Fx-55

ronboronbo Connecticut
edited December 2006 in Hardware
Saw one at New Egg for $200 and just wanted to know if it will be a good step up from my 3200+ AMD? I do not want to go dual core yet, just want to upgrade what I have for now. I am a gammer most of the time and it will be sitting on a MSI K8N Neo2 MB with a gig of Patriot XBLK running in dual channel with a Leadtek 6800GT.


ps...I have read in a lot of forums that dual core, right now, will not give me much more performance in gamming.

Comments

  • Datsun-1600Datsun-1600 Sydney.au
    edited November 2006
    What does your 3200+ overclock to, as it could clock to 2.6Ghz?

    Socket 939 is EOL, you are better off saving your money for your next upgrade.

    Datsun 1600
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2006
    Yeah, that's a hell of a good deal for an FX 55. Be sure you get the 90nm version for $200 and not the Clawhammer (130 nm) version they are showing for $169. The 90nm verion should overclock better of the 2 and also run a bit cooler. But to have a totally unlocked multiplier, so you can adjust it either up or down for overclocking, is great. Plus, that San Diego core on the 90nm FX55 has 1 MB L2 cache, which also helps performance compared to your present 3200+.

    With that said, I'll never go back to a single core proc myself. The smoothness of a dual core proc is fantastic. But if you've never worked with a dual processor workstation system or a dual core system, I guess you won't miss not having dual core.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    Thank you for your replys guys. Datsun, to answer your question, I did not overclock my 3200 for 3 reasons. 1.....I do not know how...2....I do not want to stress out my computer parts, I want them to last a long time......3...Since I built this computer it has been super stable and that is what I really look for. muddocktor, one question I forgot to ask is will my MB MSI K8N Neo2 support this FX-55 processor?
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2006
    It looks like all versions of the K8N Neo2 support the processor with a bios flash at most. Here's the page showing support for the San Diego core FX55.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    Thank you for the link muddocktor. Happy Thanksgiving to you....
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2006
    And you too, ronbo.... :D
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    muddocktor, I can't believe what I saw when I went to New Egg to order the chip. I looked down below at the combo specials and for the same price $199 I get the chip with a seagate 250 gig sata 3 Hard drive with free shipping...WOW
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2006
    Man, you can't hardly beat that. A free 250 gig Seagate SATA drive (with a 5 year warantee, no less). That is one hell of a deal! :thumbsup:

    BTW, I expect to see some posts showing your new processor's speed next week. The beauty of the FX procs is that the multipliers are totally unlocked so that you can merely go into bios and up the multiplier to overclock them without having to change the HTT (fsb) speed at all.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    muddocktor wrote:
    Man, you can't hardly beat that. A free 250 gig Seagate SATA drive (with a 5 year warantee, no less). That is one hell of a deal! :thumbsup:

    BTW, I expect to see some posts showing your new processor's speed next week. The beauty of the FX procs is that the multipliers are totally unlocked so that you can merely go into bios and up the multiplier to overclock them without having to change the HTT (fsb) speed at all.


    Ok, when I get it I will have you walk me through how to do that bios setting if thats ok with you...:buck::buck:
  • Datsun-1600Datsun-1600 Sydney.au
    edited November 2006
    muddocktor wrote:
    The beauty of the FX procs is that the multipliers are totally unlocked so that you can merely go into bios and up the multiplier to overclock them without having to change the HTT (fsb) speed at all.
    Shame my 148 Opti wipes the floor with my FX57.

    Datsun 1600
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    "Shame my 148 Opti wipes the floor with my FX57."

    I have no idea what that means but if it makes you feel good, thats great.
  • ins4n17yins4n17y Cabanatuan City, Philippines Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    muddocktor wrote:
    Yeah, that's a hell of a good deal for an FX 55. Be sure you get the 90nm version for $200 and not the Clawhammer (130 nm) version they are showing for $169. The 90nm verion should overclock better of the 2 and also run a bit cooler. But to have a totally unlocked multiplier, so you can adjust it either up or down for overclocking, is great. Plus, that San Diego core on the 90nm FX55 has 1 MB L2 cache, which also helps performance compared to your present 3200+.

    With that said, I'll never go back to a single core proc myself. The smoothness of a dual core proc is fantastic. But if you've never worked with a dual processor workstation system or a dual core system, I guess you won't miss not having dual core.

    I have never used a dual core system. hmmm.....oh well. i do have my overclocked athlon xp at 2.6Ghz tho, and it is rock solid stable BUT it is hot....i have used a hyperthreading computer, although its not true dual core. i don't think that amounts to much.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2006
    I too have used HT P4 systems and while the HT feature might help a little in certain situations, it's really nothing like a dual core or dual processor system. Having 2 physical processing cores makes a big difference when multitasking, especially when the apps are very cpu intensive.
  • ins4n17yins4n17y Cabanatuan City, Philippines Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    muddocktor wrote:
    I too have used HT P4 systems and while the HT feature might help a little in certain situations, it's really nothing like a dual core or dual processor system. Having 2 physical processing cores makes a big difference when multitasking, especially when the apps are very cpu intensive.


