RAM for S939 A64

[sharps107]

I have seen a few reviews around the web claiming different things about the memory requirements of Socket 939 CPUs. THG's review seems to be saying that the Vanilla Athlon 64 supports unbuffered RAM, and the 64 FX still uses registered RAM, even on the newer socket. However, Anand Tech reports that both chips now support Unbuffered RAM. I have seen similar conflictions in other reviews. Anybody know what the deal is wiht A64 memory? Who is right here?

-I'm Laughing At It Now-

 

[P4Man]

<A HREF="http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/30431.pdf" target="_new"> AMD </A> is right I guess, which means Tom is wrong. The 939 FX supports unbuffered memory allright.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[P4Man]

BTW, if you look at THG test setup, you'll see they used the same (unbuffered) RAM for both the A64 & the A64 FX on socket 939. Not sure where you read anything else.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[sharps107]

actually im almost positive it mentioned it and, although i didnt spend much time looking, i did find this reference that seems to hint taht the FX uses registered ram, but I realize I could be wrong

>Athlon64 could even outperform the FX due to the fact >that no speed-reducing registered memory is required any >more.

-I'm Laughing At It Now-

 

[P4Man]

"could" is past tense The "old" FX (940) required registered RAM, which is what this sentence alludes to. Past tense, its not true anymore.

even though I havent double checked, i can't imagine a *single* benchmark where the 3800+ would outperform the FX53 on s939. It could score just as good if the 512 versus 1 Mb cache doesnt matter, but I can't see how it could score better, which was different with socket 940 FX versus S754 A64.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

 

[sharps107]

i agree wiht u about the benchmarks, im just reporting what toms said. the use of unbuffered memory (even ddr500 in conjunction wiht 1000mhz hypertransport in all 939 cpus) was about the only thing keeping me p4 loyal. AMD has it all now. part of me just died inside.

-I'm Laughing At It Now-

 

[TechMan]

Look at the positive side of things. Intel will surely come back, when and how, I dunno. But when Intel does, we the consumers will reap the benefits - better hardware, reasonable prices. USD 700+ procs don't look good at the moment. Will surely love them at 200-400 level only.