Help with Picking a CPU for new MB

Haku

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Aug 15, 2005
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I am doing an upgrade; my wife says I can spend $300.00 on a CPU. I have concerns on the dual core processors. With my money, motherboard and ram in consideration what CPU will work the best for BF2, and overclocking?


$256.00=AMD Opteron 148 2.2GHz Processor Retail

$284.00=AMD Athlon 64 3800+ 2.4GHZ Processor (Venice) Socket

$297.00=AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ 2.0GHZ Processor Socket 939 Retail

Stuff I already have for this system;
Motherboard = Asus A8V Via K8T800Pro Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail

Video = AGP MSI NX6800 GT 256 MB Ram

RAM = Corsair TWINX2048-3200 2GB DDR400 XMS3200 Memory (200 MHz at 3-4-4-8 )

HDD = 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST3120827AS 120GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer set to RAID 0
 

techtre2003

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That's funny "my wife says". (I know how that is; I'm married too :D Maybe I'm wrong, but I think most people will tell you go with the Opty if you are overclocking although I don't know how well your board will OC.
 

GherkinPekul

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Hi, my name is GherkinPekul, and I have been listening to my wife for 2 months since my last relapse.... J/K
I would suggest getting the Opty 165 for $330, and telling her OOPS.
Just yesterday I had to justify to my wife why I need to get the x1900xtx instead of the x1800 I had budgeted for. She is in the cult of quilting, and probably spends enough money on fabric to build a new mid-range system annually. Your results may vary.
ps. If any of you poor married bastiches out there who has a wife expressing an interest in quilting- DO NOT FALL FOR IT
You will soon come to regret all the fabric infiltrating your house, and just how many sewing machines are out there.
Save yourselves!!!!!
 

techtre2003

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Hi, my name is GherkinPekul, and I have been listening to my wife for 2 months since my last relapse.... J/K
I would suggest getting the Opty 165 for $330, and telling her OOPS.
Just yesterday I had to justify to my wife why I need to get the x1900xtx instead of the x1800 I had budgeted for. She is in the cult of quilting, and probably spends enough money on fabric to build a new mid-range system annually. Your results may vary.
ps. If any of you poor married bastiches out there who has a wife expressing an interest in quilting- DO NOT FALL FOR IT
You will soon come to regret all the fabric infiltrating your house, and just how many sewing machines are out there.
Save yourselves!!!!!

lol :D :D
 

Haku

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What about AMD Athlon 64 4000+ Processor (San Diego) Socket 939 Retail?

It is about the same price as the OPty 165, or is the Opty still better?
 

kwalker

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reading these replies made me forget what this post was about :lol:

Go for the opty 165 and tell her its to conserve energy.
we will back you up.
that is unless she asks us
:roll:
 

Haku

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How does dual cores work? Like a raid 0 ? Or do I have to assign each cpu what to do? or use them one at a time. I am not sure how they work, so I thought single core would be simple. :cry: I am ignorant in this :roll:
 

linux_0

Splendid
How does dual cores work? Like a raid 0 ? Or do I have to assign each cpu what to do? or use them one at a time. I am not sure how they work, so I thought single core would be simple. :cry: I am ignorant in this :roll:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual_core


A Dual Core CPU is composed of 2 Cores so it's almost like having 2 CPUs in your system instead of 1.

The OS will assign each CPU a task automatically if it's SMP capable.

The problem is most Dual Core CPUs have to share memory and IO bandwidth. If there isn't enough your cores may have to sit idle and wait for data to arrive to be processed which reduces performance.
 

Haku

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does that mean the What about AMD Athlon 64 4000+ Processor (San Diego) Socket 939 Retail will not be as good?
 

Haku

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Your right my budget is tight. I can't spend over $300.00 and the 3800 x2 is 297.00 with free shipping. Thanks for all you guys help.