    very good advice. however, i'm afraid i'm willing to wait until my next upgrade because skt939 is already yesteryears hardware tho its quite good and i'm not much of a fan with ddr2 aka sktAM2 ever since i got my old school UTT bh-5's. i'm not much of a fan of the newer tech it seems and though the difference between dual core in terms of multitasking is quite apparent, with all the new fusion/multi-core madness i take it i'll wait it all out until the hardware is issued in full support and software takes advantage of it. i don't see the need for a dualcore yet and i'm happy with my rig....on top the industry is already attempting to shove quadcores down grandmas throat.....and its useless for gaming anyways.

    according to the inquirer, its seems that AMD will be releasing 4 sockets within the next 2 years see here: http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35902 . i guess i am willing to wait because after reading this post by MT_Goat here http://short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48363 i guess i can wait a while, not really worth the upgrade with an outdated 939 (even if it is a dfi UT nf4 ultra-d) and not much of a am2 fan......i'll wait for ddr3.

    cheers.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    isiea268, thanks for that link to the post from MT_Goat. Some of the replys I got from my post started to give me second thoughs. Now I am very happy and satisfied at what I did. I should be getting the FX-55 today. Will install over the holiday and post back....:thumbsup::thumbsup:
  • ins4n17yins4n17y Cabanatuan City, Philippines Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    ronbo wrote:
    Thank you for your replys guys. Datsun, to answer your question, I did not overclock my 3200 for 3 reasons. 1.....I do not know how...2....I do not want to stress out my computer parts, I want them to last a long time......3...Since I built this computer it has been super stable and that is what I really look for. muddocktor, one question I forgot to ask is will my MB MSI K8N Neo2 support this FX-55 processor?

    well as for me i did some massive overclocking on my athlon xp skt462 platform yet again. hopefully i'll be able to hit 2.7GHz on 2.1Vcore. i don't care about stressing my computer, because i have spare cpus from ebay :p my computer is prime stable despite being noisy and hot. i just took a screenshot before i attempt 2.7ghz and beyond and ran a sisoft sandra test while reading this forum at the same time as well as doing some heavy multitasking as well as some folding. i was pretty impressed. according to the cpu tests i was on par with a fx-52,55 though i guess my multitasking was holding my cpu back against a fx-57 and fx 62. is this too good to be true? i don't really think my oc'd athlon xp at 2.7 at 2.1v will last long, i mean i'm doing this on air cooling.

    cheers.:shakehead

    screensandra.JPG
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    So from what you are saying here isiea268 is that when I install this FX-55 ( tomorrow I hope) my computer will be able to do all these things at once. Sounds great...
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited November 2006
    Hey ronbo, when you get the new processor in, take a pic of the retail hsf that comes with it and post a reasonably sized pic here (800 X 600 or so) as an attachment. So I can see if they are sending that 4 pipe heatpipe design hsf with your FX. If it's the same design that comes on the 2 MB cache dual cores (4400, 4800) then even with it's stock fan it should do well for running stock or even mildly overclocked. And if you replace the stock fan with something that moves around 40 cfm of air you should see great performance even with a healthy overclock on it. If you can find it, an 80 mm Panaflo H1BX model would work great. Good airflow and still pretty darn quiet.
  • ins4n17yins4n17y Cabanatuan City, Philippines Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    ronbo wrote:
    So from what you are saying here isiea268 is that when I install this FX-55 ( tomorrow I hope) my computer will be able to do all these things at once. Sounds great...

    absolutely, on top of that, you'll have 64 bit compatibility.....something i don't have :rolleyes: its all good ;)

    enjoy your purchase ronbo. .:.cheers.:. w007!
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    I bought the chip OEM. There is no fan and heatsink with it. I will be useing the Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 that I have on my 3200+ now. This heatsink and fan keep my CPU at 27C right now so I hope it will be ok for the FX-55 also?
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited November 2006
    So far so good. I installed the FX-55 with a drop of Artic Silver 5 an it booted right up, did the bios flash last night. It has been running 2 hours and it is sitting at 33C. I bet when the Artic Silver cooks in it will go down lower than that..I will run a CPU benchmark tonight with Everest Ultimate an compare it with the test I ran testerday with the 3200+. Sure is nice when something works right the first time...The die said Cabne on it and I read in another forum that if it says Cabne on it then it is really a FX-57 in disguise. Is there any truth to that?:thumbsup::thumbsup:
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2006
    That's correct. CABNE was a stepping used on the FX-55 and 57 <i>San Diego</i> chips.
  • ronboronbo Connecticut
    edited December 2006
    muddocktor, just to update you I am very happy with the FX-55. I have been useing it since the day after Thanksgiving. Core temp shows a temp. of 22C after a week of running with Artic Silver 5. I did the bios flash for the MSI KN8 neo2 MB before installing the chip and that gave me 17 new gray hairs. This was the first time I ever flashed the bios and was very scared after hearing all the stories about what would happen if it was not sucessfull. Last night I changed the multipler from 13 to 14 with GCPUID and got it running at 2.8 gigs now. I played 3 hours of Dark Messiah and the temp only went up to 24C. I have the computer in a cool basement maybe thats why the temp is nice and low. Is core temp accurate, because Everest Ultimate reports the core temp at 31C ? Either way the temp is good. GCPUID is a nice little program because it is so easy to use. All I did was change the multiplier and nothing else. It shows the TDP at 59.1 watts. I can get into a lot of trouble with this program. It is so tempting to change that multiplier, but I will leave it where it is for now. The sad news is I paid $200 for it 2 weeks ago and look at the price now. Soon it will be buy one and get one free..
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