CPU selection

sociable-nomadsociable-nomad New Zealand - The land of the long white cloud
edited June 2006 in Hardware
Ive been doing a little thinking (dangerous I know), are the AMD 3800 x2 and 4200 x2 essentially the same chip with a higher clock speed?

and if they are, wouldnt that mean the 3800 would (in theory) o/c to the same extent as a 4200 x2?

Or am I just demonstrating my extreme noobieness?:scratch:

Comments

  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Demonstrating your extreme noobiness, heh.

    Sure, it could be overclocked to that, but that would require raising the front side bus which can open up a host of problems as then it depends on if your RAM can handle the higher speeds and you'd need to up the voltage to the processor which in turn increases the heat output and then there's the factor that the chip may just simply not be able to run higher than stock speeds.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Or you could have a chip and memory that requires no voltage adjustments if you bought quality components.

    /me flips the coin.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    The RAM I can agree with but not the CPU over here, it's easy to find ones that list the codes and weeks etc in the US but over here we're used to flying blind, get what you're given so to speak.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    Virtually all the low-end A64s are binned down from their big brothers. The stock is not as disastrously diverse as the old AXPs were.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2006
    Thrax wrote:
    Virtually all the low-end A64s are binned down from their big brothers. The stock is not as disastrously diverse as the old AXPs were.

    I agree with you, Thrax. If you go with a mobo using the ULi, Nvidia or ATI chipsets, the HTT speed issue isn't a big bother either (there's no such thing as a front side bus on A64 actually, just HTT speed). And using a divider on the memory has no detrimental effect on performance on A64 machines either, unlike earlier AXP lines. IMO, buying an X2-4200 is simply a waste of money for the extra 200 MHz of speed if you are planning to do some overclocking anyways. Now if you are planning to run the machine at bone stock speeds, the extra speed would help, but I think the X2-3800 will overclock about the same as an X2-4200 nowdays.:)
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited June 2006
    TBH get a 4400 X2 has the 1MB cache per core.....
  • sociable-nomadsociable-nomad New Zealand - The land of the long white cloud
    edited June 2006
    well the unfortunate thing is Im building on a budget, so the 4400 (at almost twice the price) is currently outta range, I could wait and save but its the old story, the longer you wait, the more stuff you wait for... ie Ive got enough for this, but if i wait a little longer i can have that etc...

    I guess my tru question was: are the internals the same? I mean stuff like multiplier etc...
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited June 2006
    I would at least hold out to July or so. There are supposed to be some sizable price cuts on many of AMD processor lines next month sometime (I figure around the time that Conroe comes out).
  • sociable-nomadsociable-nomad New Zealand - The land of the long white cloud
    edited June 2006
    Tru, well that may well work out then, Im overdue for a raise (by like 2 months +) and should be getting a nice lump a back pay about then... if the cut's a good enought (and the review ofcourse) then there may just be a 4400 x2 on the books (but well see)
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