 2.2ghz 148 .. it overclocks at 2.8 with auto vcore.

This is just what I've heard lately didn't really belive it thought because I was looking into getting an Opty soon myself.

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Namrac

· #9 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by kitt3

nope not true.. there hasnt been any optys r not good.. they r all good new and old. Also u can run fx-57 wih 2.2ghz 148 .. it overclocks at 2.8 with auto vcore.

Wrong. CABGE cores suck. Never want to get stuck with the cabbage.

Pretty much everyone is getting great results from the new KAB3E 3700+ Sandy steppings.

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kitt3

· #10 · Feb 19, 2006

K, do u have alink? to proof that, i would like to read about it.Also opteron is stickin on one stepping which ic cab2e.. i can get it to 3.2ghz with water cooling of course i need 1.65 vcore.

cyrixMII300

· #11 · Feb 19, 2006

sorry to burst everybodies bubbles here ppl. every1 get on google and google the optys out. just so that u guys know optys upto 160 are all single cores excluding the 160. optys after that upto the latest which is 180 are dual cores. the reason the first generation optys which were single core did so well were because many of them especially the 146 were based on the San Diego core. while the newer dual core optys are denmark cores. so the earlier generation opty dont compare to the A64.

A64 are dual core processors. just like the Optys 160 to 180. difference is the A64 are made of normal binning material and is sort of ur average dual core AMD processor while the Optys are made of better binning material and therefore are of better quality and made to more strict standards required by the workstation and server industry.

the single optys have been know to oc very very well. however there is very little evidence of good oc on the denmark optys. but then there is not much evidence about the A64 doing very well in terms of oc either.

its all ur decision but consider that AMD is trying to stop the enthusiast and ocer from purchasing the Optys. Optys 1xx are single processor servers, 2xx are dual processor and 8xx upto 8 processors.

edit : anyways i am not suggesting either one coz i m undecided myself on what to get

credit due to the duke, and the rest of guys who educated me.

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lonnie5000

· #12 · Feb 19, 2006

I would personaly go with the Athlon. I'm getting real sick of this Opteron craze and will probably never get one. I had read somewhere that on the duel core opty's the memory controller is not as good as the X2's. So IMHO get the Athlon.

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The Duke

· #13 · Feb 19, 2006

The Athlon 44 specs link
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...icroprocessors
The Opty link
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionar...icroprocessors

Note... not all Athlon 64s have 1024x2 cache, some have 512x2
All the X2 Denmark have 2x1024 cache!

BTW... the Denmark ALSO uses the "E6" memory controler

The single core Venius however still use the E4.

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Sun

· #14 · Feb 19, 2006

Duke, (Or anyone else.) you seem to know a bit about it, so here goes:

Ok, between the Athlon X2's and the DC Opterons (S939), which will do better under extreme conditions, like high class water or phase, with a high FSB, namley ~300mHz?

sccr64472

· #15 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyrixMII300

difference is the A64 are made of normal binning material and is sort of ur average dual core AMD processor while the Optys are made of better binning material and therefore are of better quality and made to more strict standards required by the workstation and server industry.

Without arguing with you, I'll simply ask you to find a single piece of evidence backing either of those claims. Also, how can you explain the fact that a San Diego based Opteron and a A64 clocked to the exact same speeds will not have the same performance? The A64 will perform slightly faster.

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The Duke

· #16 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sun

Duke, (Or anyone else.) you seem to know a bit about it, so here goes:

Ok, between the Athlon X2's and the DC Opterons (S939), which will do better under extreme conditions, like high class water or phase, with a high FSB, namley ~300mHz?

Tough question... most of both seem to hit at least 2600ish... luck of the draw on the core stepping ... but the Optys usually seem to need a bit less vcore in some cases.
With an X2 Athlon... the 512x2 cache ver would produce less heat so that is a consideration but the advantage of the 1024 cache in either is a far more productive unit which boosts performance to each core about equal to having 200MHz more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sccr64472

Without arguing with you, I'll simply ask you to find a single piece of evidence backing either of those claims. Also, how can you explain the fact that a San Diego based Opteron and a A64 clocked to the exact same speeds will not have the same performance? The A64 will perform slightly faster.

Good point... I would like to see that info in print to!
It is believed that the Optys are cut from the premium material... there are in fact better parts of the core and will have an effect on the overall quality. The purpose of the Opty is to produce an alterantive to the previous 940 and heat in a server is an issue which brings the "premium" core material into light!

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Octapus

· #17 · Feb 19, 2006

Opteron Pros:
Large cache
Low price for good performance
VERY HIGH OC'ING POTENTIAL, higher than FX60 (even when OC'ed)
lower temps than the Athlon 64
Better Binded silicon for better stress handling
Versatile Processor
Cons:
This is the Opteron, no such thing exists

The Duke

· #18 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octapus

Opteron Pros:
Large cache
Low price for good performance
VERY HIGH OC'ING POTENTIAL, higher than FX60 (even when OC'ed)
lower temps than the Athlon 64
Better Binded silicon for better stress handling
Versatile Processor
Cons:
This is the Opteron, no such thing exists

??? What???

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sccr64472

· #19 · Feb 19, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Duke

Good point... I would like to see that info in print to!
It is believed that the Optys are cut from the premium material... there are in fact better parts of the core and will have an effect on the overall quality. The purpose of the Opty is to produce an alterantive to the previous 940 and heat in a server is an issue which brings the "premium" core material into light!

Or.....the Opterons have relaxed memory controller settings and/or cache timings, slightly trading performance for reliability. This would also explain the slightly slower performance at equal clock speeds.

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blair

· #20 · Feb 19, 2006

if you can get your hands on a CABNE your a lucky man, they are the best stepping in the single core opty's but they are rare, as they were one of the first ones to be released.

I've heard reports of AMD only letting people with legitimate reasons (small business's that need servers) buy the opty's, it seems you must fill out forms to get access to them, so it seems the only places you will get them is through EBAY or some other auction site.. and possibly shops stocking old stock... or something, this could be all wrong though,

I think the real reason why AMD is doing that has already been mentioned, Enthusiasts and Overclockers find these chips soo damn good...

unsure how the Opty 160-180's overclock though... might be something worth looking into...

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